A long article can be broken into numbered pages, with a page selector at the end of the text. WordPress calls this a page break, and Verba renders the selector for you.

#Add a page break

Put the cursor where the split goes

Open the post in the editor and click between the two paragraphs that should end up on different pages.

Add the Page break block

In the block inserter it sits under Design. The editor draws a dashed line labeled "Page break" so you can see where the split falls.

Add more breaks for more pages

Two breaks make three pages. There is no limit and no numbering to keep track of.

Check the front end

Update the post and open it. Under the text there is now a row reading "Pages:" followed by numbers, with the current page marked.

If you write in the classic editor or paste HTML directly, the same break is this comment:

<!--nextpage-->

Both produce the same thing. The block is the comment with a label on it.

#Where it works

Page breaks work on posts and on pages. On a page, the selector appears in the same place, under the content.

They do not work inside a block that holds other blocks, such as a group or a column. Put the break at the top level of the document, between sections.

#What the split changes

The automatic contents block is built from the page being viewed. A heading that sits on page three is not in the list while somebody is reading page one, so a split post and an automatic table of contents work against each other.

Reading time is unaffected: it counts the words in the whole post, not the page on screen, so a reader sees the real length before they start.

The URL of page two is your post URL with /2/ on the end. Each page is a separate address that search engines index separately, and none of them carries the full article.

#Whether to split at all

Splitting was invented to sell more ad impressions per article, and readers learned to recognize it. It costs a page load between one paragraph and the next, and it divides the signals search engines collect about one piece of writing across several URLs.

Two cases where it still earns its keep: a reference article with clearly separate parts a reader would want to link to individually, and a photo essay where each page is one set of images.

For everything else, a long article works better as one page with a table of contents. Verba reading progress bar and the contents list exist to make a long single page navigable, which is the same problem pagination was solving badly.

#Common questions

The Pages row does not appear

Check that the break is at the top level of the post and not nested inside a group, column, or cover block. In the editor, a page break inside a container shows the dashed line but produces no split.

Can I name the pages instead of numbering them?

Not from the editor. WordPress numbers them, and Verba renders those numbers.

Does continuous reading still work?

Yes. Continuous reading loads the next post after the current one ends, and on a split post that means after its last page.

Last updated 22 Sep 2026

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