The block editor is the default way to write and lay out content in WordPress. Every element on a page, whether a paragraph, a heading, an image, a button or a set of columns, is a separate block you can add, move and set up on its own. It replaced the older single-box “classic” editor and is still widely known by its project name, Gutenberg.
How the block editor works
You add a block with the plus button or by typing a forward slash and its name, such as /heading or /image. Each block has its own toolbar and a settings panel in the sidebar: heading level, image alt text, link behaviour, spacing and so on. The List View shows every block on the page as an outline, which is the quickest way to check structure on a long page.
Behind the scenes, WordPress saves ordinary HTML with small comment markers that tell the editor where each block starts and ends. That matters more than it sounds. If you switch themes or turn the editor off, your words and images remain readable HTML rather than a tangle of codes.
Blocks can be grouped and saved as patterns. A pattern for a “service summary with button” means your team can drop in the same layout without rebuilding it. A synced pattern goes further: edit it once and every page using it changes. With a block-based theme, the Site Editor lets you build headers, footers and page templates from blocks too. Plugins can add further blocks, such as FAQs, tables of contents or pricing tables.
Why it matters
For a small UK business, the main gain is independence. Staff can publish a news post, update opening hours or add a new service page without paying a developer for each change, and patterns keep pages consistent while they do it.
It also shapes SEO and accessibility directly. The heading level you pick in each block becomes the page’s real heading structure, and the image block is where you write alt text for screen-reader users. On most themes the page title is already the H1, so adding another top-level heading in the editor gives the page two.
Weight is the third point. A page built from core blocks usually carries less code than the same page made in a third-party page builder, which tends to mean faster loading. That advantage disappears if you install several block library plugins, each loading its own styles and scripts.
Common mistakes
- Choosing heading levels by how big they look rather than where they sit in the outline.
- Leaving the alt text field empty on informative images, or stuffing it with keywords.
- Pasting from Word or Google Docs and carrying stray formatting and empty blocks into the page.
- Editing a synced pattern for one page without realising it changes every page that uses it.
- Installing three block collections to get one feature from each, then never removing them.
- Running the block editor and a page builder side by side, so nobody knows which one controls a page.
How to act on it
Open your five most important pages and check the List View. You want one H1 (normally the title), H2s for the main sections and H3s only inside them. Fix any heading chosen for its size; style can be changed separately.
Next, turn repeated layouts into patterns, such as a call-to-action panel or a contact strip, so new pages start consistent. Then review your plugin list and remove block libraries you are not using. If editors only ever need certain blocks, a developer can hide the rest to keep pages tidy.
Finally, preview each page on a phone before publishing, because columns that look neat on a laptop often stack awkwardly. These checks form part of the WordPress SEO clean-up I do when a site’s content has grown untidy over the years.