Your WordPress Menu Has Too Many Links. What Can You Remove?

The header started with five links. Then someone added a new service, a campaign, a booking button, and a second contact link. Now the last item wraps onto another line. Reducing the font size might hide the symptom, but first look at what the menu is asking visitors to choose.

Write down a few ordinary tasks: find a service, check whether you cover an area, make an enquiry. For each one, follow the current menu without using the search box. Note where two labels seem to promise the same destination.

Give each link a reason to stay

A small repair business might make these decisions:

| Current item | A possible change | | --- | --- | | Services and Our Solutions | Keep one clear service overview if the pages duplicate each other | | A promotion that has ended | Remove the menu shortcut and review the destination separately | | Contact and Get in Touch | Use one label if both open the same form | | Several unrelated service pages | Keep useful direct links; do not hide everything under an ambiguous label |

This is an example, not a required menu structure. A support-heavy product may need Help near the front. A local venue may need Opening Hours where a visitor can find it quickly.

Removing a link from your plan does not mean the destination page should be deleted. Decide what to do with that page separately, especially if other sites or printed materials link to it.

Check which menu you are changing

For sites using the Navigation block, WordPress provides responsive display settings and submenu controls. The Navigation block documentation explains the available options. Other theme menu systems can have different controls.

Make a copy of the current labels and destinations before editing. Inspect the homepage and an article: if their headers use different menus, changing one may leave the other untouched. Check the selected menu before saving a shared header.

Try it without the mouse

On the published preview, use the keyboard to reach the menu, open a submenu, and follow a link. You should be able to see which control has focus. If you lose your place, investigate before removing more links.

Then use a phone. Open the menu, reach its final item, and close it again. Follow the booking or contact link all the way to its destination while logged out. A tidy header is not much help if its most useful link leads to a draft page.

For the rest of the page, our accessibility checklist covers further checks. Keep the old menu notes until the new navigation has been reviewed.