7 Best Related Posts Plugins for WordPress for 2020
When it comes to compelling your visitors to visit other parts or content on your website, having a “related posts” section can do wonders. Think of it as a chain of content that, if you’re lucky or organized, can draw your readers or visitors into a never-ending loop of content. Thankfully, these posts can be done manually or with the help of related posts plugins. Both are easy methods.
However, we’re here to talk about the less manual method of adding related posts. That’s because you don’t always get to make the right and most optimized decisions when it comes to choosing related posts. A machine algorithm might see better potential in its own choices and these are quite efficient for related posts plugins.
Lucky for you, you don’t have to look that far, we’ve compiled some of the best related posts plugins you can find for WordPress. These can ensure that your old content gets the love it deserves and that your visitors spend more time on the site.
Contextual Related Posts
You won’t find many things to dislike in Contextual Related Posts. It’s one of the most functional plugins on this list. For text posts, it works fine and flawlessly without much tinkering too. One problem it might have is for related posts that feature images where the plugin will try to use images within the content if no featured image is found.
Of course, the plugin is also free but that comes with a caveat in the form of a lack of customization. The way the thumbnails or other elements of the post are presented are quite limited compared to some plugins here that have a premium option. Still, on its own, it’s quite the beauty and should work well for the majority of blogs out there.
WordPress Related Posts Plugin by AddThis
Some of you might have already heard of AddThis given how they provide bloggers with a host of good tools. You’ll be pleased to know that they have their own related posts plugin, which is named aptly so. They have even added it to the WordPress plugin store if you want the individual component instead of the full suite.
In any case, AddThis’ related posts plugin can give you a lot of options in how you present your related posts to your readers. You can have several presentation modes like slider, footer, or inline. You can even decide whether to display them horizontally or vertically; it also lets you pick how many articles can be displayed.
Yet Another Related Posts Plugin
Next up is one of the most popular plugins on this list, Yet Another Related Posts Plugin or YARPP for short. The plugin has more than 200,000 downloads, meaning it’s tried and tested many times over. Like many others on this list, YARPP also lets you pick between thumbnail or text type related posts.
One of the best features of this plugin is how it allows you to have many templates. This basically gives you a good amount of control in how the plugin presents the posts. The developers themselves are also proud of YARPP’s own built-in algorithm. Do note that the free version is quite a resource hog.
RELATED: 8 Content Marketing Plugins You Need For Your WordPress Blog
Related Posts for WordPress by Bibblio
Speaking of built-in algorithm and advanced A.I.s made specifically for related posts, Bibblio is not one to back down from such a challenge. They have their own plugin which uses something they tout as cutting-edge AI for genuinely relevant posts.
They’re also proud to let you know that they use the same tech that some of the biggest websites also use today, such as National Geographic and Mashable. One thing that Bibblio excels in is the speed and how it doesn’t tax your website as much; Bibblio handles the heavy-lifting on their side. You also get many options in presenting the related posts.
Related Posts for WordPress by Never5
For ease of use, you might want to look into Related Posts for WordPress by Never5. It’s a simple and straightforward plugin that lets you incorporate a related post in your content using just one click; at least, that’s how the plugin developers put it. This 1-click philosophy also extends towards linking all your related posts to one another.
This plugin is all about doing the least amount of work as possible when it comes to related posts. All you have to do is let the installation program do its thing and then the plugin will take care of the rest.
Inline Related Posts
Looking for something different? Then Inline Related Posts should satisfy that need for novelty. It’s similar to the other plugins here but it handles things differently. Instead of showing the posts at the bottom of the page, Inline Related Posts shows them, well, inline, squeezed between the text of your content.
That psychology here is that readers tend to be more invested in the articles or content while reading. In fact, some of them might not even finish reading the content anyway, making inline related posts a saving grace when it comes to prolonging the time they spend on the site. The downside is that you’ll need another plugin if you want the traditional related posts.
Related Posts by Taxonomy
How the developers handle this plugin’s algorithm is astounding and encapsulates what related posts should be all about. The plugin will add sidebars or widgets containing related posts; these are ranked based on the most common terms it has with the content. You can even customize how its related posts are picked depending on taxonomy or post type.
This does limit what gets revealed as a related post. How much more effective this is compared to other plugins’ algorithms remains subject to debate. However, this plugin’s five-star rating should be enough as proof of its performance. All that’s left is for you to take a pick which related post plugin you want or need.