One of the essential elements that you need to maintain for succeeding in your online journey is to keep your loyal user base & followers engaged and connected to your brand. The Related Posts widget is one of the best strategies in that direction. Of course, it may appear to be insignificant when you think of it, but it is indeed a great option to increase your user engagement. In this post, we will explain you step by step to show Related Posts in WordPress.
How to Show Related Posts in WordPress?
Related Posts can indeed be an excellent option in many ways. It is not some option to increase the ornamental value of your site but goes a long way in reducing your bounce rate. It can help you reduce your bounce rate, improve your AdSense revenue and increase your page views.
There are several ways this can be achieved. Let us check out how can we add the functionality manually.
Why Should You Use Related Posts in WordPress Blogs?
The major purpose you create a website is to get more visitors to your site and aid you in getting more ad revenue. Of course, you may get visitors, but the point is to get them to stay with you. Converting the one time visitors who may have come as a result of the search results into loyal or regular clients is the key to improving your site performance.
If you have been in the online industry for a considerable time, you should be aware of the effects bounce rate can have on your overall website or blog performance. The related posts widget can be beneficial for reducing the amount of bounce rate while helping you hike your ad revenue to a considerable extent by increasing page views and average session duration per user.
One of the simplest and easiest ways is to improve the likelihood of retaining your visitors is to convert your one time visitors into loyal readers. Related posts will ensure that they will be able to read more content in addition to the post that they have arrived at. One of the ways you can achieve it is through interlinking. However, since interlinking interrupts their regular flow of reading, it may go unnoticed at times. In such circumstances, the related posts feature will provide them with a way to visit other related content after they have completed reading the post.
Ways to Add Related Posts in WordPress
1) Add Show Related Posts Manually
You can add the widget without the need for a plugin easily. Now that you are looking for adding the functionality for each one of your blog posts, it may be ideal to make the changes in the single.php file. So, launch your Single.php file for editing and simple code. You will need to add the following code to the contents of the file –
<div class=”relatedposts”>
<h3>Related posts</h3>
<?php
$orig_post = $post;
global $post;
$tags = wp_get_post_tags($post->ID);
if ($tags) {
$tag_ids = array();
foreach($tags as $individual_tag) $tag_ids[] = $individual_tag->term_id;
$args=array(
‘tag__in’ => $tag_ids,
‘post__not_in’ => array($post->ID),
‘posts_per_page’=>4, // Number of related posts to display.
‘caller_get_posts’=>1
);
$my_query = new wp_query( $args );
while( $my_query->have_posts() ) {
$my_query->the_post();
?>
<div class=”relatedthumb”>
<a rel=”external” href=”<? the_permalink()?>”><?php the_post_thumbnail(array(150,100)); ?><br />
<?php the_title(); ?>
</a>
</div>
<?php }
}
$post = $orig_post;
wp_reset_query();
?>
</div>
Well, that will help you get the related posts with every post you publish on your blog. However, do remember that you will need to tag every one of your posts. The tags will help you establish the relationships between your posts. This will help you render the related posts in the right manner.
The second method you would be using for the related posts would be o go with the plugins. They will indeed simplify the tasks and automate almost all the tasks with ease.
2) Show Related Posts in WordPress using Plugin
Of course, not everyone is comfortable with adding the codes to the core files in WordPress. It is not an easy task for you if you are not tech savvy or do not have enough coding knowledge.
There are some cases where your theme consists of the heavy level of coding with multiple levels of widgets and other areas. In such cases, adding code can make your theme go haywire. That is the scenario where you would expect to use a plugin that can get the work done without affecting your code or theme.
There are several plugins you can put to use. Let us check out a few best plugins can help you easily. Some of the plugins include –
3) Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP)
It is possibly the best-rated plugin for the related posts in the WordPress repository. Commonly referred to YARRP, it gives the readers a complete list of a few select posts and pages related to the current post.
Having more than 200,000 installations, it owes its popularity to the highly advanced algorithm that is based on. It analyses the post and compares the post titles, content, tags, and categories before populating the related posts list for your readers.
Apart from the advanced algorithm, yet another feature that goes in its favor include the lightweight design and a custom templating functionality. The latter should be a great choice if you are an advanced user. The latest version has introduced caches for the posts and thereby has introduced a better performance. You can use the plugin for both posts and pages.
4) Yuzo Related Posts
Yuzo – Related Posts is possibly yet another free related posts plugin. A few of the best options you would find interesting enough include a caching system and a faster loading mechanism.
The Yuzo -Related Posts plugin offers you multiple design options so that you can choose the perfect design that goes well with all the other elements of your site perfectly. The plugin is incredibly faster and completely lightweight in all its features and functions.
The admin interface and other details are rather easy and simpler for the beginners. However, the plugin may not be compatible with some of the latest WordPress themes.
If you are interested, you may give it a try at WordPress Plugin Repository.
5) Jetpack
Jetpack is possibly the most popular plugin that almost all of us WordPress users have been using. The all in one plugin can perform a host of activities in one single package. Its functionality is not limited to any particular area but covers almost all features that a WordPress user may be looking for.
What makes it an excellent option for related posts functionality? Well, first and foremost, it is free. You can make use of the WordPress infrastructure for most of its functions. It is the best, and simplest option to activate the related posts feature on your blog posts. It offers you a one-click functionality that makes it a great choice.
However, you need to use the complete Jetpack package for implementing the related posts feature, and this is what some users may not be happy with. Moreover, it may not work with other post types.
6) Related Posts plugin by AddThis
AddThis has been one of the most popular shares and followed plugin for most of your needs. However, you also have access to the best-related posts plugin for your requirements. It can help you show more related posts in a widely relevant manner.
The plugin offers you a modern and attractive interface that helps you show your related posts in a more positive and polished way. What makes it entirely different from the other plugins used for the same purpose is its ability to show the related posts in multiple ways. Some of the supported options include on the page scroll, bottom of the blog posts, and hovering suggestions.
You have the choice of multiple beautiful designs to choose from. The plugin offers you several choices including light, grey, dark, and transparent. It also provides you the analytics for the related posts in addition to showing you the share counts as well. It may slightly affect your page loading speed, but generally, the difference is extremely minute and can be ignored. And lastly, you would need to have an AddThis account if you want to use the customization and analytics feature.
You can download the plugin for free.
7) Shareaholic
One more free plugin for showing the related posts, Shareaholic has been one of the prominent options for share and followed functionalities. You also have an additional related posts widget that comes as a part of the plugin. However, if you want a high level of customization, it may not be the ideal cost.
The plugin is available as a one pack option for share, follow and related posts features. You have a few modified display options for displaying your related posts. You can display your related posts at the bottom of your page and go with any of the options like rounded, card, or classic designs for the display. The plugin comes with analytics for the shares and clicks. The easy to install plugin offers a few basic themes for customizing your related posts.
If you think you are interested in this plugin and want to give it a try, you can find it from the WordPress plugin directory.
In Conclusion
Related Posts option is an excellent way of increasing your page views and average session duration per user which indirectly has an impact on your direct revenue. If your visitors can find more posts related to the content that they are currently reading, it keeps user engagement at the highest level. So opt for the best options for the right technique to keep your one time visitors stick around to your site and make them consume more content from your website and thus become your long-term readers. You can use any option of your preference to achieve the task – use the coding if you are comfortable with the concept or go with a good plugin that achieves the task without your intervention.
What do you think about the related posts functionality in WordPress and the effects that it has on your blog performance? Which methods do you employ for implementing the related posts functionality inside your WordPress blog? In case, you are using plugins for the purpose, which plugins would you recommend to our readers? Share your thoughts, opinions, and experiences about the related posts feature and the plugins for the same through the comments with us.
