Related posts, which normally displayed beneath an article, allow your visitors to see other articles related to the one they are currently reading. Displaying related posts is one of the best practices to reduce the bounce rate on your site.
Not all WordPress themes offer a feature to display related posts, though. If you use a theme that offers no feature to display related posts then you can install a plugin (you can select one from the list below).
Some themes that have a built-in feature to display related posts are Divi and Newspaper. Or, if you use Elementor on your WordPress site, you can achieve the same thing by creating a custom single post template and add related posts using the Posts widget. You can display related posts by categories or tags.
Best WordPress Related Posts Plugins
Here are some plugins you can try if the theme you use offers no feature to display related posts.
1. Yet Another Related Posts Plugin
Yet Another Related Posts Plugin or often shortened as YARPP is one of the most popular WordPress related posts plugins with over 100,000 users. It is a great plugin if you use a free WordPress theme that offers no built-in feature to display related posts. YARPP displays the related posts beneath your articles in with or without thumbnails, according to your setting.
There are some parameters you can set. For instance, you can exclude articles older than the current article or display related articles that were published during certain periods. YARPP also allows you to set custom rules. You can set YARPP to consider/ignore the following parameters:
- Title
- Body
- Category
- Tag
YARPP itself is released a s freemium plugin. While you can use it for free, there are some advanced features you can unlock on the pro version.
2. WordPress Infinite Related Next Post Manager
WordPress Infinite Related Next Post Manager allows you to display related posts on your WordPress in a wide range of ways. You can, for instance, set the related posts to be displayed on the bottom side of the screen or floating on the sidebar. There are 4 styles you can choose from to display the related posts on your site:
- Infinite loading
- Top Slider
- Bottom Slider
- Left Sidebar
While WordPress Infinite Related Next Posts Manager is great for free themes, it is also compatible with paid themes like Avada, Jupiter, Newspaper, X Theme, BeTheme, and so on.
3. Related Posts for Distinct Posts
Related Posts for Distinct Posts is a great plugin you can try if you want to display different related posts on individual posts to prevent duplicate related posts. If you don’t set related posts on individual posts, the plugin will display random related posts just like the first two plugins above. The random related posts are displayed based on the rules you set.
For instance, you can set the plugin to display related posts from the same category as the current article. To customize the related posts, the Related Posts for Distinct Posts plugin offers an option to set the thumbnail sizes.
4. Contextual Related Posts
Looking for a feature-rich free related posts plugin? If yes then Contextual Related Posts is worth trying. The plugin is completely free to use. There is no premium version is offered like YARPP. Yet, Contextual Related Posts offer plenty of options to set how the related posts to be displayed. If you have CSS knowledge, you can even add your custom CSS to style up the appearance of the related posts section. The Contextual Related Posts plugin allows you to display the related posts in several areas within the single post.
- Before the post content
- After a certain paragraph
- Beneath the post content
To support its placement flexibility, Contextual Related Posts allows you to set the number of related posts to be displayed (you also display only one related post). To get as relevant related posts as possible, you can also filter the related posts by publication period, title, content, and several other parameters.
5. Post Custom Templates Pro
You can use Post Custom Templates Pro to create a custom single post layout on your WordPress site, regardless of the theme you use. The custom single post layout you created will replace the default single post layout of your theme.
There are some elements you can add to your custom single post layout, including related posts. You can use the following parameters to filter the related posts:
- Categories
- Tags
Or you can also manually select related posts for individual posts. Pretty similar to Related Posts for Distinct Posts (point 3 above).
6. Inline Related Posts
Inline Related Posts is the best option if you want to display a related post within the post content. You can set the related post to be displayed after a certain number of words on each blog post. Not just text, you can also display the thumbnail of the featured image to make the displayed related post looks more appealing.
The plugin also offers a customization tool with a real-time previewer. To save you time in customizing the related post, there are also predefined themes you can choose from. About the related post itself, you can set the plugin to display the related post by category or tag.
7. Related Posts by WPBrigade
If you are looking for a free plugin to display related posts on your WordPress site, Related Posts by WPBrigade is another solution you can try. The plugin will display the related posts beneath each article on your website. The plugin offers styling options that you can use to style up the related posts box.
