The Ultimate Guide to Displaying Related Posts in WordPress (2023)

Hey there, WordPress user! Are you looking to keep visitors engaged longer and boost your pageviews? Displaying related posts is a powerful way to entice readers to explore more of your amazing content.

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In this expert guide, we‘ll walk you through exactly how to set up related posts on your WordPress site. Whether you‘re a beginner or a seasoned pro, you‘ll learn how to show highly relevant content suggestions that your audience will love.

By the end of this post, you‘ll be able to:

Understand the key benefits of related posts for SEO, engagement, and conversion
Set up related posts automatically using simple plugins
Code your own customized related posts display
Optimize related post placement and design for maximum impact
Troubleshoot common related post issues

Let‘s get started!

Why You Need to Be Showing Related Posts

Before we dive into the technical stuff, let‘s talk about why you should be displaying related posts on your WordPress site in the first place.

Here are some eye-opening statistics:

Sites with related posts suggestions show a 20% increase in pageviews compared to those without (Source: AddThis)
Displaying related content can reduce bounce rate by up to 15% by encouraging visitors to view additional pages (Source: Neil Patel)
Recommended articles can boost time on site by 5-10% – great for SEO and ad revenue (Source: Chartbeat)
40% of visitors will click on a related post if it catches their interest (Source: Outbrain)

Clearly there are massive benefits to keeping readers on your site with related content. But how exactly does this work?

When a visitor lands on a post they like, they‘re primed to consume more on that topic. Related posts capitalize on this interest by saying "Hey, since you enjoyed this article, here are a few more you‘ll probably like!"

Instead of bouncing away after one pageview, the visitor clicks a related post and continues engaging with your site. The more they consume, the more they come to trust your brand as a valuable resource.

Over time, this increases the likelihood they‘ll become a returning visitor, join your email list, or purchase your products. All the more reason to put related posts to work for you!

How WordPress Related Posts Plugins Work

The easiest way to add related posts to WordPress is by using a plugin. But how do these plugins determine which posts to display as "related"?

While the specifics vary by tool, most related content plugins follow a similar approach:

Analyze post content: When you publish a new post, the plugin scans your content and extracts keywords and phrases
Compare to existing posts: The plugin searches your previously published posts for those that contain similar keywords and phrases
Check additional criteria: Depending on settings, the plugin may also look at data like categories, tags, author, and publish date to determine relevance
Calculate a score: The plugin assigns each potential related post a score based on how closely it matches the current post across various factors
Display top matches: The posts with the highest relevance scores get displayed as related content, often in order from most to least relevant

Some related post plugins use advanced language analysis and machine learning to make eerily accurate recommendations – but these tend to be premium tools.

For most WordPress sites, a simple free plugin that matches based on keywords and taxonomies is plenty. Let‘s look at a few popular options.

Manually Displaying WordPress Related Posts

If you‘re code-savvy, you can skip the plugins and add a related posts section manually. This gives you complete control over the content, style, and placement.

Here‘s some example code to add to your theme‘s single.php file where you want the related posts to appear:

< ?php
$orig_post = $post;
global $post;
$tags = wp_get_post_tags($post->ID);

if ($tags) {
  $tag_ids = array();
  foreach($tags as $tag) $tag_ids[] = $tag->term_id;

  $args=array(
    ‘tag__in‘ => $tag_ids,
    ‘post__not_in‘ => array($post->ID),
    ‘posts_per_page‘=> 3,
    ‘ignore_sticky_posts‘=>1
  );
  $related_query = new wp_query($args);
  if( $related_query->have_posts() ) {
    echo ‘<div class="related-posts">‘;
    echo ‘<h3>Related Posts</h3>‘;
    while ($related_query->have_posts()) {
      $related_query->the_post(); ?>

      <div class="related-post">
        <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark">
          <?php the_post_thumbnail(‘thumbnail‘); ?>
          <?php the_title(); ?>
        </a>
      </div>

    <?php }
    echo ‘</div>‘;
  }
}
$post = $orig_post;
wp_reset_query();
?>

This code does the following:

Grabs the tags for the current post
Gets the IDs of posts with those same tags (excluding current post)
Runs a custom query to retrieve the top 3 related posts by tag
Outputs the related posts in a div with thumbnail images and titles linked

You‘ll likely want to add some CSS to style the .related-posts div and .related-post elements to match your theme.

Feel free to customize this code to pull from categories, change the number of posts, or add a custom thumbnail size. You can refer to the WordPress codex for more template tags and parameters to experiment with.

Where to Display Related Posts

You have a few options for where related posts appear on your site. The most common placements are:

Below post content – This is the most typical spot to show related links so readers see them right after finishing your article. It‘s great for catching them while they‘re still engaged.
In the sidebar – Adding a related posts widget to your sidebar makes the links visible across your site (not just on single post pages). This can encourage more browsing.
Inline – Some plugins let you insert related links inside your post content at specific points. This is helpful for referencing other content as needed.
Popup – For a more aggressive approach, you could show related posts in a popup or slide-in when the visitor reaches the end of the post. This grabs attention but risks annoying some folks.

There‘s no universal "right" placement for related content. We recommend picking 1-2 locations and monitoring your analytics to see which gets the most clicks and engagement.

Optimizing Related Posts for Clicks & Engagement

Throwing a few related links on your site is a start – but you‘ll see better results by optimizing your related posts for maximum click-through rates.

Here are some tips:

Use eye-catching thumbnails – Featuring a relevant image thumbnail for each related post can increase clicks up to 50% compared to text-only links. Just keep your images a reasonable size so they don‘t slow down your pages.
Write compelling headlines – Your related post titles make a big difference in whether people actually click. Write clear, benefit-driven headlines that spark curiosity or promise to solve the reader‘s problem.
Limit the number of posts – Showing 20 related links is overwhelming. Stick to 2-5 post suggestions at most to avoid choice paralysis. Focus on the most enticing, relevant content.
Prioritize recent content – Newer, more timely posts often perform better as related suggestions. Consider setting your plugin to only pull from posts in the last 6-12 months.
Promote high-converting posts – Have an article that drives a ton of email signups? A video that sells your course like crazy? Whenever relevant, feature these proven winners as related content. Don‘t just rely on the algorithm.
Experiment with different designs – Test out showing related posts in a simple list vs. a visual grid with images. Try different headline and excerpt lengths. See what gets the most engagement and go with that.

Above all, make sure your related content truly is related. If you shoehorn in irrelevant links just to get clicks, you‘ll annoy visitors and sabotage your efforts. Focus on legitimately similar topics and you‘ll keep readers happy.

Boost Engagement With Strategic Related Content

Congratulations – you‘re now a related posts pro!

With a solid related content strategy, you‘ll keep visitors engaged longer, rack up more pageviews, and convert more of your traffic. It‘s a low-effort, high-impact way to unlock greater success for your WordPress site.

The key takeaways:

Highlighting related posts boosts engagement, lowers bounce rates, and drives more conversions
Choose from simple plugins, advanced algorithms, or custom-coded solutions to add related posts
Optimize your placement, design, and headlines to maximize visibility and click-throughs
Feature your most compelling, relevant content to give visitors exactly what they want

Now it‘s your turn! Whether you‘re installing a plugin or diving into code, set aside a few minutes today to start displaying related posts on your site.

Have any other questions about related content? Looking for personalized advice on your WordPress strategy? Drop a comment below – we‘d love to help!