Best WordPress Related Post Plugins Compared in 2023

The ultimate goal of any site owner is to convert a visitor into a loyal customer. The most effective way to do it is by making sure your visitors engage with your site as much as possible. Therefore, having related posts on your articles, blogs, web pages, etc, are more important than you think. However, it can be time-consuming to inter-link the posts with the accurate relevant posts. Therefore, I brought you this list of best WordPress related post plugins. Read this article to find the one for you

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List of best WordPress related post plugins

Adding related posts to your site is pretty easy. All you need to do is choose and install the plugin to get started. Following are some hand-picked best WordPress related post plugins to add related posts on your site-

Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP)

Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP) is a dedicated WordPress related post plugin, widely used by WordPress site owners. This plugin is known to support any type of content including web pages, blog posts, custom post types, and more. Moreover, it allows you to exclude content by tags, categories, or custom taxonomies. Furthermore, it lets you control the outlook of your related post look in a list or thumbnail view. On top of that, it offers an additional templating system to control its look. However, it is recommended for people with some technical knowledge only.

In the past, this plugin had a bad reputation for poor performance. However, they made some improvements in the latest updates and there is no such performance issue reported with the latest version. On this note, we’d recommend you to go for this plugin to add related posts on your website and increase your pageviews up to 10%.

Features of YARPP

1. Supports various content types: Offers support for any type of content including web pages, blog posts, custom post types, and more.
2. Shortcode integration: Insert the related posts anywhere on your site easily using the shortcode integration.
3. RSS Feeds: Lets you display related posts in RSS feeds with custom display options.
4. Versatile algorithm: It has a versatile algorithm that considers various factors like post titles, content, custom taxonomies, categories, tags, etc, while displaying the optimum related posts.
5. Option to customize outlook of related posts: It allows you to pick from either thumbnail or list view of related content.
6. Templating system: Offers templating system for advanced control over how your related posts are displayed.
7. Secure: It offers https support which makes it more secure than other WordPress related post plugins.
8. Multisite support: Offers support for multisite and allows you to manage multiple sites from one place.

Pros

• Regular updates and professionally maintained
• Free to use
• REST API Support

Cons

• Its customer support could be better.

Contextual Related Posts

Contextual Related Posts is one of the popular WordPress related post plugins due to its ability to offer high customization. The fact that it is easy and quick to use, offers great features to build highly relevant related posts, and is pretty extendable, makes it quite right for the job. This plugin offers you the option to include posts, pages, blogs, custom post types, and more. Moreover, it lets you display your related posts using a custom block in the Gutenberg editor, using shortcode integration, or even a dedicated widget. Furthermore, it lets you select to include excerpts and thumbnail images along with CRP that is automatically created based on the dimensions specified in its Settings page.

Features of Contextual Related Posts

1. Automatic posts: It can start displaying related posts automatically on your site or RSS feed, created depending on the post title, content, etc.
2. Shortcode integration: add related posts anywhere on your site using the shortcode integration.
3. Dedicated widgets: Add related posts on the sidebars using the dedicated widget feature.
4. Manual related posts: Offers more control over related posts placing by allowing you to manually display the related posts.
5. Functional algorithm: It offers a functional algorithm that finds related posts by title or content of the posts.
6. Custom post types: Allows you to create related posts list by including posts, pages, custom posts, attachments, and more.
7. Caching feature: Automatically caches the related posts output as visitors browse through your site.
8. Exclusion: Allows you to exclude the content by specifying the tags, categories, custom taxonomies, etc.

Pros

• Extendable code
• Easy to use
• Great scope for customization

Cons

• Lack of documentation

Inline Related Posts

Inline Related Posts plugin is slightly different from other WordPress related post plugins. Instead of displaying the related posts at the end of the post, it displays the related posts inside your blog posts. This is another way to spruce up things and increase your page views. It is available for free and is pretty easy to use. Therefore, if you wish to display related posts within your posts and not sidebar, this is the perfect choice.

Moreover, it offers 20 different combinations for displaying these internal links. Furthermore, it places the links so subtly that it catches the attention of your readers without interrupting their reading. Moreover, it lets you control and customize opacity, color, text, border, etc, directly through your WordPress admin panel.

Features of Inline Related Posts

1. Display within your posts: Displaying related posts within the post can offer better engagement.
2. Subtle link placement: It links the related posts so subtly that it catches the attention of your readers without interrupting their reading.
3. 20 internal link displaying combinations: Offers over 20 different combinations for displaying these internal links.
4. Preview change: Allows you to preview the changes you’ve just made instead of refreshing the page.
5. Direct settings: Allows you to make settings directly through your WordPress admin panel.
6. Customization options: Offers you a great scope for customization by allowing you to customize the opacity, text color, border, and copy of your display box.
7. Easy setup: It automatically displays the internal link within your blog posts, avoiding the need for a lengthy setting up process.
8. Affordable premium version: Although it’s free version is enough for an average website, it still offers an affordable premium version with some advanced features.

Pros

• Easy to use
• Offers a free and a paid version
• Preview changes

Cons

• Free version offers a handful of basic features only

Related Posts Thumbnails Plugin

As the name suggests, Related Posts Thumbnails is an easy way to add a related posts box with image thumbnails. It is a quick and easy solution to add automatic or manual related posts to your web pages, posts, custom posts, and more. The plugin is designed for simplicity. Therefore, you can’t expect advanced features like other plugins listed in the list. Overall, it is a great option to add related posts free of cost.

Features of Related Posts Thumbnails

1. Automatic related posts: Its algorithm can obtain related posts automatically depending upon the post title, content, categories, tags, etc.
2. Manual related posts: It allows you to add the related posts manually too.
3. Select type of relation: It allows you to select the type of relation from categories, tags, tags and categories, custom taxonomies, and more.
4. Customization: Allows you to customize background color, text size, text color, border, etc.
5. Specify number of posts: It allows you to specify the number of related posts to a certain post.
6. Support for different languages: It offers support for various languages including Russian, French, Turkish, German, etc.
7. Customize thumbnail size: This plugin allows you to customize thumbnail sizes, display settings, and more.
8. Free of cost: This tool is available 100% free of cost.

Pros

• Support for multiple languages
• Automatic and manual related posts
• Free of cost

Cons

• It was last updated months ago.

Related Posts for WordPress

Related Posts is a lightweight yet powerful solution to add related posts to your WordPress site. Furthermore, it offers an easy set up that allows you to link the related posts automatically and manually. It offers a 100% free of cost version which is enough for an average WordPress site. However, if you think you need some advanced features, you can always upgrade to the premium version.

Features of Related Posts

1. Lightweight solution: This plugin is a lightweight yet powerful solution to include related posts on your WordPress site.
2. Automatic posts:It can add related posts to your posts automatically, depending upon the post titles, tags, categories, and more.
3. Manual posts: It allows you to manually add the related posts.
4. Control from your WP Admin panel: For added convenience, it lets you control your related posts from your WP dashboard.
5. Free of cost: It offers an absolutely free of cost version.
6. Customization: It allows you to customize the text, color, opacity, and more.
7. Dedicated widget: Offers a dedicated widget settings to add related posts on the sidebar of your WordPress site.
8. Styling options: Offers more control over styling by allowing you to throw in your custom CSS.

Pros

• Easy to use
• Free of cost
• Lightweight solution
• Greater customization

Cons

• Paid version is quite expensive

Bonus Related Post Plugins:

There are some plugins which offer very similar functionality of the above mentioned plugins but they do deserve a shout out. So, here are some bonus WordPress related post plugins-

Similar Posts

Similar Posts is a great plugin that allows you to customize the HTML in your output template. It offers dozens of tags to customize and control what posts are displayed in what related order. No other plugin can offer this kind of control over the related posts. However, it has some limitations when it comes to user interface. Overall, it offers great control over what and how you want to display related posts.

Features at a glance

• Great option for tech-savvy user
• Offers control over what and how to display related posts
• Allows you to customize the HTML in your output template

Related Posts by Taxonomy

Related Posts by Taxonomy can obtain and add related posts to your WordPress site. This plugin can generate excellent related posts as it can find relevant posts. Moreover, it can support multiple display options including image thumbnails, excerpts, links, full posts, and more. However, it allows you to add related posts at the end of the posts only. Moreover, you can only add relevant posts using widgets or shortcodes but not Gutenberg block.

Features at a glance

• Multiple display options including image thumbnails, excerpts, links, full posts, and more.
• Add relevant posts using shortcodes or widgets
• Display box customization available

Conclusion

So here is your list of the best WordPress related post plugins. We, at TemplateToaster, always try to educate our readers on topics that might interest them. For more such blogs/articles, subscribe to us. Related posts are a great option to inter-link your informative blogs/articles. They can help increase overall engagement on your site. Check out how to install WordPress.

I hope this article helped you pick the right solution to include related posts on your website. Let me know in the comments which related posts plugin you picked and how it turned out for you!