The Best Related Post Plugin For WordPress, So Far

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Late last year, I posted a case study about related post plugins and how such plugins may impact on your sites performance. As you well know, site speed not only is extremely important for improved users experience, it also matters for SEO.

At that time, I have chosen some free related post plugins that were great and ended up settling for nRelate, although LinkWithin was also a pretty good contender. The all popular YARPP sadly had to go, as it was using too much resources on my server and slowing down my site. I really needed to get my site loading a bit faster.

Anyway, fast forward some months and once again, I have changed my mind on what “related post plugin” to use. After testing Outbrain, Taboola, and Zemanta, I finally decided to stick with Zemanta for time being. Want to know why? Read on, but first …

What are related posts plugins and why use them?

To avoid being repetitive, I will provide an excerpt of the article mentioned above.

Related posts plugins are tools that WordPress site owners can use to display, either in text or thumbnails, posts that are “similar” to the one users are currently reading. Most of the time, you will see at the end of each post something like, “you may also like”, “post related to …”, etc.

wordpress related post plugin

One thing that some people tend to forget is that often times, visitors do not generally land on our homepage, but rather on specific posts. This is especially true when they arrive via organic search, links clicked via social networks, etc.

One of the reasons related posts are recommended is because it increases users engagement on our site and entices them to stay a while longer, by offering more “options” for them to read about the subject they showed interest in.

Not all related posts plugins are created equal. That much I know. However, some are very similar to each other and while some are more accurate in returning results, some are so so.. This is particularly true when you have many articles posted on your site. One of the problems I had was that I had to limit the amount of “related posts” to show my audience. Another was that in many cases, the results being returned, while relevant, were not exactly what I wanted.

This led me to start using Zemanta, because aside form being free, it returns good results, allows me to “edit” related posts, gives you on the fly stats, mobile optimized and finally, depending on the niche you are in, may even be able to be approached by them to make some money, by showing “promoted posts”. That’s cool!

editable related post plugin

Watch the video below as I walk through how Zemanta works.

That’s it!. If you were looking for a good related post plugin that works quite well, give Zemanta a try.

Quite frankly, the only thing missing from Zemanta right now is to give me the ability to “choose” pages and why not, upload images and linking to any URL I want 🙂 That would be a blast. Maybe they are working on it…

And before I forget, no disclosure required here. This is not a sponsored posts. I simply wanted to share this alternative, in case it fits your needs.

What about you? What related post plugin are you using (if any). Do you know of other alternatives that offer the same features?

DiTesco

DiTesco is a Business and Inbound Marketing Consultant, and founder of iBlogzone.com. iBlogzone's main objective is to help startups and small business owners achieve success in their online ventures. | More About Me and my Digital Marketing Services in SP Brazil.

19 thoughts on “The Best Related Post Plugin For WordPress, So Far”

  • Thanks DiTesco I’ve been researching for one and I don’t think I’ve come across this one. I will check it out for sure. I like how they look at the bottom of the posts. And on mobile, very important!

    • Welcome Lisa. After using quite a lot of them, for now I have settled with Zemanta. Really like the feature of being able to “control” some posts.. Let me know if you install it and how it goes for you

      • I did install it DiTesco and Love it! Thank you so much. Solved my problem looking for them 🙂 I tried like 5 others and didn’t work well. This one was just right!

        • That’s good to know.. Now you know why it is my new favorite 🙂 I’m glad you finally found one that works for you.. Enjoy your weekend

  • Sometimes plugins doesn’t show related posts related to the post, but i think if we start selecting posts manually then it will increase our work only.

    • I agree. However, if you are using a “related post plugin”, I think that having the possibility of improving it, is a lot better despite the extra effort. Don’t you think?

  • This is certainly such a great contraption that you are rendering and you deliver it separate for zero cost. I love looking at websites that know the valuation of giving a superior source of information for zero cost. It is the older what exactly approximately is available close to regular. I want to encourage that you continue your great writing, have a nice afternoon!

  • Zemanta is a good plugin but i had a few issues when it came to my blog’s speed sometimes everything would work good then at times it took about 2 secs extra :/ so i switched to Outbrain never had any problems with them 😀

  • I have never used Zemanta before.The problem is that I am not using WordPress.I generally use Blogger and there is only one Related post plugin there.Its called LinkWithin.It is not as powerful and flexible as Zemanta.

    • Hi Osvaldo. Zemanta does have an option for Blogger. Go there and take a look. It is a bit different, but I think it may be a good option.. try it out

  • Hello!
    Do you have the relate post plugin with small image before the title?
    thank you!

  • I normally use LinkWithin because of 1 click and easy setup. But this edit related post option is new and interesting, as sometimes I find LinkWithin through unrelated links. Surely looking forward for Zemanta. Nice name also 🙂

  • I have stuck with YARPP because some of the others are a little bloated. But I will give this a try again…love the control.

    I like using P3 (Plugin Performance Profiler) to test which plugins are taking up load time.

    • Hi Shiela. I ditched YARPP sometime ago in favor of nRelate because it just consumes too much resources. It was actually with the help of P3 that helped me make that decision a wile back. Great plugin P3, although you need to run the test like at least 3 times over the day and get an average as it provides different results.. Let me know if you give Zemanta a try.. Hope it works for you – luv the control me too 🙂

  • When i started my blog i used YARPP after that Linkwithin, Outbrain but now using nRelate from last 6 months which is working good for me. Now Thinking to give a try to Zemanta after looking at video.

    • Hi. Yeah I tried all of those that you mentioned too, but for now, sticking with Zemanta.. Let´s see for how long

  • Hi DiTesco,
    Thanks for providing such nice info about related plugins. As my own experience i am using YARP which is working fine on my blog. Yes, it will take time to load but you can use W3 catch plugin for best results.

    • HI. Yeah, I actually started with YARP and stayed with it for quite a while. Sadly, it had to go. Good that you are not having any load issues..

  • I have been using Zementa and I also enjoy Yet Another Related Posts plugin, those are my favorites that I use among my main blog and niche type sites.

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