Top 6 Related Posts Plugins for WordPress [con't]
3. Related Posts Link WordPress Plugin
The Related Posts WordPress plugin allows you to manually control which posts go with which posts. It's a nice idea for small blogs, but you will need something more automatic when your blog starts growing. However, if you want total control of this feature of your blog, this plugin is going to be great for you.
4. LinkWithin WordPress Plugin
LinkWithin is one of my favorite related posts plugins for WordPress. Other than being pretty easy to use and quite easy on the eyes, LinkWithin is also available for several content management systems other than WordPress. The plugin looks at tags, but it also analyzes other things such as relevancy and recentness. Unlike some of the other plugins that do the same thing, LinkWithin doesn't just display a list of headlines underneath each post, but also generates a thumbnail with a picture from each post, which makes it far more attractive than most of its competitors.
Installing LinkWithin is easy. From your WordPress dashboard select Plugins, Add New and Upload the file from your computer. Activate and you are in business. One thing that pleasantly surprised me was that the plugin worked seamlessly with the two or three WordPress themes that I tested it with. Also some of the search engine optimization that the plugin does for the content it generates makes it very useful.
5. Yet Another Related Posts Plugin or YARPP
The great thing about YARPP is that it scans your database of posts and attempts to match up the current post with anything similar you have produced previously, helping to maintain the theme of the information and of course relate the information to something similar (as the plugin name suggests).
6. Another Random Posts Widget
This plugin is a bit different from the others that I have discussed. All of the other plugins look for a related post. The Another Random Posts Widget generates a widget in your sidebar where it displays random posts that you have made earlier. This accomplishes the same goal of promoting and re-using old content.
Conclusion
Most of the plugins listed here do a great job -- albeit a bit differently from the others, but they have the same aim. They all help you keep your old content alive, both to users and to search engines. It is quite hard to pick a favorite plugin from all of these. However, if I had to decide on one, I'd choose the YARPP plugin. I found that it has the best set of options in the admin panel, it uses templates, and it is fully customizable. I also really liked the LinkWithin plugin's ease of use.
Original: October 18, 2010
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