Today we are reviewing 3 must-have picks for WorPress “Related Posts” plugins that both satisfy the end user as well as facilitate optimal internal linking to benefit your websites on page SEO strategy.
This IS NOT a paid review, we do this because this is our way of saying thanks to the developers who toiled away countless hours to share these programs with the WordPress community.
Now you may have thought I was going to promote our WordPress Plugin SEO Ultimate, but we are focusing on a different tact which capitalizes on alternative ways to strengthen internal links (which are the cornerstone to solid SEO campaign).
First up:
Another Random Posts Widget:By Dennis Hoppe
Why is using anything random a good thing for SEO? Because random posts and in this case the “Another Random Posts Widget” by Dennis Hoppe emulates a less static and more dynamic opportunity for both humans and search engine spiders to not rely on the navigation schema alone to find deeper nested content.
Engagement time is a positive SEO ranking factor, the longer the average visitor stays and the more content they consume, the more your brand, website or offering has a chance to receive a click-through.
This is why this plugin is a “must-have” WordPress plugin that keeps things fresh (by randomizing where it links) and keeps spiders guessing while sending them into older posts which could get some “eye time” or link love as a result.
Next up…
Yet Another Related Posts Plugin: by Mitcho
While many of you are familiar with this world-class WordPress plugin, many are not; hence, it’s worth mentioning.
Imagine a plugin that uses an algorithm to identify tags, or overlapping root phrases in titles, and then it automatically suggests 5 related posts in block quotes / footer links under your posts to provide link-flow to them. That is the “Yet Another Related Posts Plugin” by Mitcho (Michael Yoshitaka Erlewine).
Michael is a PHD student in Linguistics at MIT with primary interests in syntax and semantics. Little did he know that a plugin based on his algorithms would save SEO’s thousands of man hours with a few simple clicks. Thanks Michael…
If you are familiar with the SEO tactic of theming link flow from related pages to transfer the maximum amount of internal link weight (linking a like to a like page), this plugin automatically accomplishes this feat on your behalf.
Next up and last but not least…
The IGIT Related Post With Thumbnails by Ankur Gandhi
Much like the Yet Another Related Posts Plugin and the Another Random Posts Widget mentioned above, this plugin implements a stylized thumbnail into the mix and links to four random posts.
While there appears to be no rhyme or reason to the selected posts (and they truly are random) vs. algorithmic, the benefits for conversion and stickiness increase by 5X by adding this plugin which funnels readers into post after post on your blog.
Combine these three Plugins on your WordPress installation (just search for the name in your dashboard using Add Plugins and install) and you can kiss your categories goodbye while adding enough variety for humans and search engines alike.
These three plugins provide both eye candy and internal link opportunities to increase engagement time and give rankings a boost at the same time. if you have any others you would like to suggest, feel free to join the conversation on the SEO Design Solutions Blog.
Reviews or feedback for our Free SEO Plugin SEO Ultimate are always appreciated as we are constantly adding new features to embrace a broader array of tasks to enhance on page optimization for WordPress.
Great post guys. I’ve tried a few different related post widgets. The first one that I used was WP Related posts. I moved away from this since it depends on the WP stats plugin as well (which I no longer use).
Lately, I’ve been using the Contextual Related Post plugin by Mark Ghosh. It’s been working quite well and the algorithm seems to find more relevant matches than WP Related Posts.
Several sites are now using LinkWithin which I haven’t yet tried.
I am going to give IGIT a try (after reading this post) on a few of my websites though. I have VPS hosting, but don’t want anything that dramatically slows page load times or increases server loads, so I’ll see how it works out.
thanks
One more thing too…
As you know, related posts links are probably useful to add to RSS feeds to generate backlinks from scraper sites/Feed aggregators.
Not to mention the name of one of your potential competitors, but the RSS Footer plugin by … is also good for this purpose.
I always install related post plugin to all of my blogs. But the weakness is the displayed link sometime less than 5 because this plugin work depend on same – old posting ‘tag’. Might be I have to try ‘random post’ plugin to cover the weakness
Much thanks for yet another first-rate post.I am always trying to find good seo tricks to recommend to my own readers. Thank you for taking the time to write this tutorial .It’s just what I was looking for.Truly awesome post.
@Jay:
Thanks for stopping by, I will look into the other plugins you suggested and naturally “put them to the test”…
As always, I appreciate the feedback and great suggestions you bring to the table.
@Alwaysasap:
Agreed, if the taxonomy structure is weak, there is “nothing to relate”, at least 2 out of 3 here are truly random and the plugin Jay suggested above may be a better fit for you.
@Carol:
Thank you for visiting and your comments. On page SEO in my opinion represents 65% of conquering a keyword.
Links can only take you so high, and if their metrics change, the SERPs do also – whereas a solid on page strategy can keep your rankings stable and less dependent on off page.
Which is always a plus for competitive keywords.
All the best…
Related Posts by Category: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/related-posts-by-category/
Are you recommending we use all 3 of these at at the same time? I love the IGIT related post with thumbs widget. It really helps to increase page views.
Jeffrey, I tried the IGIT plugin after seeing it on your last post…but I couldn’t get the thumbnails to work.
Question: What do you call it? thumb, thumbnail,timthumb?? Plus, where do you upload your images? Image folder of the plugin, or what? I couldn’t get it to work and I tried searching for clues and no-one was as dumb as me. :P
Susan:
I have noticed, there is a high frequency for “no image” I think a call is in order to the developer to implement a bug fix…
However, it is only infrequent and not consistent in pulling incomplete image blocks…
great post, thanks for sharing, i have been using all in one til now…
we use mikrokids related posts plugin (http://www.microkid.net/wordpress/related-posts/)
you have the full control, in fact you’ve got an additional box on the page to create a new article an you can search vor keywords from other posts and then you have just to add them with one klick.
so you can easily decide which posts are related to a specific topic / article
regards from austria an sorry for my english ;)
Np Thanks Markus, appreciate the contribution.
Best Regards,
Jeffrey
Hi Paul:
I personally do, but the choice is up to you…
All the best.
Jeffrey
The only disadvantage that I am seeing with these plugins is during peak hours when site traffic exceeds 3,000+ visitors and hour. The plugins over load the server CPU due to the fact they call on and off site too much. I find that I must disable them during these times.
You may want to check out nrelate’s Related Content plugin: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/nrelate-related-content/
It runs on the nrelate server so you have no load issues. It also looks great and it’s fast.
Good Informative Post People Like Me I love Posts Like This I Am Going To Apply This Tactics On My Blog….
the plugin to show random posts is just awesome :)
Thanks
i’m using using best related post plugin and it can show the images automatically…it more easier no need custom field as thumbnail…working fine for autoblog sites.
Just upload,active it..viola..its automatically add thumbnail and also you can match it with your theme setting. I forgot the plugin URI but you can download it from http://ifile.it/wl26j8x
Hope it works for you as well,especially for autoblogger
Installed them on my own blogs now … Just waiting for results. Will ping back! Where’s the FB like button again?
thanks for the tips
I’ve installed Igit, just great!
hello – is it just me !! can any one explain why when i type in the firefox browser “www.seodesignsolutions.com” i get a different site yet whe i type it in google its ok? could this be a bug in my system or is any one else having same probs ?
alfie saden
Think its a bug on your side… Canonical is working fine here.
Jeffrey
Thanks for the post! I needed to find out the best related post plugin, and you’ve laid out the facts well enough for me to decide on the one I want. You’ve saved me a lot of time.
I would love a graphic with related post and not random.
Am just missing it or is there one out there?
Thnks, i’ve been looking for plugins like these, good one.
The familiar with the SEO tactic of theming link flow from related pages to transfer the maximum amount of internal link weight
Hi guys, you’re welcome to check our related posts plugin – it also cross promotes posts across our entire network of related websites, and allows you to promote your relevant FB posts as well;
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/cross-promotion-content-recommendations/