We have written a few posts that had related topics and we wanted a way to relate the posts to each other. So we set out on a hunt for another plugin that would help us related posts to each other.

We had some criteria that the plugin needed to meet:

• We wanted to be able to relate different posts to each other manually (i.e. we do it ourselves) as opposed to having the plugin relate the posts automatically for us.
• The plugin had to be compatible with our current version of WordPress, which is 2.7
• The plugin had to be maintained within the last 6 months. In other words, we didn’t want a plugin that hadn’t been updated by the author for a while!

So we went to the WordPress.org site and started searching for “related posts” plugins. Well, we ran into a few. The list below shows all the plugins we found and how they held up to our criteria. Please note that the data presented below is what was available as of the writing of this article.

1. Darren’s Related Posts plugin – we found only a single sentence description of the plugin.
   1. Manual relation – appears to automatically relate posts using keywords.
   2. Compatible version – not stated
   3. Recently Updated – Feb 2006
   4. Criteria Matches: 0 out of 3 matches
2. WordPress Related Posts – the description of the plugin is very sparse.
   1. Manual relation – automatically relates posts using tabs
   2. Compatible version – compatible up to 2.6.2
   3. Recently Updated – Oct 2008
   4. Criteria Matches: 1 out of 3 matches
3. Yet Another Related Posts Plugin – there is a great description of the plugin and all the changes that have occurred to it with each new release.
   1. Manual relation – relates the post automatically by using the tags and categories of posts
   2. Compatible version – compatible up to 2.7
   3. Recently Updated – Dec 2008
   4. Criteria Matches: 2 out of 3 matches
4. RELATED POST with THUMBNAIL – There’s a short description of the plugin. It mentions that you can display a thumbnail of the related post (we’re not sure why you would want to display a thumbnail…?)
   1. Manual relation – relates posts using active/passive keyword matches.
   2. Compatible version – compatible up to 2.3
   3. Recently Updated – Feb 2008
   4. Criteria Matches: 0 out of 3 matches
5. search engine related post – the description of the post is difficult to understand
   1. Manual relation – unclear (at least to us)
   2. Compatible version – compatible up to 2.3
   3. Recently Updated – May 2008
   4. Criteria Matches: 0 out of 3 matches
6. Microkids’s Related Posts – the description of this post explains exactly how the post works
   1. Manual relation - You can manually decide which posts to relate to each other based on your own criteria
   2. Compatible version – compatible up to 2.7
   3. Recently Updated – Feb 2009
   4. Criteria Matches: 3 out of 3 matches
7. WordPress Related Posts Plugin – there is a single sentence description of the plugin
   1. Manual relation – relates posts and pages using anchor text defined by you
   2. Compatible version – compatible up to 2.5.1
   3. Recently Updated – Jun 2008
   4. Criteria Matches: 1 out of 3 matches
8. Related Posts by Category – there’s a good description of the plugin
   1. Manual relation – uses post categories to make matches
   2. Compatible version – compatible up to 2.7
   3. Recently Updated – Nov 2008
   4. Criteria Matches: 2 out of 3 matches
9. Contextual Related Post – there’s a description of the plugin, but we’re not clear on how it actually works. It also shows a change log of all the updates that have been performed
   1. Manual relation – we’re not clear how the posts get related, but it may be through categories. We would have to read the author’s homepage and hope for a clearer description
   2. Compatible version – compatible up to 2.7.1
   3. Recently Updated – March 2009
   4. Criteria Matches: 2 out of 3 matches
10. Related Posts by Tags Widget – there’s a brief description of how the plugin works
    1. Manual relation – relates posts using tags
    2. Compatible version – compatible up to 2.7.1
    3. Recently Updated – Feb 2009
    4. Criteria Matches: 2 out of 3 matches

Well, if you haven’t guessed which one we picked from the list above, here it is… (drum roll please)… and the winner is…Microkids’s Related Posts written by Microkid!

Before installing this post, we did a little bit more research. We went to the Microkid’s plugin page to see if there was anything else we needed to know about the plugin before installing it.

Some of the things we found out are:

• This plugin allows you to decide what posts should be related to each other. When you relate one post to another, it automatically creates a reciprocal relation between both posts. For example, if you relate post A to post B, then post B is now related to post A.
• You have the option of displaying your related posts at the end of each post, or in the sidebar.
• For those of you who are HTML savvy, there are other options available for configuring the display of the related posts by adding code into your template.

We liked what we saw, so we proceeded to install the plugin as per the instructions provided in WordPress.org. Once it was installed, we activated the post in the usual manner.

Configuring the plugin is very self explanatory and easy. Under WordPress Settings, select the newly added Related Posts option. This brings up the following screen.

Related Posts Configuration Settings

The only default option we changed was the last question. We changed the default text to display that there aren’t any related posts from “None” to “No Related Posts.” We felt that this provided a better description.

Also, as mentioned previously, this is the screen where you can use to configure your related posts to appear on the sidebar by using the widget provided, or to configure the post by adding code to your theme files. Please note that instructions to do this are found on the Microkid’s plugin page. We’ve chosen to have the related posts appear at the end of the post, so we left this option unchanged.

Once this configuration piece is done, using the plugin is also very easy. Simply go to the Edit page of one of your posts you want to relate to 1 or more other posts. There will be a Related Posts section.

Related Post Editing Options

Under the Search posts text box, start typing the name of the post you want to find. The nice part about this is that this is not case sensitive, and as you start typing you will start seeing a list of all the posts that match the text that you enter. Once your post appears in the list, simply click on the post. This will put an entry of the post in the Related text box. Repeat this process for all the posts that you want to relate.

Once you’ve related all your posts, remember to Update the post to save all the changes you’ve made.

That’s all there is to configuring and using this plugin. As you can see, it’s very simple. Hmmm, maybe ‘simple’ should have been part of our criteria as well! Well, maybe for the next plugin.

Cheers!