A reader who finishes a post is the most engaged visitor you will get, and the default ending gives them nowhere to go.
A related posts listing shows what else covers the same subject, matched from the post they just read.
Before You Start
- Edition: Pro — related listings needs Nexter Blocks Pro.
- Block to enable: Post Listing, switched on under Nexter > Blocks in your WordPress dashboard.
- A single post template to put the block in.
- Categories or tags actually assigned to your posts, because that is what the matching uses.
Steps
- Edit your single post template.
- Add a Post Listing block below the content.
- Set the listing type to related.
- Choose whether to match by category, by tag, or by both.
- Set a small count, normally three or four, then save and open a real post.
How It Behaves
In related mode the block reads the current post’s terms and finds others that share them.
- Matching is by category or tag, or both, depending on the setting. There is no content analysis involved, so the quality of the matches depends entirely on how well your posts are categorised.
- The current post is excluded, so a reader is never offered the post they are already on.
- It only works inside a single post template, where there is a current post to read terms from.
- With both selected the match is broader, since a post sharing either a category or a tag qualifies.
- Measured with Nexter Blocks Pro deactivated: this stops working. The block still renders a plain list of posts, so there is no error to see — just the feature quietly missing.
Limitations
- Pro only — measured with Nexter Blocks Pro deactivated, the listing does not follow the current post.
- It is only as good as your taxonomy. Posts filed under one broad category will produce related lists that are barely related.
- A post with no categories or tags gets nothing, so the section can appear empty on some posts.
- It cannot rank by relevance. Matching posts come back in the usual order, not best-match first.
- Broad categories give poor matches, which is usually a content problem rather than a block one.
Troubleshooting
The related section is empty on some posts
Those posts have no categories or tags in common with anything else. Check the terms are actually assigned.
The matches are not very related
Your categories are too broad. Narrower categories or tags produce better matches, since the block matches on terms rather than meaning.
It shows the post I am reading
It should not. Check the listing type is set to related rather than a normal listing.
It shows nothing in the editor
Expected. There is no current post in the editor. Open a real post.
