The Related Posts widget shows your readers "you might also like these posts" at the bottom of each blog post. Great for engagement and helps Google understand which posts on your site are related.
What this is
A section that appears below your post content on the public site. Each related post shows title, optional thumbnail, optional excerpt, and a link.
This is different from Editor Related Posts — that's a panel for YOU (the writer) inside the post-edit screen. This widget is for your READERS on the live site.
Turn it on
- Go to Linkilo → Settings → Related Posts (under the Smart Linking group in the Settings sidebar).
- Toggle Activate Smart Related Posts to ON. The Current Status line switches to ACTIVE.
- Customize the options below.
- Click Save Settings.
Visit one of your blog posts on the public site — you should see the related posts section appear.
No AI is required: the traditional strategies (categories, tags, performance) use no AI credits. AI strategies are optional and need your content processed first (Settings → AI Settings, step 3). You can also switch the widget on from Linkilo → Manage → Setup Guide.
Configuration options
Display Method
Where the widget appears:
- Auto-insert after content — Linkilo adds it after each post's main content. Easiest.
- Manual placement via shortcode — copy
[linkilo_related_posts]and paste into a post template, theme file, or specific post. - Widget placement only — register a WordPress widget you place via Appearance → Widgets.
- Custom hook integration — use
do_action('linkilo_related_posts')from your theme.
Smart positioning (avoid conflicts with ads, CTAs)
Sub-option for Auto-insert. When on, Linkilo tries to find a sensible break point in your content rather than strictly inserting at the end.
Content Selection Strategy
How Linkilo picks which posts are "related" — this is the big one:
Traditional Methods (No AI Required):
- Category Based — posts in the same categories
- Tag Based — posts sharing tags
- Mixed Taxonomy — categories + tags combined
- Performance Based — based on views and comments
- Newest Content First — by recency
- Orphan Content Priority — surfaces posts with few internal links so they get visits
Funnel & Intent Methods:
- Funnel Stage Progressive (TOFU→MOFU→BOFU) — guides readers through your funnel
- User Intent Matching — matches by user intent
- Same Funnel Stage Only — keeps readers in the same stage
AI-Powered Methods (Requires AI Processing):
- Topic Cluster Priority — favors same-cluster posts
- AI Semantic Similarity — full embedding-based matching
- Mixed Intelligent (AI + Traditional) — blends AI with category signals
Hybrid Methods:
- Traditional + AI Enhancement
- Category + Semantic Blend
When you pick a strategy, a short explanation of that strategy appears below the dropdown.
Content Filtering & Targeting
Post Types checkboxes control which types get the widget. Further filters let you boost same-author content, exclude sticky or password-protected posts, exclude already-linked posts, target specific intents, and skip thin or low-performing content.
Display Configuration
Number of Posts to Display · Widget Title (default "Related Articles") · Layout Style (Simple List, Grid Layout, Card Style, Carousel (Recommended), Compact Inline) · grid columns · carousel auto-play · Display Options for thumbnails, excerpts, publish date, estimated reading time, topic cluster badges, author, category and a text-only mode.
Typography & Styling, Performance & Caching
Further down: fonts, colors, borders and spacing for the cards; Cache Duration (12 hours recommended) and loading strategy; and Advanced Customization (custom CSS class, excluded post IDs, custom template override).
Live Preview
The page has a Live Preview card showing sample related posts with your current styling. Click Update Preview to refresh it, or Toggle Mobile View to check small screens. The Preview Notes remind you that real content varies and that you must save to apply changes to the live site.
Maintenance tools
Near the bottom, under Related Posts Management:
- Test Related Posts Generation — compute related posts for one post to verify your strategy.
- Clear Related Posts Cache — wipe cached widget output. Useful after changing strategy.
- Regenerate All Related Posts — recompute for every post. Use after a big strategy switch. In 3.0 this runs in batches of 50 posts and resumes in the background if it is interrupted, so it is safe on large sites.
Per-post control
Every post has a Related Posts Settings box in the editor sidebar. There you can tick Disable related posts for this post, set a Custom Title, override the Selection Strategy for that post only, pin Featured Posts (post IDs to always show first), list Excluded Posts, and click Preview Related Posts.
Common Questions
Will the widget slow my pages down?
A little on first load. Linkilo caches results so subsequent visits are fast. If a page IS slow, use Clear Related Posts Cache then visit the slow page once to warm it.
Can I put it somewhere other than after the post content?
Yes — change Display Method to Manual placement via shortcode and put [linkilo_related_posts] exactly where you want.
Why are the wrong posts being shown as related?
Your selection strategy probably isn't right for your content. Try:
- Category-organized sites: Category Based or Mixed Taxonomy
- Semantic match: AI Semantic Similarity or Topic Cluster Priority
- Funnel-aware sites: Funnel Stage Progressive
After changing strategy, click Regenerate All Related Posts to clear stale cached results.
It doesn't show on my custom post type
Custom post types need to be registered as public to be eligible. Then tick the type under Content Filtering & Targeting → Post Types.
Can I disable it on specific posts?
Yes. Open the post, find the Related Posts Settings box and tick Disable related posts for this post. No need to switch to shortcode placement.
The shortcode [linkilo_related_posts] isn't working
Check:
- Activate Smart Related Posts is ON.
- Display Method is set to anything OTHER than "Auto-insert after content".
- Shortcode is in the post content area (not sidebar/footer).
- Clear cache via Clear Related Posts Cache.
Last reviewed for Linkilo 3.0.0 (October 2026).