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Relatedly

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Description

Relatedly automatically displays related posts to keep readers engaged and reduce bounce rate. It matches posts by categories, tags, or both, and offers multiple display styles to fit any theme.

Key Features:

  • Inline related posts — insert related posts between paragraphs at a configurable interval
  • End-of-content related posts — append a related posts section after post content
  • 8 inline themes — Simple, Minimal, Featured, Quote, Badge, Callout, Gradient, Card
  • 6 end-of-content themes — List, Simple List, Masonry, Carousel, Timeline, Compact
  • RSS feed integration — add related posts to your RSS feed with UTM tracking
  • Click & impression tracking — built-in analytics dashboard
  • Email reports — scheduled weekly or monthly performance reports
  • Floating sidebar — optional floating related posts widget
  • CSS custom properties — all colours are user-configurable without touching code
  • Performance-first — pool-based queries ordered by date (no ORDER BY RAND()), transient caching, conditional asset loading
  • Developer-friendly — PSR-4 autoloading, template override system, action/filter hooks

Developer Filters:

  • relatedly_inline_labels — modify the inline label pool
  • relatedly_end_content_labels — modify the end-content label pool
  • relatedly_excluded_elements — add custom HTML elements to exclude from inline insertion
  • relatedly_rss_utm_parameters — modify UTM parameters for RSS links
  • relatedly_rss_output_format — customise RSS inline post HTML
  • relatedly_rss_end_content_format — customise RSS end-content post HTML
  • relatedly_register_themes — register custom themes via ThemeRegistry

Template Overrides:

Place template files in your-theme/relatedly/inline/simple.php (etc.) to override any theme template without modifying plugin files.

Support

Credits

Built by Krafty Sprouts Media, LLC.

Third-party libraries included in this plugin:
* Choices.js — MIT License
* Tippy.js — MIT License
* Popper.js — MIT License
* SweetAlert2 — MIT License
* Flatpickr — MIT License
* Chart.js — MIT License
* DataTables — MIT License

Privacy

This plugin collects the following data when click tracking is enabled:

  • Source post ID (the post the visitor was reading)
  • Clicked post ID (the related post that was clicked)
  • Display type (inline, end_content, or floating)
  • Event type (click or impression)
  • IP address
  • User agent string
  • Timestamp

This data is stored in the wp_relatedly_clicks table in your WordPress database. It is used solely for the statistics dashboard and email reports. It is never transmitted to external servers.

To disable data collection: Go to Relatedly Settings General and uncheck “Enable Click Tracking”.

Data retention: Rows older than 90 days are automatically deleted by a monthly scheduled task. The retention period is configurable in Settings.

GDPR: This plugin integrates with WordPress’s built-in personal data tools (Tools Export Personal Data / Erase Personal Data).

Installation

  1. Upload the relatedly folder to /wp-content/plugins/
  2. Activate the plugin through the Plugins menu in WordPress
  3. Go to Relatedly Settings to configure display options
  4. Related posts will appear automatically on single post pages

FAQ

Does this plugin slow down my site?

No. Relatedly uses a pool-based query strategy — it fetches 30 posts ordered by date (using the database index), caches the pool per post with a configurable TTL, and shuffles in PHP. This avoids the expensive ORDER BY RAND() pattern used by many related post plugins.

Can I customise the look of related posts?

Yes. Each theme’s colours are configurable via CSS custom properties in the settings. Use Appearance Customize Additional CSS in WordPress for site-wide styling beyond the built-in colour options.

Can I override templates in my theme?

Yes. Create a relatedly/ folder in your theme directory and place template files there. For example, your-theme/relatedly/inline/simple.php will override the Simple inline theme template.

Does it work with custom post types?

Yes. Go to Settings General and select which post types to enable.

Does it work with RSS feeds?

Yes. Enable RSS integration in Settings RSS Feed. Related posts are added inline and at the end of each feed item, with configurable UTM parameters for tracking.

Is click tracking GDPR compliant?

The plugin stores IP addresses and user agents in a custom database table. This is disclosed in the Privacy section below. You can disable tracking entirely in Settings General. The plugin integrates with WordPress’s built-in personal data export and erasure tools.

How do I disable related posts on specific posts?

Use the relatedly_excluded_elements filter or disable the plugin for specific post types in Settings General.

Reviews

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Contributors & Developers

“Relatedly” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

Contributors

Translate “Relatedly” into your language.

Interested in development?

Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.

Changelog

2.0.7

  • Fix UTF-8 BOM in Floating Variant class files (rewritten through editor with proper file header docblocks)
  • Fix MissingTranslatorsComment — phpcs:ignore moved above the translators comment so it sits directly before printf()
  • Fix InterpolatedNotPrepared warnings — SQL extracted to $sql variable so phpcs:ignore lands on the flagged line
  • Fix NoCaching false positives — phpcs:ignore extended to cover the query call lines in DataProvider
  • Fix OutputNotEscaped in floating sidebar variant label
  • Fix PreparedSQL.NotPrepared in DataProvider query calls

2.0.6

  • Fix UTF-8 BOM in Floating Variant class files — rewritten through editor, also adds proper file header docblocks
  • Fix MissingTranslatorsComment — move phpcs:ignore above the translators comment so it sits directly before printf()
  • Fix InterpolatedNotPrepared warnings — extract SQL strings to $sql variable so phpcs:ignore lands on the correct line
  • Fix NoCaching false positives — extend phpcs:ignore to cover the query call lines in DataProvider

2.0.5

  • Fix stable tag mismatch between readme.txt and plugin header
  • Fix str_ends_with() replaced with substr() for PHP 7.4 / WordPress 5.0 compatibility
  • Fix table name escaping in all direct DB queries (esc_sql())
  • Add targeted phpcs:ignore for false-positive nonce/escaping/prefix sniffs in templates and stream-wrapper file ops
  • Normalize mixed line endings in Floating Variant class files

2.0.4

  • Fix escaping compliance: replace pre-built HTML attribute strings with individual scalar values escaped at output time across all 19 templates

2.0.3

  • Remove languages/.gitkeep and dev markdown files from distribution package
  • Include composer.json when vendor/ is bundled

2.0.2

  • Restore Plugin URI to https://kraftysprouts.com/portfolio/relatedly/

2.0.1

  • WordPress.org review compliance: wire email report scheduling, remove custom CSS field, update premium upsell copy
  • Remove bundled jQuery — use WordPress core jQuery for DataTables
  • Upgrade SweetAlert2 to a privacy-safe release
  • Remove load_plugin_textdomain() — translations load automatically on WordPress.org
  • Update Plugin URI and contributors list

2.0.0

  • Complete rebuild — PSR-4 architecture, no CDN dependencies, pool-based queries
  • All third-party libraries bundled locally (Choices.js, Tippy.js, SweetAlert2, Flatpickr, Chart.js, DataTables)
  • Declarative options schema replaces 360-line procedural sanitizer
  • CSS custom properties replace inline styles on every element
  • PHP template files replace HTML string concatenation
  • PHPUnit test suite added
  • GDPR data export/erasure hooks added
  • Batched impression tracking (one AJAX request per container)
  • Monthly tracking data pruning cron added

1.9.15

  • Namespace refactor completed (ksm_relatedly relatedly)
  • Table schema version tracking added

1.9.13

  • Option and hook prefix changed from ksm_relatedly_ to relatedly_

1.8.8

  • Critical fix: boolean options no longer reset to defaults on page load

1.8.5

  • Label management system — disable individual default labels from admin UI

1.8.4

  • RSS end-content related posts added
  • UTM parameter customization added

1.8.3

  • Floating sidebar added (5 variants)

1.7.0

  • Statistics dashboard, click tracking, email reports added

1.0.0

  • Initial release

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