Why you should Add Related Posts to your Squarespace Blog
If you’ve visited my blog before, you may have noticed that at the bottom of each post I have a selection of “You May Also Like…” posts. These related posts are an easy way to boost site SEO by encouraging blog readers to click through to another post.
If readers click a related post, this increases the time they spend on your site, increases your page views, and decreases bounce rate (single page site visits), all of which are factors in Google’s search rank algorithm. So, if you are interested in boosting SEO, related posts are a great place to start.
Here are three methods you can use for adding related posts:
1. Use a plugin to set and forget.*
This is the method I use and you can see it at the bottom of this post. The plugin automatically pulls in related posts by category, tag, or both (you choose). You can set the display to show the post image, title, and/or excerpt. Here’s my favorite related posts plugin.
PROS:
you set it up once and never have to think about it again
it looks fantastic
CONS:
there is an initial cost for the plugin (currently $39)
you must be on the Business plan or higher on Squarespace; the Personal plan won’t allow you to install the plugin code
2. Add a text list of linked posts.
Just add text with your post titles and link those up.
You can see examples of this on Paige Brunton’s site. Her post on 4 investments to make when you start a business is a good example of how you can add these at the bottom of a post.
PROS:
it’s free
CONS:
it’s time-intensive; you’ll spend an extra 5-10 minutes (or lots more if you link as many as Paige) on each post sourcing links and setting them up
it doesn’t look as nice as showcasing your thumbnails
3. Use a summary block.
Use the built-in summary block at the end of each post to pull in posts from the same category or tag. This is the method Squarespace mentions, but it has a major drawback.
PROS:
it’s free
CONS:
you have to add a summary block to each post
it repeats your current post in the summary block, which is just weird; for that reason, I don’t recommend this solution unless you add this code from Ryan Dejaegher
