Comparing Related Posts Feature

The recent JetPack version 2.9 includes a new Related Posts feature comparably seen on many, many sites. Just for comparison sakes, I have three different related posts engines running right now on Pulpconnection:

1. JetPack
2. Outbrain
3. Similar Posts

I don’t intend to keep all three running, but I want to see the differences in suggested posts.

JetPack’s offering is pretty basic right now. You cannot customize its heading of “Related.” You can show the heading or not show it. Changing the number of related posts it displays requires a bit of effort. And you can display an image with each related post or not. That’s it.

Outbrain is a third party service used by several commercial sites. With Outbrain, you have a few more customization options including displaying text or images, the number of recommended posts, and the source of recommended posts.

Lastly, Similar Posts is a WordPress plugin that, you guessed it, shows similar posts. While purely textual, Similar Posts offers the most options including tuning how matches are made. However, this plugin hasn’t seen active development for some time. It still works with modern versions of WP, and I think offers the best results of similar posts.

Here’s a quick look at all three in action for a random post, Almost Peet’s Coffee Kailua. There’s hardly any text for this post, one image, the tags of coffee, hawaii, kailua, peets, windward, and two categories of life and addiction.

Similar Posts and JetPack have very similar recommendations with Similar Posts showing a more relevant “Coffee in Kailua” over “Crepes in Kailua.” I’m not sure where Outbrain is going with recommendations relating to Club 939 and less parking at Ala Moana.

Here is another example from the popular post, 21 Slang Words You Should Know Before Visiting Hawaii (Part 1).

Again, Similar Posts and JetPack overlap their similarities and rightfully link to Part 2 of the slang list. Outbrain goes on another tangent, suggesting pre-ordering Frozen, a virtual browser, a Buttnut, and another Club 939 post. What’s with Outbrain and Club 939?! Outbrain does say that it provides smarter engagement catering to the audience, so who knows? Maybe pulpy readers are more enthralled with Club 939 and Buttnut donuts.

Anyways, I’ll eventually pick one (or two) of these similar posts providers for the discovery of additional pulpy content. Which one I’m not sure about, but it is funny to see the comparisons.