Blogger Tips

How To Add Related Posts Widget To Blogger with Thumbnails

Now here is a wonderful hack for displaying related posts beneath each of your blog posts, along with thumbnails. The related articles are chosen from other posts in that same category/label/tag. With this hack many of your readers will remain on your site for longer periods of time when they see related posts of interest.

Related: Related Posts Widget with Thumbnails and Summaries

related post, related posts blogger, blogger widgets

Adding the Related Posts Widget to Blogger/Blogspot

Step 1. Log in to your Blogger account and go to Template > Edit HTML

Step 2. Click anywhere inside the code area and press the CTRL + F keys:

Step 3. Search for this piece of code adding it inside the search box (hit Enter to find it):

</head>

Step 4. Copy and paste the below code just before/above the </head> tag:

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
<style type='text/css'>
#related-posts{float:left;width:auto;}
#related-posts a{border-right: 1px dotted #eaeaea;}
#related-posts h4{margin-top: 10px;background:none;font:18px Oswald;padding:3px;color:#999999; text-transform:uppercase;}
#related-posts .related_img {margin:5px;border:2px solid #f2f2f2;object-fit: cover;width:110px;height:100px;-webkit-border-radius: 5px;-moz-border-radius: 5px; border-radius: 5px; }
#related-title {color:#333;text-align:center;text-transform:capitalize;padding: 0px 5px 10px;font-size:12px;width:110px; height: 40px;}
</style>
<script type='text/javascript'>
//<![CDATA[
var relatedTitles=new Array();var relatedTitlesNum=0;var relatedUrls=new Array();var thumburl=new Array();function related_results_labels_thumbs(json){for(var i=0;i<json.feed.entry.length;i++){var entry=json.feed.entry[i];relatedTitles[relatedTitlesNum]=entry.title.$t;try{thumburl[relatedTitlesNum]=entry.gform_foot.url}catch(error){s=entry.content.$t;a=s.indexOf("<img");b=s.indexOf("src=\"",a);c=s.indexOf("\"",b+5);d=s.substr(b+5,c-b-5);if((a!=-1)&&(b!=-1)&&(c!=-1)&&(d!="")){thumburl[relatedTitlesNum]=d}else thumburl[relatedTitlesNum]='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ex3V86fj4dQ/UrCQQa4cLsI/AAAAAAAAFdA/j2FCTmGOrog/s1600/no-thumbnail.png'}if(relatedTitles[relatedTitlesNum].length>35)relatedTitles[relatedTitlesNum]=relatedTitles[relatedTitlesNum].substring(0,35)+"...";for(var k=0;k<entry.link.length;k++){if(entry.link[k].rel=='alternate'){relatedUrls[relatedTitlesNum]=entry.link[k].href;relatedTitlesNum++}}}}function removeRelatedDuplicates_thumbs(){var tmp=new Array(0);var tmp2=new Array(0);var tmp3=new Array(0);for(var i=0;i<relatedUrls.length;i++){if(!contains_thumbs(tmp,relatedUrls[i])){tmp.length+=1;tmp[tmp.length-1]=relatedUrls[i];tmp2.length+=1;tmp3.length+=1;tmp2[tmp2.length-1]=relatedTitles[i];tmp3[tmp3.length-1]=thumburl[i]}}relatedTitles=tmp2;relatedUrls=tmp;thumburl=tmp3}function contains_thumbs(a,e){for(var j=0;j<a.length;j++)if(a[j]==e)return true;return false}function printRelatedLabels_thumbs(){for(var i=0;i<relatedUrls.length;i++){if((relatedUrls[i]==currentposturl)||(!(relatedTitles[i]))){relatedUrls.splice(i,1);relatedTitles.splice(i,1);thumburl.splice(i,1);i--}}var r=Math.floor((relatedTitles.length-1)*Math.random());var i=0;if(relatedTitles.length>0)document.write('<h4>'+relatedpoststitle+'</h4>');document.write('<div />');while(i<relatedTitles.length&&i<20&&i<maxresults){document.write('<a ');else document.write('"');document.write(' href="'+relatedUrls[r]+'"><img class="related_img" src="'+thumburl[r]+'"/><br/><div id="related-title">'+relatedTitles[r]+'</div></a>');if(r<relatedTitles.length-1){r++}else{r=0}i++}document.write('</div>');relatedUrls.splice(0,relatedUrls.length);thumburl.splice(0,thumburl.length);relatedTitles.splice(0,relatedTitles.length)}
//]]>
</script>
</b:if>

Note:
- to change the width and height of thumbnails, modify the 110px and 100px values in red
- to change the color and size of related posts titles, change the value in blue
- remove the line in violet if you want the related posts to be displayed both in homepage and post pages.

Step 5. Find the line below (you will find two times, but you need to stop at the second one):

<div class='post-footer'>

Step 6. Just above <div class='post-footer'> paste this code:

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
<div id='related-posts'>
<b:loop values='data:post.labels' var='label'>
<b:if cond='data:label.isLast != "true"'>
</b:if>
<script expr:src='"/feeds/posts/default/-/" + data:label.name + "?alt=json-in-script&callback=related_results_labels_thumbs&max-results=5"' type='text/javascript'/></b:loop>
<script type='text/javascript'>
var currentposturl="<data:post.url/>";
var maxresults=5;
var relatedpoststitle="<b>Related Posts:</b>";
removeRelatedDuplicates_thumbs();
printRelatedLabels_thumbs();
</script>
</div><div class='clear'/><div ><a href="http://helplogger.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-add-related-posts-widget-to.html" rel="nofollow" >Related Posts Widget</a></div>
</b:if>

Note:
- change the 5 value from max-results=5 with the number of posts you want to be displayed
- if you want the related posts to be displayed on homepage too, then remove the lines in violet

Update! If you are unable to see the related posts widget after saving the template, add the code (step 5) just above the </b:includable> tag which can be found above this line (CTRL + F to find it):

<b:includable id='postQuickEdit' var='post'>

For more info, click on this screenshot below:

Step 7. Save the Template and that's it. Now the Related Posts widget should appear below each blog post that has labels on it. Enjoy!

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