Would you be interested in a "Similar Entries" Add-on?
Development and Programming
Hi, I was looking for a Similar Entries add-on for Expression Engine myself, but to my surprise I couldn’t find it…
Basically, the add-on would output X number of entries that are similar to the single entry currently being displayed. So for example at the end of a post you could then list X similar entries that your visitors might also be interested in reading.
Doing this increases the average # of pages that your visitors visit, and it decreases your bounce rate. That’s why I was so surprised I couldn’t find it. Because it’s such valuable thing.
You can list some random entries with Expression Engine, but the problem with that is the word random. It doesn’t give you a list of entries based on their similarity to the current entry.
The similarity add-on would consider post titles, body content, and maybe more to calculate a “match score” for each pair of entries on your website. Then when you would list similar entries it would list the ones with the best match score.
► If you’d be interested in a add-on like this please let me know by replying.
Me developing this add-on or not will depend on the demand and interest in such an add-on.
Here’s en example of how the output of this add-on could look in practice:
Define ‘similar’? Because with categories, tags and related entries…
I think the reason you couldn’t find an add-on is that you don’t often need one. You can pull other entries from the same channel, other entries in the same category, or as suggested use a tagging add-on or native/3rd party relationship abilities.
Yeah, pulling from the same channel or category is better then nothing, but it leaves to be desired in terms of relevancy. If a channel has a narrow focus then I can see it work well, but a channel about sport & exersize for example, that’s pretty broad, and a similar entry add-on would help there to grab high relevancy entries. That said…
When researching I missed the Tag module from Solspace. I just looked it up and although I think it’s not as good a solution as a similar entry plugin would be, it’s still pretty feasible. Thanks for the tip.
About relationships, the problem with that is that entries have to related by hand. I was looking for an automated solution… But the Tag module does automate relating because it can show related entries based on shared Tags, so thanks I’ll try that out.