Contextual Related Posts v4.5: Relevance filtering, new block layouts and more
A related posts list can have enough results and still contain weak matches. In Contextual Related Posts 4.5.0, I added a way to filter those out, along with changes that keep cached lists current as you edit and publish.
Pro also gets a standalone Advanced block and optional recency weighting. Both versions now require WordPress 6.9 or later.
Set a minimum relevance level
The new Minimum relevance (% of best match) setting compares each candidate with the strongest match for the current post. Set it to 50, for example, and candidates need at least half that score to qualify.
The threshold is calculated separately for each source post. It can produce a shorter list when there aren’t enough strong matches. That’s the point.
This is available in Free and Pro, disabled by default, and unavailable on SQLite. Manually selected posts and Pro cornerstone posts remain editorial choices and aren’t removed by the threshold.
The existing algorithm guide explains how CRP finds and ranks candidates.
Build related post layouts in Pro with the Advanced Block.
The new standalone Advanced Block gives you six starting patterns, from a text list to image cards with excerpts. Separate Settings and Styles tabs keep query controls and presentation options apart.
You can also transform supported legacy CRP Query Loop blocks into the new block while preserving their query settings and card content. There’s no need to rebuild a supported layout from scratch.
The block documentation covers the six patterns, both tabs, and which Query Loop blocks you can convert.
Give newer posts a ranking boost in Pro
Optional recency weighting blends post age into the relevance score. You control the boost and its half-life, which determines how quickly the preference for newer content fades.
If freshness matters on your site, this gives you another ranking control. A higher boost can move a newer, less relevant post above an older one, so test it against your own content.
It’s off by default.
Keep cached lists current
Related lists could stay stale after edits or ranking changes. Some save paths didn’t submit the CRP meta box, so Quick Edit, Bulk Edit and scheduled publishing could leave a post’s cached results untouched.
This release clears the saved post’s cache across those paths and clears affected related lists when posts are edited, published, or trashed. It also fixes invalidation after ranking settings change or settings are reset.
Related-list clearing is best effort, rather than a complete reverse index. Some lists can still wait for cache expiry. Imports and large batches defer a full flush to avoid repeating expensive work for every save.
Multilingual visitors could see titles and links in another language. Cache keys now separate languages on WPML, Polylang and TranslatePress sites. TranslatePress support also covers REST responses and Pro lazy-loaded output.
Check site health and connect integrations
A new Status section on the Tools page reports database, index, cache and migration health. Pro adds custom-table health, index coverage and reconciliation details.
The WordPress Abilities API can now retrieve related posts, with controls for REST API and Abilities API access in Features. Pro adds administrative abilities for cache clearing and post exclusions, plus WP-CLI commands to manage those exclusions.
Upgrade notes
- Confirm that your site runs WordPress 6.9 or later before updating.
- After updating, check Tools for the new Status report.
- If you enable minimum relevance or Pro recency weighting, review results on several posts. Both controls are disabled by default.
- If you transform an existing Pro Query Loop block, preview its layout before saving.