How to show random posts in WordPress

Displaying random posts on your WordPress site is a great way to expose readers to more of your content and encourage deeper browsing. By default, the platform lists blog posts in date order, from newest to oldest, making it easy for readers to check out your latest content. However, it means that older content is pushed down the page or, once you’ve built up a series of posts, off the front page altogether.

One way to highlight older content is to display links to random posts in your sidebar. To do so, you can use a WordPress plugin called Advanced Random Posts Widget. This widget displays random posts in your sidebar with a host of sorting and filtering options, allowing you to select posts by category, tag, date, taxonomy and more.

To get started, log into your WordPress admin dashboard and then navigate to Plugins > Add New. Search for “Advanced Random Posts” then install and activate the plugin.

Install plugin

Once activated, head to Appearance > Widgets. A new widget type, called Random Posts will now be available.

Widgets

Drag and drop the widget into your sidebar.

Widget settings

The widget includes its own sidebar that allows you to tweak its design, configure the number of posts to display, the post type and categories, thumbnail options, excerpt display and more.

Once configured, save the widget and then check out the front end of your site to see the widget in action.

If you notice any problems or if you need any help, please open a new support ticket from your HostPapa Dashboard. More details on how to open a support ticket can be found here.

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