Similar Ads

The plugin creates a box with similar listings on the listings details page thus increasing visitors’ engagement with the site by offering them to view the listings matching their preferences. By encouraging users to click on the related ads, you may also expect traffic increase on your site.

How it works

When a user lands on a particular listing, the plugin shows other alternative listings most similar to the one the user is viewing. This way, a user is likely to click and navigate to similar listings spending more quality time on your site. The Similar Ads plugin may also potentially increase traffic on your site since users will be presented with a range of listings to choose from.

Front End

When visitors are viewing a particular listing, they will also see a box with similar listings positioned by default in the right sidebar. Depending on the template you are using, you may choose other positions for a “similar ads” box. Rather than clicking “back” and navigating from a listing details page to a page with listings, the user may choose a similar ad in a box and quickly navigate to it. Keep in mind that a “similar ads” box will always appear on listing details page allowing a user to view many similar ads matching his preferences.

Back End

For the plugin to work and perform its basic functions, you will not need to configure it in the admin panel. Once activated, a box with similar listings will automatically come up on the listings details page. This is how the plugin works by default. However, if you wish to change the plugin’s default configuration, you may do so by adjusting the following settings:

Number of ads in a box

You can choose a number of listings displayed in a “similar ads” box. That is a useful setting especially if you want the box with similar listings to match your site design. By default, the box features 3 similar ads, but you can easily change the number in back end.

Relevance criteria

When setting relevance criteria, you may select a broad range where relevant search will always find some similar ads and sort them based on similarity. You may also opt for an exact match and disable the relevant search, in this case, the plugin will try to find the exact matches, and if none are located, the similar ads box will not be displayed to a user.

Fine-tuning relevance criteria by fields

When you select a particular category, from which similar ads are shown, you may further configure it by selecting the fields, based on which, similarity will be detected. For instance, for an auto desk you may define a listing similarity by color, year of make, mileage, engine volume etc. Whereas for a real estate site, you may define the relevance of a property by square feet, building type, floor, city, district etc.

Once the plugin is installed, a ‘similar listings form’ will be created in addition to the existing “short submit” and “listing title form”. If you choose to use the plugin based on default settings, you will only need to activate it in back end. If you opt for advanced settings described above, you will need to configure the “similar listings form” by adding additional fields to the form, which will be used for identifying a similarity.

The similar ads plugin increases a click-through rate on your website by presenting a visitor with relevant listings.