There’s no shortage of content on the internet. In fact, there’s so much content that it can be overwhelming to try and sift through it all. That’s where content recommendation strategies come in handy.
Smart content recommendation strategies help you deliver valuable content to each visitor and provide them with a better experience. This will also help you discover more relevant content and get more engagement.
In this blog post, we will explore the top 7 best content recommendation strategies you can use in 2025.
Table of Contents
7 Best Content Recommendation Strategies
Let’s get right to the point and discuss the top content recommendation strategies you can use at various points of the customer journey. Here we go.
1. Most Viewed Content
Recommending the most-viewed content to each website visitor is one of the popular content recommendation strategies brands use. People are naturally drawn to what others are consuming, and by tapping into social proof, you can guide every visitor to your most valuable content category and drive engagement.
The most viewed content category is usually determined by the number of page views or unique site visitors that a piece of content receives. The popularity of a piece of content can also be gauged by the amount of time that it spends on different categories.
This is one of the content recommendation strategies that is ideal to engage first-time visitors to your site. Take a look at how “The Week” promotes the most popular content on its website:
Image via The Week
You can also use this tactic on your category page to display more news, product, or blog post content in real time to your first-time visitors in that category, like how The WOD Life has done.
Image via The WOD Life
2. Associated Content
When creating new and interesting topics for customers or new visitors, one of the best content recommendation strategies is to suggest similar content.
Marketers use content recommendation engines with sophisticated algorithms and data to suggest similar content to every unique visitor or customer based on past actions.
For example, YouTube populates valuable content in real time on the right-hand side based on the video a user is currently watching and suggests similar videos.
Image via YouTube
The algorithm makes content recommendations by grouping topically related videos that are typically watched together.
The other popular method is to use related post widgets. These widgets will show your readers other articles in real time that they might be interested in based on the article they’re currently reading.
Continuously write fresh content for your website to eliminate gaps and maximize meaningful associations.
Manually adding links to related articles while following SEO best practices is also one of the clever content recommendation strategies that can effectively boost user experience on your website.
See how we encourage our readers to explore more content based on the article they are currently reading.
Image via Attrock
3. Last Viewed Content
The next in this list of the best content recommendation strategies is to suggest relevant content based on your audience’s previously viewed content.
AI-based algorithms leverage past data to display the most recently viewed content first to the visitors, and typically, the content recommendations are based on the viewing data from the past week, month, or any other time period.
Popular sites such as Netflix and Amazon employ this content recommendations based strategy to engage their customers.
Image via Amazon Prime
4. Hyper-Personalized Recommendations
If you want your content to be seen by as many people as possible, ensure it's super-personalized.
Besides, modern consumers expect hyperpersonalized experiences across digital channels. According to a 2024 Statista survey, 64% of consumers prefer to purchase from businesses that offer hyper-personalized experiences aligned with their needs, as shown below.
Image via Statista
That's where the affinity-based content recommendation comes in.
In addition to demographics, content recommendation engines look at these data sets to segment audiences and tailor content recommendations:
- Search queries
- Geographic location
- Purchase history
- Social behavior
- Current shopping cart items
This is one of the product recommendation strategies used by sites like Amazon and Netflix. These sites use machine learning and AI-based algorithms to analyze viewing data and recommend highly personalized content.
How you craft your headlines also determines whether your audience clicks. You can start by following these headline writing tips to captivate your audience, boost engagement, and drive more traffic.
Some sites ask new visitors to answer key questions and provide their preferences to make custom recommendations. Here’s an example from Alo Moves site to inspire your content and product recommendation strategies:
Image via Alo Moves
5. People Also Viewed
One content recommendation strategy that often works well is “People Also Viewed.”
Here, you recommend more content to a visitor based on what others have viewed. Here’s an example.
Image via Finding Tom
In fact, this is a referral marketing strategy most ecommerce sites use to upsell and cross-sell products to each visitor. Here’s one of the content recommendation strategies used by ColourPop, a cosmetics company, to promote products to visitors.
Image via ColourPop
6. Bundling
There are a few key reasons why bundling valuable content is one of the most effective content recommendation strategies.
First, it allows you to present more content to each visitor simultaneously. This is especially useful if you have a lot of news, video, or blog post content that you want to recommend but don't want to overwhelm your readers.
Bundling content helps to keep every visitor engaged. Presenting multiple pieces of content (or products) at once gives them more opportunities to find something that interests them.
This is how The Weather Channel promotes a combination of product and video content pieces on a broad topic to each visitor.
Image via The Weather Channel
Bundling content is one way to enhance user experience and increase page views and the duration of time visitors spend on web pages. When you include multiple pieces of content in a bundle on your website or social media channels, it's more likely that one of them will resonate with users.
You can also feature deals and offers on the same page to promote sales, as The Weather Channel has done.
Bundling content is also a fantastic affiliate marketing strategy. You can seamlessly incorporate affiliate links into the user experience by grouping relevant content and promotions.
7. Seasonal Content Recommendations
Suggesting seasonal content is one of the most powerful content recommendation strategies you can leverage to increase user engagement and drive conversions.
You can tap into the excitement and urgency of seasonal occasions to suggest relevant and valuable content that aligns with your audience’s current interests and priorities.
Recommendations based on current seasons show you’re in tune with your audience's needs. This results in more traffic, engagement, and conversions.
The key is identifying relevant seasonal themes and incorporating trending keywords associated with those periods into your blog post or product content. You can use content marketing tools to identify trending keywords and plan your seasonal calendar.
Examples of seasonal keywords you can use include:
- Christmas: “gift ideas,” “holiday shopping deals,” “winter fashion trends”
- Halloween: “costume ideas,” “scary movie marathons,” “fall recipes”
- Spring: “gardening”, “spring cleaning”
- Summer: “vacation planning”, “beachwear,” or “back-to-school”
Uncommon Goods cleverly uses Christmas to recommend gifts and related holiday classics tailored to different recipients and interests. Each category page is centered around specific holiday themes, such as “advent calendars,” “ornaments,” and “holiday decor.”
Image via Uncommon Goods
Similarly, UNIQLO’s product recommendation is based solely on the winter season. The rich red background reflects the warmth and festive spirit of the winter holiday season.
Image via UNIQLO
FAQ
Q1. What are content recommendations?
A. Content recommendations are a great way to keep every website visitor engaged by directing them to more of your content in real time. By providing personalized recommendations, you can encourage your site visitors to explore new video or blog post content that they may be interested in.
Q2. What is a recommendation strategy?
A. A content recommendation strategy is a plan for choosing which pieces of content to recommend throughout the customer journey. It can be used to increase engagement, drive conversions, or simply improve visitor experience on your site.
Q3. How do you create a content recommendation strategy?
A. First, it's important to understand the overall goal of the content recommendation. What is it that you're trying to achieve?
Once you clearly understand the desired outcome, you can start creating your content recommendations. Consider all factors, such as the target audience, platform, budget, and resources.
Q4. What is a strategic recommendation in marketing?
A. Content recommendations are a strategic marketing tool that can help you boost your bottom line. You can increase engagement and conversions by personalizing your content and recommending it to each site visitor in real time.
Q5. Which is the best content recommendation system?
A. The most common type is a content-based recommendation strategy, which is based solely on what the website visitor is currently viewing in real time and recommends tailored content categories.
Another type is the collaborative filtering recommender, which looks at the ratings of other users to recommend content.
The best system for your business depends on your goals and your target audience’s preferences.
Final Thoughts
There you have it—the best 7 content recommendation strategies that you can use to drive more traffic to your website. By implementing even just a few of these strategies, you can see a significant increase in the amount of traffic you receive.
Try out a few content recommendation strategies and see which ones work best for you and your audience.
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