Want to Add Multiple Featured Images in WordPress? Here‘s a Complete Guide.

Displaying eye-catching featured images is key for engaging website visitors in seconds.

But did you know that 78% of users say quality images determine their trust and perception of a brand [1]?

Simply putting one featured image isn‘t enough anymore. You need to highlight multiple visuals throughout your content.

By adding supplemental graphics in your posts and archives, you can:

• Boost engagement – Images attract reader attention and help ideas stick.
• Increase click through rates – Articles with images drive 36% more clicks [2].
• Enhance SEO rankings – Alt text and filenames improve search visibility.

This guide will demonstrate step-by-step how to add multiple post thumbnails in WordPress using both free and paid methods.

Why You Need Multiple Featured Images

Before jumping into the how-to, let‘s discuss common scenarios where using multiple post images is valuable:

1. Highlight key visuals in content – Call out figures, photos, diagrams by inserting them prominently.

2. Set category and archive thumbnails – Display representative images alongside post titles/excerpts.

3. Support featured snippets – Maximize exposure by showing multiple visuals.

4. Spotlight different image sizes/aspect ratios – Set square images for social sharing, vertical ones to stand out in feeds, etc.

For example, here is how multiple images can be displayed across OnSearchWP – my WordPress blog:

Now let‘s compare ways you can add multiple post thumbnails in WordPress.

Option 1: Manually Add Images in Post Content

The easiest way is to insert media blocks inside your posts.

Here is how to manually add multiple images as you edit content:

1. From the block inserter (+), add a new Image block.
2. Upload or select a photo from your media library to insert.
3. Repeat to add other supplemental images in your content.

Benefits

• Quick and doesn‘t require new plugins.
• Full control over image placement in post.

Drawbacks

• Images not linked or recognized as that post‘s thumbnails.
• Reusable inside just that one post.

Use descriptive filenames and optimized sizes

One tip when manually adding images this way is to give them clear filenames aligned to that post topic.

For example marketing-plan-quarterly-targets.jpg rather than just image-1.jpg.

Also compress and resize images as needed so they don‘t bloat page load sizes.

Option 2: Use Category Images Plugin

The Category Images plugin lets you assign unique featured images to categories and tags.

Benefits

• Images auto-display on assigned taxonomy archive pages.
• Easy to set category images from the admin.

Limitations

• Restricted to just categories and tags.
• Only allows one image per taxonomy term.

Here is how it works:

1. Install and activate Category Images plugin.
2. Go to Posts → Categories.
3. When editing/adding a category, upload an image in the Featured Image meta box.
4. This will now display on that category‘s archive page.

This solution is great if you just need to set unique headers on blog category pages for example.

Option 3: Multiple Featured Images Plugin (Recommended)

For maximum flexibility, I recommend using a dedicated multiple post thumbnails plugin like Multiple Featured Images.

This gives you:

✔️ Unlimited thumbnails per post
✔️ Control image sizes
✔️ Assign to archives/content individually
✔️ Support custom post types

From testing this and 3 other similar plugins, I found Multiple Featured Images to be the most intuitive while covering all website needs.

It adds a meta box when editing posts to upload additional images:

You can then display these supplemental thumbnails:

• Inside post/page content using shortcodes
• Across archive pages like categories or search results
• In sidebars, menus, custom widgets
• Within custom page templates

For complete details, see the Multiple Featured Images documentation.

Summary

Here is an at-a-glance comparison of these methods for adding multiple featured images in WordPress:

Method	Effort Needed	Control Level	Flexibility
Manual	Low	High	Limited
Category Images Plugin	Low	Medium	Moderate
Multiple Featured Images Plugin	Medium	High	Maximum

Hopefully this gives you a solid game plan for showcasing multiple post thumbnails across your WordPress website!

Let me know if you have any other questions.

[1] Hubspot
[2] Social Media Today