Using Dynamic Content to Personalize WordPress Sites

Most websites still show everyone the same content. That’s fine for some things. But if you want to keep people around longer, or get them to take action, you need to make your content feel more relevant. That’s where dynamic content comes in.

What is dynamic content?

It’s content that changes depending on who’s viewing it. You can show different text, images, or calls-to-action based on things like:

• Where someone is located
• What device they’re using
• Whether they’ve visited before
• What pages they’ve looked at
• If they’re logged in

On WordPress, this isn’t hard to set up. You don’t need to rebuild your site. You just need to decide what matters most to your visitors and adjust your content around that.

Example: How to get user location

navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(success, error);

But that only works if the user gives permission. It’s also limited on privacy settings, and not always reliable.

A better approach is IP-based geolocation, which doesn’t need user permission. You can use services like:

• ipapi.co
• ipinfo.io
• GeoJS

Here’s a simple example using ipapi.co and jQuery:

$.getJSON('https://ipapi.co/json/', function(data) {
  const state = data.region; // or data.city, data.country_name
  $('#location-text').text(`You're visiting from ${state}`);
});

You can store this value in localStorage or pass it into your PHP via wp_localize_script().

How you can use location data

Once you know the user’s location, you can:

• Show different service areas: “Serving Norwalk, CT” vs “Serving Stamford, CT”
• Adjust contact info: Show the nearest office or sales rep
• Load localized testimonials or case studies
• Change pricing or availability: Some services might only apply to certain regions
• Redirect to region-specific pages
• Change hero text or headlines to include the city name

Even a small tweak—like showing “We help small businesses in Connecticut” instead of a generic headline—makes your site feel more relevant.

What else could you personalize?

You can personalize nearly anything, but here are a few practical ideas:

• Hero sections: Show a different headline for returning users or based on location.
• Call-to-actions: Recommend a product or service based on what they’ve browsed.
• Blog suggestions: Show posts related to categories they’ve viewed.
• Pricing tables: Offer region-specific pricing or currencies.
• Testimonials: Display testimonials from similar customers or industries.

What tools can help?

If you’re building custom, you can use Advanced Custom Fields and conditionally show fields based on user data.

For plugins, check out:

• If-So: Simple interface for showing dynamic content based on location, device, date, etc.
• Logic Hop: Powerful personalization based on behavior and UTM parameters.
• Uncanny Automator: Useful for triggering events and content changes based on user actions.
• Elementor Pro: Has some dynamic content features built-in.

If you’re more code-focused, you can use hooks like is_user_logged_in(), wp_get_current_user(), or pull query variables to make decisions server-side.

Why bother?

Because personalized experiences convert better. They’re less generic. They save users time. And they give the impression that your site understands them—even if just a little.

And that’s the goal: make your site feel less like a billboard and more like a conversation.

Let me know if you want help adding dynamic content to your site.