How to add a featured image in WordPress post content
Learn how to add a featured image in WordPress post content.
2020-12-11
1. Get an image URL
In this example we will use an external featured image. This image was created on Vampixel. There, I basically searched for two images, defined an aspect ratio and added the text. Vampixel did everything else. I then asked for the image to be stored in the cloud and obtained this URL.

2. Create a new post
Now access your WordPress site and go to the side menu, where you will find the option "Posts". Click on "Posts" and the list of posts we have created so far will be displayed, each with its respective featured image. Click the "Add New" button to start creating a new post.

3. Add title, content and image URL
In the post editor we added the title "How to add a featured image in WordPress post content", the content "Content content content ..." and the image URL in the second box "Featured image". If your website doesn't show this box, you need to install the Featured Image from URL (FIFU) plugin.

4. Publish
Click on the "Preview" button. If the image address is correct, it will be displayed. Once this is done, click on the "Publish" button to publish your new post. We will check the result on our homepage and also in the post itself.

5. Check the homepage
Everything is normal on the homepage. The external featured image is being displayed next to the post title. In fact, this is the default behavior of Wordpress themes. Now let's access our post and see if the same happens.

6. Check the post
Checking the post, we see that the title and content appear, but we don't have the featured image. Why does it happen? Although this is not common, some WordPress themes were made to show the featured image only on the homepage. If this is your case and you would like to add the featured image to your post, without having to change the theme, FIFU plugin will help you.

7. Enable featured image in content
Access the Featured Image from URL (FIFU) settings. Then go to the "Featured image" tab, where you will find the "Featured Image in Content" feature and two toggles, one for pages and one for posts, which is now enabled. It is important to say that this feature should be enabled only if your WordPress theme is not able to display a featured image in the post, otherwise the image will appear twice, once in the position of featured image and another within the post, immediately before the text.

8. Checking the post...
Accessing the post, we see that the featured image was inserted immediately before the text. The image is in fact in the content of the post and for that reason it could not be displayed above the title of the post, since the title and content are separate fields. So with just one click, we add a featured image to our post, overcoming the limitation of the theme.

9. Checking the post editor...
A nice thing about this FIFU functionality is that, accessing the editor, we see that the plugin did not change the content of the post. In other words, FIFU added the featured image to our post at run time. In the database the information still exists in separate records.
