Hi!
The way these kinds of plugins work is the following:
- They hook to the “the_content” filter with a function
- Depending on the priority of the function, the display order is decided
- This priority is usually set to default, which is number 10
- The lower this priority number is, the sooner the plugin output is displayed after the post/page content
- Functions with the same priority are displayed by the call order
- Priority numbers below 10 are usually not working (not displaying)
The problem is that if every other plugin uses the default priority, then it’s not adjustable to higher (number 9 or below), because it won’t work.
In this case the only possible option is to change other plugin priority codes and then the Related Posts Pro priority codes. The problem is that this is only possible by editing the plugin codes, which is not recommended, because an auto update will override the changes.
I hope I explained it clearly, it’s a bit complicated issue. My overall answer is, that using the theme shortcode in your case is the best option you can do, unless you know how and which plugin codes you need to edit to change the layout priorities.