On my WordPress site, I have a CSS grid. In the grid are several blocks that each use query loops to pull post titles, etc. The query loops are set to order by random. However, I get duplicate posts in the grid when I select random. What would be the best method to ensure I don’t get any duplicate posts in the grid?

I’ve tried all kinds of code, arrays, transients, but I must be the worst because nothing I’ve tried works. I don’t even know what method is best or if I should abandon this idea altogether.

This was the last query loop I tried:

$excluded_ids = get_transient('excluded_post_ids');// Query argumentsreturn $args = array(    'post_type'      => 'post',    'posts_per_page' => 1,    'orderby'        => 'rand',    'post__not_in'   => $excluded_ids // Exclude already displayed posts);$query = new WP_Query($args);if ($query->have_posts()) {    while ($query->have_posts()) {        $query->the_post();        the_content();    }}wp_reset_postdata();

These are the PHP I tried:

<?php// Get the list of excluded post IDs from a transient$excluded_ids = get_transient('excluded_post_ids');// If transient doesn't exist, initialize as an empty arrayif ($excluded_ids === false) {    $excluded_ids = array();}?>

<?php// Function to initialize and fetch unique post IDsfunction initialize_and_fetch_posts() {    // Get excluded post IDs    $excluded_ids = get_transient('excluded_post_ids');    if ($excluded_ids === false) {        $excluded_ids = array();    }    $block_queries = array();    // Loop through each block    for ($i = 1; $i <= 7; $i++) {        $query_args = array(            'post_type'        => 'post',            'posts_per_page'   => 1,            'fields'           => 'ids',            'post__not_in'     => $excluded_ids, // Exclude already displayed posts            'orderby'          => 'rand'        );        $query = new WP_Query($query_args);        // Add current post IDs to excluded list        $excluded_ids = array_merge($excluded_ids, $query->posts);        $block_queries[$i] = $query->posts;    }    // Store updated excluded IDs in transient    set_transient('excluded_post_ids', $excluded_ids, 6);    return $block_queries;}?>