Post Views Counter

Track how many times your posts are viewed and display view counts on the frontend. Identify your most popular content and understand what resonates with your audience.

Use Cases#

• Identify which posts attract the most visitors
• Display view counts to show content popularity (social proof)
• Make data-driven decisions about content strategy
• Find trending topics to create more similar content
• Track content performance over time

How It Works#

1. When a visitor views a post, the count increments
2. View counts are stored in the database per post
3. A “Views” column appears in your posts list
4. Use the shortcode to display counts on the frontend
5. Sort posts by views to find your most popular content

Where to Find It#

Locations:

• Admin: Posts → All Posts (Views column)
• Frontend: Use [post_views] shortcode

What Gets Tracked#

By default, only anonymous visitors are counted. This gives you clean data about actual reader engagement without inflating numbers with your own editing visits.

Admin Views Column#

In Posts → All Posts, you’ll see a “Views” column showing:

• The view count for each post
• Click the column header to sort by views
• Quickly identify your most and least popular content

Sorting by Views#

Click the “Views” column header to sort:

• Ascending: Find posts that need more promotion
• Descending: See your top performers

Frontend Display#

Use the shortcode to show view counts on your site:

[post_views]

Output: 1,234 views

Placement Ideas#

Add the shortcode in:

• Post templates (under the title)
• After post content
• In widget areas
• Custom template files

In Theme Templates#

<?php echo do_shortcode('[post_views]'); ?>

Popular Placement Example#

Under your post title:

<div class="post-meta">
    <span class="post-date"><?php echo get_the_date(); ?></span>
    <span class="post-views"><?php echo do_shortcode('[post_views]'); ?></span>
</div>

Styling#

The view count displays as plain text with the format “X,XXX views”. Style it with CSS by wrapping in a custom class:

<span class="view-count"><?php echo do_shortcode('[post_views]'); ?></span>

.view-count {
    color: #666;
    font-size: 14px;
}

.view-count::before {
    content: "👁 ";
}

Creating Popular Posts Lists#

While the module doesn’t include a widget, you can create a popular posts list using a custom query:

<?php
$popular_posts = new WP_Query([
    'post_type' => 'post',
    'posts_per_page' => 5,
    'meta_key' => 'post_views_count',
    'orderby' => 'meta_value_num',
    'order' => 'DESC'
]);

if ($popular_posts->have_posts()) :
    echo '<ul class="popular-posts">';
    while ($popular_posts->have_posts()) : $popular_posts->the_post();
        $views = get_post_meta(get_the_ID(), 'post_views_count', true);
        echo '<li>';
        echo '<a href="' . get_permalink() . '">' . get_the_title() . '</a>';
        echo ' <span>(' . number_format($views) . ' views)</span>';
        echo '</li>';
    endwhile;
    echo '</ul>';
    wp_reset_postdata();
endif;
?>

Data Storage#

View counts are stored as post meta with the key post_views_count. This means:

• Data persists even if you deactivate the module
• You can query posts by view count
• Counts are exportable with your posts
• No separate database tables

FAQ#