Heres a little trick on how to show a list of the most popular WordPress post by post read count – without using a plugin.
Instructions
Add this code to your functions.php
file.
<?php
function count_post_visits() {
if( is_single() ) {
global $post;
$views = get_post_meta( $post->ID, 'my_post_viewed', true );
if( $views == '' ) {
update_post_meta( $post->ID, 'my_post_viewed', '1' );
} else {
$views_no = intval( $views );
update_post_meta( $post->ID, 'my_post_viewed', ++$views_no );
}
}
}
add_action( 'wp_head', 'count_post_visits' );
?>
Then add this anywhere in your template where you wish to display the posts.
<?php
$popular_posts_args = array(
'posts_per_page' => 3,
'meta_key' => 'my_post_viewed',
'orderby' => 'meta_value_num',
'order'=> 'DESC'
);
$popular_posts_loop = new WP_Query( $popular_posts_args );
while( $popular_posts_loop->have_posts() ):
$popular_posts_loop->the_post();
endwhile;
wp_reset_query();
?>
Hello Sir. Can you tell where to put this second template code?
like i want to show popular posts in sidebar
Thank you,