Create Your Own WP Post Views Counter

Create your own post views counter in WordPress with no plugin needed. Use the post meta field to store count views of a particular post, and increment it for every page hit.

Requirements:

• WordPress 6.2

Step 1.

Create a new function inside functions.php, and use it as a callback function to the action wp_head hook.

<?php

/**
 * Post views counter.
 */
function hook_counter() {
    if (is_singular('post')) {
        $count = get_post_meta( get_queried_object_id(), 'total_views_count' )[0];
        update_post_meta( get_queried_object_id(), 'total_views_count', ($count+1) );
    }
}

add_action('wp_head', 'hook_counter');

Where.

• hook_counter() is the name of the new function.
• is_singular('post') will determine whether the query is an existing single post.
• $count is where the current post views count will be temporarily stored.
• get_post_meta() will retrieve a post meta field (total_views_count) for the given post ID.
• get_queried_object_id() will retrieve the ID of the currently queried object.
• update_post_meta() will update the post meta field (total_views_count) based on the given post ID, will increment current count by 1 ($count+1).
• add_action() will add a callback function to an action hook (wp_head).

Result.

Post count views are now saving, to immediately verify it, make a direct SQL query to your database.

Where.

• meta_value is total post views count.
• post_id is given post ID.

Notes:

• This tutorial will only save post views count.
• To display the post views count on the posts manage page, read the tutorial Add New Columns To WP Posts Manage Page.

References:

• WP is_singular()
• WP get_post_meta()
• WP get_queried_object_id()
• WP update_post_meta()
• WP add_action()
• Get WP Post Meta Value Of A Given Meta Key
• Add New Columns To WP Posts Manage Page