Simple Post View Counter is a lightweight yet powerful plugin to track how many times your WordPress posts are viewed.
Key Features
- ✅ Automatic post view tracking (AJAX-based, works even in incognito mode)
- ✅ Prevents double-counting on refresh
- ✅ Built-in bot detection
- ✅ Display views before content, after content, beside meta, or manually
- ✅ "Most Viewed Posts" widget with customizable display
- ✅ Shortcodes for displaying most viewed posts and individual post views
- ✅ Admin settings page with statistics (total views, average views, top posts, etc.)
- ✅ Views column in admin post list (sortable by views)
- ✅ Exclude admin views from tracking
- ✅ Works with caching plugins
Shortcodes
[post_views] → Display view count for current post\
Options: post_id, format="%s views"[most_viewed_posts] → Display a list of most viewed posts\
Options: limit="5", show_count="yes", show_excerpt="no"
Example Usage
[most_viewed_posts] → Show top 5 posts[most_viewed_posts limit="10" show_count="yes"] → Show 10 posts with view counts[post_views] → Show current post’s view count
Widgets
Go to
Appearance → Widgets and add the
Most Viewed Posts widget to your sidebar.
Theme Function
```php
== Installation ==
Upload the plugin files to the /wp-content/plugins/simple-post-view-counter/ directory, or install the plugin via the WordPress plugins screen directly.
Activate the plugin through the Plugins screen in WordPress.
Go to Settings → Post Views to configure options.
Add the Most Viewed Posts widget, use shortcodes, or call the function in your theme.
== Frequently Asked Questions ==
Does it work with caching plugins?
Yes, view counting is AJAX-based, so it works properly with caching.
Will it count admin views?
By default, admin views are excluded (you can enable/disable this in settings).
Can I show the view counter anywhere manually?
Yes, use the [post_views] shortcode or the spvc_get_post_views() function in your theme.
Does it prevent bots from inflating the count?
Yes, it includes basic bot detection and ignores common crawlers.
== Screenshots ==
1. screenshot-1.png
2. screenshot-2.png
3. screenshot-3.png
== Changelog ==
1.0.0
Initial release
Automatic view tracking
Shortcodes [post_views] and [most_viewed_posts]
Widget for most viewed posts
Admin settings page with statistics
Prevents double counting on refresh
Works in incognito/private mode
Basic bot detection
== Upgrade Notice ==
1.0.0
First stable release – recommended update for all users.
== Credits ==
Developed by Sadhan Pal
== License ==
This plugin is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
```
