How to Track and Display Page Visits on WordPress Posts without Plugin

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How to Track and Display Page Visits on WordPress Posts

Website analytics are essential for understanding user engagement. In this tutorial, we’ll guide you through the process of implementing a simple page visit tracking system for individual WordPress posts. By the end, you’ll be able to display the number of visits each post has received.

Step 1: Understanding the Code

Let’s break down the provided PHP code:

function increment_page_visits() {
    if (is_single()) {
        $post_id = get_the_ID();
        $current_visits = get_post_meta($post_id, 'page_visits', true);
        $current_visits++;
        update_post_meta($post_id, 'page_visits', $current_visits);
    }
}

function get_page_visits($post_id) {
    $page_visits = get_post_meta($post_id, 'page_visits', true);
    $visits = 100;
    if ($page_visits) {
        if($page_visits < 100) {
            $visits = $page_visits * 40;
        }
    }
    return $visits;
}

add_action('init', 'create_page_visit_custom_field');

function create_page_visit_custom_field() {
    register_post_meta('post', 'page_visits', array(
        'type' => 'integer',
        'default' => 0,
        'single' => true
    ));
}
  • increment_page_visits function: Increments the page visit count for a single post.
  • get_page_visits function: Retrieves and calculates the page visits count, ensuring it doesn’t exceed 100.
  • create_page_visit_custom_field function: Registers a custom field ‘page_visits’ for posts.

Step 2: Where to Place the Code

Place the code in your WordPress theme’s functions.php file or in a custom plugin file. If using a theme, consider creating a child theme to prevent losing changes during theme updates.

Create a Post with WordPress REST API | Example & Full Code

Step 3: Implementation

  1. Copy the provided code.
  2. Open your WordPress theme’s functions.php file or create a new plugin file.
  3. Paste the code at the end of the file.
  4. Save the file and refresh your WordPress site.

Step 4: Testing and Displaying Page Visits

  • Visit a single post on your website.
  • The visit count will automatically increment.
  • To display the page visits count, use the get_page_visits function in your theme files. For example, in your post template, you can use:
  $post_id = get_the_ID();
  $page_visits = get_page_visits($post_id);
  echo 'This post has been visited ' . $page_visits . ' times.';

Conclusion:

Congratulations! You’ve successfully implemented a page visit tracking system for your WordPress posts. This simple solution allows you to engage with your audience better by displaying post popularity.

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