How to Use the 📌 Trending Posts Widget Code in WordPress

📈 Trending Posts Widget for WordPress – Show Popular Posts by Views. Add a powerful “Trending Posts” widget to your WordPress site using this custom PHP code. Learn how to display your most viewed articles based on post meta values like post_views_count.

📌 Display Your Most Popular Posts With a Custom Trending Widget

Displaying trending or most-viewed posts is a smart way to keep your visitors engaged. It encourages exploration, increases page views, and promotes your top-performing content. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to add a custom “Trending Posts” widget to your WordPress site using a simple PHP code snippet.

This widget will dynamically pull the top posts based on their view count using a custom field (post_views_count). It also includes support for caching using transient to ensure fast load times and less server stress.

🧩 Step-by-Step: How the Trending Posts Widget Works

✅ 1. Widget Registration

The widget is registered using register_widget() inside a widgets_init hook.

add_action('widgets_init', 'register_trending_posts_widget');

function register_trending_posts_widget() {
    register_widget('Trending_Posts_Widget');
}

✅ 2. Widget Class Structure

The widget is built by extending the WP_Widget class and defining key functions:

• __construct() – Widget name and description.
• widget() – Front-end output of trending posts.
• form() – Admin form in Widgets panel.
• update() – Save form settings and clear the cache.

🔧 PHP Code: Trending Posts Widget

Below is the complete code to add to your theme’s functions.php or inside a custom plugin:

<?php
/**
 * Trending Posts Widget
 */

// Register the widget
function register_trending_posts_widget() {
    register_widget('Trending_Posts_Widget');
}
add_action('widgets_init', 'register_trending_posts_widget');

// Define the widget class
class Trending_Posts_Widget extends WP_Widget {

    public function __construct() {
        parent::__construct(
            'trending_posts_widget',
            __('Trending Posts', 'text_domain'),
            array('description' => __('A widget to display trending posts based on views.', 'text_domain'))
        );
    }

    public function widget($args, $instance) {
        echo $args['before_widget'];

        $title = !empty($instance['title']) ? $instance['title'] : __('Trending Posts', 'text_domain');
        echo $args['before_title'] . apply_filters('widget_title', $title) . $args['after_title'];

        $num_posts = !empty($instance['num_posts']) ? absint($instance['num_posts']) : 5;
        $cache_key = 'trending_posts_cache_' . $num_posts;
        $trending_posts = get_transient($cache_key);

        if ($trending_posts === false) {
            $trending_query = new WP_Query(array(
                'posts_per_page' => $num_posts,
                'meta_key' => 'post_views_count',
                'orderby' => 'meta_value_num',
                'order' => 'DESC',
                'ignore_sticky_posts' => true
            ));

            ob_start();
            if ($trending_query->have_posts()) {
                echo '<ul>';
                while ($trending_query->have_posts()) {
                    $trending_query->the_post();
                    echo '<li>';
                    if (has_post_thumbnail()) {
                        echo '<a href="' . get_permalink() . '">' . get_the_post_thumbnail(get_the_ID(), 'thumbnail', array('class' => 'trending-thumb')) . '</a> ';
                    }
                    echo '<a href="' . get_permalink() . '">' . get_the_title() . '</a></li>';
                }
                echo '</ul>';
            } else {
                echo '<p>' . __('No trending posts found.', 'text_domain') . '</p>';
            }
            wp_reset_postdata();

            $trending_posts = ob_get_clean();
            set_transient($cache_key, $trending_posts, HOUR_IN_SECONDS);
        }

        echo $trending_posts;
        echo $args['after_widget'];
    }

    public function form($instance) {
        $title = !empty($instance['title']) ? $instance['title'] : __('Trending Posts', 'text_domain');
        $num_posts = !empty($instance['num_posts']) ? absint($instance['num_posts']) : 5;
        ?>
        <p>
            <label for="<?php echo esc_attr($this->get_field_id('title')); ?>"><?php _e('Title:', 'text_domain'); ?></label>
            <input class="widefat" id="<?php echo esc_attr($this->get_field_id('title')); ?>" name="<?php echo esc_attr($this->get_field_name('title')); ?>" type="text" value="<?php echo esc_attr($title); ?>">
        </p>
        <p>
            <label for="<?php echo esc_attr($this->get_field_id('num_posts')); ?>"><?php _e('Number of Posts:', 'text_domain'); ?></label>
            <input class="widefat" id="<?php echo esc_attr($this->get_field_id('num_posts')); ?>" name="<?php echo esc_attr($this->get_field_name('num_posts')); ?>" type="number" min="1" max="20" value="<?php echo esc_attr($num_posts); ?>">
        </p>
        <?php
    }

    public function update($new_instance, $old_instance) {
        $instance = array();
        $instance['title'] = (!empty($new_instance['title'])) ? strip_tags($new_instance['title']) : '';
        $instance['num_posts'] = (!empty($new_instance['num_posts'])) ? absint($new_instance['num_posts']) : 5;
        delete_transient('trending_posts_cache_' . $instance['num_posts']); // clear cache
        return $instance;
    }
}
?>

🔄 Notes on Usage

• The widget assumes you already have a custom field post_views_count updated manually or via a separate plugin.
• You can use any plugin like Post Views Counter or your own script to increment this meta key.
• The widget caches results for 1 hour using WordPress transients for improved performance.
• Works seamlessly with any modern WordPress theme that supports widgets.

🚀 Tips to Improve the Widget

• Add fallback thumbnail image using a conditional else in has_post_thumbnail().
• Use CSS to customize the output style of .trending-thumb.
• Allow filtering by category or post type in future enhancements.
• Make it Gutenberg block-ready for block themes.

🧠 Final Thoughts

Using this widget, you give your site visitors access to the most engaging content on your blog. It’s great for blogs, magazines, news sites, or any content-heavy platform that thrives on post visibility.

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🏷️ Tags: WordPress widget, trending posts, post views, custom widget, PHP snippet, WP_Query, WordPress development, cache with transients, post meta, WP_Widget
📢 Hashtags: #WordPress, #TrendingPosts, #WidgetDev, #WPCustomCode, #PHPTutorial, #PostViews, #WPQuery, #Caching, #WPWidgets, #WebDevelopment

💡 Developer’s Wrap-Up

The “Trending Posts Widget” is a must-have feature for any WordPress site looking to increase user engagement. With just a bit of code, you can create a powerful tool that highlights your site’s best content based on real user behavior. Add it today and watch your page views climb!