How to Display Most Commented Posts in WordPress

One of the strategies to increase the overall engagement on your website is to advertise your most popular posts. People, in general, are interested in topics that others find interesting. Also, a large percentage enjoy reading the comment section and follow current discussions. It tackles their curiosity and motivates them to, eventually, participate. That’s why one of the best ways to make visitors stay is to display the most commented posts in WordPress. It will highlight the peak of engagement on your website, and help you further increase your page views.

Several ways to display most commented posts in WordPress

By default, WordPress has an integrated option to display your most recent posts to any area of your website. However, sometimes the “recent” option is just not enough. You want to share your most popular posts with your audience, to get the most engagement. If you have WP professionals to maintain your website, this won’t be a troubling part. But if you don’t, you will need some alternative ways to do this.

The “Comments” button in WordPress.
As a sign of popularity, the number of visits is as much as important as the number of comments.

There are two general ways to display the most commented posts in WordPress:

  • You can do it manually by modifying a part of the code.
  • Or, you can use plugins, which are probably the most easiest and efficient way to do so.

Display most commented posts manually

The manual method relies on altering the main query, which WordPress uses to display posts by default. For this, you can use the query_posts() function and override the main query. However, this method can significantly increase page loading times because it’s not optimized for performance. Instead, it’s better to use WP_Query or get_posts(). Nevertheless, the manual method is not so popular and convenient for most users. Because it’s not beginner-friendly, you will need WordPress experts to help you implement this solution.

Display most commented posts with plugins

On the other side, if you are looking for solutions that don’t require coding knowledge, plugins are probably the best option. They are, mostly, fast and straightforward solutions to highlight your most commented or recent posts. Depending on what you are trying to accomplish. Even if you feel confident about your coding skills, plugins are still a preferable option.

A programmer working on his WordPress code.
Despite your knowledge, plugins are more effective out-of-the-box solutions.

Some of the most popular posts plugins you can find today and use to increase your website engagement are:

  • Relevant
  • Display Posts
  • MonsterInsights plugin
  • WordPress Popular Posts
  • Trending/Popular Post Slider and Widget

Relevant By BestWebSoft

This plugin allows you to easily show related, popular, and recent posts on your WordPress website without much trouble. After the installation and activation, you will be able to quickly set how to display posts to your users. The best part is that with Relevant, you can further change the appearance of the list by customizing the widget. Not only its look but also the positioning: Whether it’s going to be before or after the content. And, with the use of shortcodes, you can set it to show on any post, custom post types, and page.

Display Posts By Bill Erickson

Probably one of the easiest and beginner-friendly plugins, Display Posts is one of the fastest and most documented ones. In no time, you can create lists of content from anywhere within your website. By default, you can add a shortcode to show the most recent post. But, there is also a possibility to configure it easily to display posts by category, or popularity. Which, in most cases, means the number of existing comments. In addition, customization goes so far that you can adjust thumbnails, excerpts, and many more.

MonsterInsights plugin By (obviously) MonsterInsights

More a complete suite, rather than a simple plugin, the MonsterInsights plugin is among the most popular options for different purposes. Since you are interested in displaying by comments, you should know that you will need the pro version to unlock the popular posts feature. It offers the “Sort By” option, where you can select the “Comments” button and sort your posts in the desired way. Once you set up the plugin, you can control how popular posts appear on your website. In a few simple steps, you can select the theme of your widget and adjust it to properly blend into your website. On top of it, there is a theme preview box where you can examine the final changes.

WordPress Popular Posts By Hector Cabrera

Another quite popular solution, to display your most commented posts, is the WordPress Popular Posts plugin. With it, you can easily present your popular posts in the sidebar. Whether it is the number of comments or the most visited posts, there are many criteria to choose from. However, what makes this plugin so special and popular is the option to choose the time period for which you want your posts to show. Finally, there is an option to exclude certain posts or pages from your listings.

Trending/Popular Post Slider and Widget By WP OnlineSupport

This plugin allows you to display your popular posts in numerous ways. You can use a shortcode to place the listings where you wish; Or, you can use the widget to show your popular posts in a sidebar. Including, the time range of your posts. Furthermore, you can show them as grid block, slider, carousel, if you find it to be a more suitable layout. This plugin by WP OnlineSupport also works great with the Gutenberg shortcode block. When you want to attract and keep visitors to your blog, this plugin can be a great option.

Pictures of various online users who gather at one WordPress website.
The interaction increases engagement and motivates people to visit your website again.

Remember, while these methods help you display most commented posts in WordPress, it’s also important to interact with your audience. The commenting section gives you a perfect opportunity to communicate and work on building strong relationships. When people realize you are there to answer their questions and provide them with support, they will have no problems coming back again.

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