10 Best WordPress Popular Post Plugins to Skyrocket Engagement in 2024

Popular posts sections are one of the most effective tools for driving traffic, boosting engagement and increasing conversions on your WordPress site. By dynamically showcasing your top performing content, you can entice visitors to dive deeper into your site, promote your best material, and encourage repeat visits.

But with so many popular post plugins available, which ones will give you the best results in 2024? In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll break down the top 10 popular post plugins for WordPress and share expert tips for getting the most from them.

What Are Popular Post Plugins & Why You Need Them

First off, let‘s define what popular post plugins are and what they do. In a nutshell, these plugins automatically track and display your most popular content based on metrics like total views, shares, comments, and ratings.

They allow you to effortlessly showcase your top posts and pages in high-visibility areas like your homepage, sidebar, and at the end of your posts. This has major benefits for you and your audience:

Benefits for Site Owners:

• Increased pageviews, time on site & return visits
• Reduced bounce rates
• Improved SEO as search engines favor sites with high engagement
• More opportunities to convert visitors with CTAs & opt-ins
• Valuable insights into your best content

Benefits for Visitors:

• Discover your best, most valuable content easily
• Keeps them engaged and consuming more of your content
• Exposes them to posts they may have otherwise missed
• Makes your site "stickier" and more navigable

Now that you know why popular post plugins are must-haves for your WordPress site, let‘s dive into the top contenders for 2024!

Top 10 Popular Post Plugins for WordPress in 2024

1. WordPress Popular Posts

Overview: WordPress Popular Posts is the most comprehensive free solution for showcasing your most popular content. It lets you display your top posts based on views, comments, and average views per day over a custom time range. You can display multiple widgets, customize their look with themes & custom CSS, and optimize performance with caching.

Key Features:

• Display popular posts by views, comments, or avg. views per day
• Set custom time ranges (past 24 hours, week, month, etc.)
• Widgetized & shortcode displays
• Custom post types support
• Thumbnail support
• Theme & custom CSS styling
• Caching to reduce server load
• REST API & JSON support

Pricing: Free
Ease of Use: 5/5
Customization: 5/5

How to Set It Up:

1. Install & activate plugin
2. Go to Settings > WordPress Popular Posts
3. Configure options (time range, post types, thumbnail, etc.)
4. Add Popular Posts widget to sidebar or use shortcode
5. Customize theme & styling as desired

2. MonsterInsights Popular Posts Addon

Overview: The Popular Posts addon for MonsterInsights leverages Google Analytics data to display your top content inline or via widgets. Easily embed popular posts into your articles, sidebars, or footer and customize the look to match your theme. Great for content-heavy sites that want data-driven popular post displays.

Key Features:

• Inline or widget popular post embeds
• Pulls real traffic data from Google Analytics
• Customize look & feel to blend with theme
• Display top posts over custom date ranges
• Exclude or include specific posts & categories
• Popular product displays for WooCommerce
• Gutenberg block & shortcode support

Pricing: From $99.50/year
Ease of Use: 4.5/5
Customization: 4/5

How to Set It Up:

1. Install MonsterInsights & connect Google Analytics
2. Upgrade to Pro & activate Popular Posts addon
3. Go to Insights > Popular Posts
4. Configure options (display, styling, inclusion/exclusion)
5. Add Popular Posts widget or use inline embed options

3. Jetpack Top Posts & Pages Widget

Overview: Jetpack‘s Top Posts & Pages widget displays your most visited posts and pages in a simple, no-fuss sidebar display. While it lacks some of the more advanced features of other plugins, its ease of use and clean design make it a great option for beginners looking for a quick engagement boost.

Key Features:

• Shows most viewed posts over past 48 hours, week, month, year
• Option to show most commented on posts
• Minimal customization options
• Thumbnail support
• Works out-of-the-box, no setup needed

Pricing: Free
Ease of Use: 5/5
Customization: 2/5

How to Set It Up:

1. Install & activate Jetpack plugin
2. Go to Appearance > Widgets
3. Add Top Posts & Pages widget to sidebar
4. Choose display options & save

Tips & Best Practices for Using Popular Post Plugins

Now that you know the top popular post plugins for 2024, let‘s go over some tips for getting the most out of them on your site:

1. Experiment with placement: Try showcasing popular posts in your sidebar, homepage, after post content, and in your footer to see what gets the most engagement. Use heatmaps to track where people are clicking.

2. Use attention-grabbing designs: Make your popular posts section stand out with contrasting colors, eye-catching thumbnails, and curiosity-stoking headlines. Mimic the style of Buzzfeed & other viral sites.

3. Keep it above the fold: Place popular post displays "above the fold" in high-visibility areas where visitors will see them immediately without having to scroll.

4. Add strong calls-to-action: Include text CTAs like "Read More" or buttons to encourage clickthroughs. Make them specific to the post topic for more relevance.

5. Cross-promote with other channels: Highlight popular posts in your email newsletters and social media to drive more traffic to them and boost social proof.

6. Exclude irrelevant posts: Use post type & category filters to exclude posts that aren‘t relevant to most of your audience. You want your popular posts to be highly targeted.

7. Show social share counts: Leverage social proof by showcasing posts with high share counts. MonsterInsights can pull this data automatically.

8. Create Popular Posts subcategories: If you cover a range of topics, consider segmenting popular posts into subcategories to appeal to different audience interests (like HubSpot does on their blog).

With these tips, you‘ll be able to strategically deploy popular post displays to keep visitors engaged and consuming more of your best content.

Popular Post Plugins – Frequently Asked Questions

Still have questions about using popular post plugins on your WordPress site? Here are answers to some FAQs:

Q: Will popular post plugins slow down my site?
A: Most popular post plugins are optimized for performance and many include built-in caching to minimize server load. However, displaying thumbnails and large numbers of posts can increase load times. Use a lightweight plugin like WordPress Popular Posts and keep your displays minimal.

Q: How can I exclude specific posts from being shown as popular?
A: Most plugins allow you to use post IDs, categories, or tags to filter out specific posts or types of content from popular post displays. Consult the documentation for your specific plugin for steps.

Q: Can I create separate popular post displays for different categories or sections of my site?
A: Yes, plugins like WordPress Popular Posts allow you to create multiple widgets and set category filters for each one. This way you can showcase relevant popular posts across different areas of your site.

Q: How do I customize the look and feel of popular post displays to match my theme?
A: Most plugins come with customization options and support custom CSS editing so you can tweak the appearance. Some, like MonsterInsights, have built-in theme options. If you‘re not code-savvy, look for a plugin with a user-friendly editor.

Boost Your Engagement & Conversions with Popular Post Plugins

There you have it! We‘ve covered why you need to showcase popular posts on your WordPress site, the top 10 plugins for the job in 2024, and pro tips for getting the most engagement and conversions.

Our top recommendations are WordPress Popular Posts for a free, feature-packed solution, MonsterInsights for data-driven displays integrated with Google Analytics, and Jetpack for quick and easy setup.

To get started, think about your goals, choose a plugin that fits your needs, and start experimenting with placement, design, and promotion tactics to maximize your results. Here‘s to your popular posts going viral in 2024!