===  Post Views Counter ===
Contributors: snehalpancholi
Tags: post views, view counter, page views, analytics, shortcode
Requires at least: 6.0
Tested up to: 6.7
Stable tag: 1.0.0
Requires PHP: 8.1
License: GPL-2.0-or-later
License URI: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html

Track per-post view counts with bot filtering. Shows a [post_views] shortcode and a sortable admin column.

== Description ==

Post Views Counter tracks how many times each post (or custom post type) has been viewed. It fires via AJAX so it works correctly with full-page caching plugins. An extensive bot blocklist is built in, and you can add your own. View counts are stored as post meta and exposed via the [post_views] shortcode and a sortable admin column.

**Features**

* AJAX-based tracking — cache-friendly
* Built-in bot detection (Googlebot, Bingbot, Baiduspider, AhrefsBot, SEMrush, and 20+ more)
* Per-IP transient deduplication (1-hour window)
* [post_views] shortcode with label attribute
* Sortable "Views" column in post list tables
* Multi–post-type support
* Bulk reset all counts

== Installation ==

1. Upload the `post-views-counter` folder to `/wp-content/plugins/`
2. Activate via **Plugins > Installed Plugins**
3. Go to **Settings > Post Views Counter** to choose which post types to track

== Frequently Asked Questions ==

= Does it work with caching plugins? =
Yes. Tracking happens via a background AJAX call, not on page render.

= How do I display the count? =
Use [post_views] inside any post or page. You can also pass post_id="123" to display a specific post's count from anywhere.

= Can I stop counting my own views? =
Logged-in admins are still counted (by design) but the same IP is only counted once per hour per post.

== Changelog ==

= 1.0.0 =
* Initial release
