How to Add Recent Posts to Your Sidebar in WordPress

When you create a new post on your WordPress site, you want to get as many people to read it as possible. This can be accomplished through various social media sharing options, but it can also be done by simply making links to the post more accessible across your site.

But manually adding these links can be a hassle, especially if you post a lot. Luckily there is a widget in WordPress that can automatically display your most recent posts in an area of your choosing.

How to Add the Recent Posts Widget in WordPress

The steps in this article were performed in the 5.1.1 version of WordPress. I am going to be adding the Recent Posts widget to the sidebar, but you can add it to any of the available widget areas for your theme.

Step 1: Sign into the admin section of your website at (yourdomain.com)/wp-admin.

Step 2: Hover over the Appearance tab at the left side of the window, then choose the Widgets option.

Step 3: Click on the Recent Posts widget at the center of the window (you might have to scroll down a bit), then drag it to the desired widget area at the right side of the window.

Step 4: Give the widget a title, if desired, choose the number of posts to show and whether to show the post date, then click the Save button.

You can then go to your homepage or whatever area the widget appears on and see how it looks.

Do you need to add something else to your sidebar, but can’t find a default widget that will do it? Find out how to add custom HTML to a widget so that you can create whatever you want.