How to add like and dislike buttons to WordPress content

Choose where the controls belong: posts, pages, comments, WooCommerce products or custom post types. Decide whether visitors can vote, whether users must be logged in, whether one person can change or remove a vote, and whether you will show separate like and dislike totals.

Also decide whether the buttons should appear automatically or only where you place them. Writing these rules down prevents a common problem: displaying one set of buttons automatically and then adding a second set with a block or shortcode.

You can build this without a plugin, but it is a small application rather than a simple button edit. Add the controls with a shortcode or a content/comment filter, load the front-end JavaScript through wp_enqueue_scripts, and send votes to WordPress through admin-ajax.php. Logged-in and logged-out visitors need separate AJAX handling, using the authenticated and unauthenticated WordPress AJAX actions.

The handler must verify a nonce with check_ajax_referer(), validate the post or comment ID, prevent repeat votes, and save votes in a structure that records the voter and the target rather than blindly incrementing a number. Nonces help verify requests but are not authentication or access control.

This route gives you control, but you must maintain the JavaScript, database logic, spam protection, privacy behaviour, accessibility, cache compatibility and migration code. It is usually fine for a developer maintaining a small, bespoke feature, but it is not the quick route for a content site.

For the practical route, open Plugins → Add New Plugin, search for a like and dislike plugin, then install and activate one that supports your required content types. Plugins in this category commonly provide automatic placement, live counts, guest-vote restrictions, comment voting and a block or shortcode for manual placement.

After activation, open the plugin settings and select the content types, button position, labels, icons and voting rules. If the plugin offers a choice between browser, IP or logged-in restrictions, remember that IP limits can treat everyone on the same office or household network as one voter.

Use automatic placement if every post should have the controls. Use the plugin’s block or shortcode when the buttons belong in a particular section, template, page-builder layout or only on selected content. Shortcode callbacks should return their output rather than print it directly, which avoids output appearing in the wrong place.

Do not use automatic placement and manual placement for the same content unless you have deliberately disabled one of them. If you add buttons to comments, make sure each control is tied to the comment ID, not just the parent post ID, or every comment may share one vote total.

Test as an administrator, a logged-in user and a logged-out visitor. Check that a second click removes or changes the vote if that is your chosen rule, that the count updates after a refresh, and that two different posts or comments do not share a total.

Test with your page-cache and JavaScript optimisation settings enabled. Cached HTML can show an old count, while minification or deferred scripts can leave a voting control stuck loading; clear the cache and exclude the voting script if the controls stop responding. Also test keyboard focus, mobile layout, screen-reader labels and whether the buttons appear in archives or excerpts by mistake.

For the quickest setup, use WP ULike Pro. It provides configurable like and dislike buttons, counts and engagement statistics for posts, comments and WooCommerce products, with placement, styling and shortcode options. Install it, activate it, choose the content types and voting rules, then adjust the button design and position in its settings.

Use the manual route only when you need a voting model that the plugin cannot provide or you are comfortable maintaining custom PHP, JavaScript and vote-storage logic. For a normal blog, store, documentation site or community site, the plugin avoids most of the work that causes duplicate votes, broken counts and cache-related failures.