How to Add a Shortcode in WordPress (Beginner’s Guide)

Imagine being able to add new things to your WordPress website, like slideshows, contact forms, or even special lists, just by typing a simple code. That’s the power of shortcodes.

You’ll find that lots of WordPress plugins and themes can use shortcodes to add extra features to your site. Many of our readers ask us the best way to add them to their posts, pages, and sidebar.

In this article, we’ll show you how to use shortcodes on your WordPress website, step by step. We’ll even show you how to create custom shortcodes if you want to get really creative.

What Are Shortcodes?

Shortcodes in WordPress are code shortcuts that help you add dynamic content to WordPress posts, pages, and sidebar widgets. They are displayed inside square brackets like this:

[myshortcode]

To better understand shortcodes, let’s take a look at the background of why they were added in the first place.

WordPress filters all content to make sure that no one uses posts and page content to insert malicious code into the database. This means that you can write basic HTML in your posts, but you cannot write PHP code.

But what if you wanted to run some custom code inside your posts to display related posts, banner ads, contact forms, galleries, or something else?

This is where the Shortcode API comes in.

Basically, it allows developers to add their code inside a function and then register that function with WordPress as a shortcode, so users can easily use it without having any coding knowledge.

When WordPress finds the shortcode, it will automatically run the code associated with it.

Let’s see how to easily add shortcodes to your WordPress posts and pages. You can use the links below to jump to your preferred method.

Adding a Shortcode in WordPress Posts and Pages

First, you need to edit the post and page where you want to add the shortcode.

After that, you need to click on the add block button ‘+’ to insert a Shortcode block.

After adding the Shortcode block, you can simply enter your shortcode in the block settings.

The shortcode will be provided by various WordPress plugins that you might be using, such as WPForms for contact forms or OptinMonster for email marketing.

To learn more about using blocks, see our Gutenberg tutorial for more details.

You can now save your post or page and preview your changes to see the shortcode in action.

Adding a Shortcode in WordPress Sidebar Widgets

You can also use shortcodes in WordPress sidebar widgets.

Simply visit the Appearance » Widgets page and add a ‘Shortcode’ widget block to a sidebar.

Now, you can paste your shortcode inside the text area of the widget.

Don’t forget to click on the ‘Update’ button to store your widget settings.

After that, you can visit your WordPress website to see the live preview of the shortcode in the sidebar widget.

Adding a Shortcode in Old WordPress Classic Editor

If you are still using the old classic editor in WordPress, then here is how you can add shortcodes to your WordPress posts and pages.

Simply edit the post and page where you want to add the shortcode. You can paste the shortcode anywhere inside the content editor where you want it to be displayed. Just make sure the shortcode is in its own line.

Don’t forget to save your changes. After that, you can preview your post and page to see the shortcode in action.

Adding a Shortcode in WordPress Theme Files

Shortcodes are meant to be used inside WordPress posts, pages, and widgets. However, sometimes, you may want to use a shortcode inside a WordPress theme file.

WordPress makes it easy to do that, but you will need to edit your WordPress theme files. If you haven’t done this before, then see our guide on how to copy and paste code in WordPress.

Basically, you can add a shortcode to any WordPress theme template by simply adding the following code:

<?php echo do_shortcode('[your_shortcode]'); ?>

WordPress will now look for the shortcode and display its output in your theme template.

Adding a Shortcode in Block Theme Files With the Full-Site Editor

If you are using a block theme, then you’ll find it easier to add shortcodes in your WordPress theme files using the full site editor.

You can access this tool by selecting Appearance » Editor from the WordPress dashboard.

You will be shown your theme’s home template by default, and you can switch to other templates by selecting the ‘Templates’ option.

Once you have chosen a template, you can begin to edit it by clicking in the right pane of the editor. The editor will now fill the screen.

Now you can click the ‘+’ block inserter icon and search for the shortcode block. After that, simply drag it onto the template and type the shortcode you wish to use.

Don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button at the top of the screen to store your changes.

Creating Your Own Custom Shortcode in WordPress

Shortcodes can be really useful when you want to add dynamic content or custom code inside the WordPress post and pages. However, if you want to create a custom shortcode, then it requires some coding experience.

If you are comfortable with writing PHP code, then here is a sample code that you can use as a template:

// function that runs when shortcode is called
function wpb_demo_shortcode() { 
 
// Things that you want to do.
$message = 'Hello world!'; 
 
// Output needs to be return
return $message;
}
// register shortcode
add_shortcode('greeting', 'wpb_demo_shortcode');

In this code, we first created a function that runs some code and returns the output. After that, we created a new shortcode called ‘greeting’ and told WordPress to run the function we created.

You can add this code to your theme’s functions.php file manually or use a code snippet plugin like WPCode.

For more details, you can see our guide to adding custom code in WordPress without breaking anything.

Once you have done that, you can add this shortcode to your posts, pages, and widgets using the following code:

[greeting]

It will run the function you created and show the desired output.

Now, let’s take a look at a more practical usage of a shortcode.

In this example, we will display a Google AdSense banner inside a shortcode:

// The shortcode function
function wpb_demo_shortcode_2() { 
 
// Advertisement code pasted inside a variable
$string .= '<script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>
<ins class="adsbygoogle"
     style="display:block; text-align:center;"
     data-ad-format="fluid"
     data-ad-layout="in-article"
     data-ad-client="ca-pub-0123456789101112"
     data-ad-slot="9876543210"></ins>
<script>
     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script>';
 
// Ad code returned
return $string; 
 
}
// Register shortcode
add_shortcode('my_ad_code', 'wpb_demo_shortcode_2'); 

Don’t forget to replace the ad code with your own advertisement code.

You can now use the [my_ad_code] shortcode inside your WordPress posts, pages, and sidebar widgets. WordPress will automatically run the function associated with the shortcode and display the advertisement code.

Shortcodes vs. Gutenberg Blocks

We are often asked by users about the differences between shortcodes vs. Gutenberg blocks.

Basically, blocks allow you to do the same thing as shortcodes but in a more user-friendly way.

Instead of requiring users to add a shortcode for displaying dynamic content, blocks allow users to add dynamic content inside posts/pages with a more intuitive user interface. A lot of popular WordPress plugins have switched to using blocks instead of shortcodes because they are more beginner-friendly.

We have put together a list of the most useful Gutenberg block plugins for WordPress that you may want to try.

If you want to create your own custom Gutenberg blocks, you can follow our step-by-step tutorial on how to create custom Gutenberg blocks in WordPress.

We hope this article helped you learn how to add a shortcode in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on how to create a custom WordPress theme without writing any code and our expert pick of the best drag-and-drop WordPress page builder plugins.

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