What are widgets in WordPress? WordPress widgets are tools that allow you to add features and blocks of content to enhance and organize your website.
Widgets can be added throughout WordPress using the Block editor. You can add them to headers, footers, sidebars, WordPress posts, and other widget areas.
Some of the most common widgets to add to your site are popular posts, menus, social media feeds, social icons, and search.
The WordPress theme you are using determines what widgets and widget areas you have available.
Originally WordPress widgets were designed to provide WordPress users a simple and easy-to-use way to control the design and content of their website without coding.
Most WordPress themes support and will even include widgets of their own. Depending on your chosen WordPress theme, the most common widget areas are the header, footer, sidebar, and below your blog post content.
By default, WordPress comes with a standard set of widgets, which includes categories, navigation menu, tag cloud, calendar, search bar, recent posts, and more.
Many WordPress plugins include widgets to enhance and add functionality to your site. For example, you could install a newsletter plugin that offers a widget for your sidebar.
Overall, WordPress widgets can help you organize and structure your content in a way that is helpful to your visitors, like encouraging them to follow you on social media or signing up for your newsletter.
Additional Reading: