The essential component of any website in the footer. In the web design language, the phrase “footer” usually refers to the bottom area of a website page. Copyright notices, links to privacy policies, credits, codes, social media links, and scripts are usually placed in this part of the page. Many people would think the footer is less important just because it is at the bottom of the page. But don’t be fooled by that – people do scroll all the way down to the footer.
Footer has an important role actually. Firstly, the footer helps with the website navigation. The second advantage in using the footer is helping with SEO optimization for boosting the internal links. If you learn how to edit the footer in WordPress, this may bring you a lot of benefits.
All the footer content is saved in a special footer.php text file as a part of the WordPress theme. There are usually three to four footer widget spaces provided by most WordPress themes. You can personalize them and then use them appropriately. You may also delete or add new items, adjust their design, add links to your policies or social network accounts.
The footer is usually present on all the web pages of one website. Some people still consider it less important, but some of you realize the importance of the footer. The footer is not just a bunch of useless text. Knowing how to edit the footer in WordPress is essential. This is why this article will be great for you.
Editing the footer in WordPress might seem somewhat difficult because there is a difference among themes. Themes have different features and changes apply differently. If you edit the footer in one way in one theme it may turn out entirely different in another theme. However, there are various methods to edit the footer.
Learn how to edit the footer in WordPress and other appearance widgets and you will improve the overall website design. Website design is crucial to attract and keep website visitors interest.
1. By Using the WordPress Customizer
If you wondered how to edit the footer in WordPress and you are also a beginner in using the WordPress dashboard, use the WordPress Customizer. This might save you time while you’re still learning how to work in WordPress editor.
To find WordPress Customizer, go to Themes settings. It should be in the main admin sidebar. There should be an option to edit the footer there. After you click on it, you will get a live preview of your WordPress site. The preview will be on the right and the footer customizes settings on the left side of your screen. Having a preview will make the editing much easier.
There are various options to choose from in Customizer to edit and make changes to your footers. Here you will find WordPress widgets, theme settings, and WordPress Menus. A specific theme might use all of these options to customize footers while some themes use just one or two.
In this article about how to edit the footer in WordPress, we will explain all three of these footer editing options.
WordPress Widgets
To customize footer content, you may use special built-in widget systems. Many WordPress themes have them. These widgets are content blocks the can be placed in footers or sidebars, but in other places on your WordPress website too. By adding, removing, and editing WordPress widgets placed in some of those areas, you will be able to control that part of the footer content.
You may use a WordPress Widget plugin to add some extra types of widgets if you require more widget options. Adding widgets is easy. You may add a widget simply by clicking on its title in the list of all the widgets offered. Once you select one, drag it with the cursor to the footer section. After you select where you want to place it, click the Add Widget button.
If you, by any chance, change your mind and don’t want or like that widget, just select Delete. After you apply all the changes you want, don’t forget to save the changes and hit the Publish button.
Theme Settings
If you are not good with programming languages and working with code, this type of settings a way to edit for you. Using the theme settings is also good if you don’t want to use a plugin. Here is the list of all the elements you can edit with the theme customizer:
- Change footer background
- Add extra columns and rows
- Alter the text color
- Pick which elements will be shown in the mobile version of the website
As we already mentioned, you will have a live preview on the right side while using the theme customizer. Don’t forget the changes apply differently among different WordPress themes.
WordPress Menu
Another method to edit the footer and create a footer menu is with the WordPress menu system. This also depends on what theme you use and how a specific theme was built. This means that some themes offer you only partial control of the footer.
One of the options is selecting a menu that already exists on your WordPress website. The other one is to click the link and create an entirely new menu. If you decided to create a new menu, add it using the customizer. Don’t forget to save and click the publish button after you finish.
2. Edit the Footer Code
If you created a footer and you still don’t like it, there is another method to customize it. This other method to edit the footer will require you to use code. If you know the code, this will be easy for you, a plain technical solution. Go to the footer.php file to make all the changes you need to.
To edit the text in the footer.php file, look for it in your WordPress theme folder. Be sure not to erase any lines of the code from the file.
One of the safe options is to create a child theme and apply changes to the code of the corresponding footer.php file. Another one is to insert text comment on the code in this file. Just comment on the code without removing any lines of code that are already there. Make sure you’re logged in to the WordPress Admin dashboard first.
If you have difficulty finding this text file of your WordPress theme, here’s what to do:
- Go to Appearance and find the Theme Editor option.
- Look for a file named Theme Footer (it should be in the list on the right)
- Click it to open and add the code you edit the footer.php.
- After you make all the changes, click the Update File button to finish.
3. Insert Plugins
The plugin is good if you want to edit the footer (and header) in your WordPress website without using the customizer or code. You can add and edit both header and footer of your website using the free plugin. The plugin proved to be a very useful tool as it has over 900.000 active installations on the market.
To start, if you want to add this amazing tool to your WordPress dashboard you must install it.
- Go to Plugins and select Add new.
- Search for Insert footer or Elementor footer.
- Click Install now and then click the Activate button.
- The plugin settings should appear under the WordPress settings area. There should be three key editing options: Header, Body, and Footer. You will need the 3rd one.
- Copy and paste the code you need in the footer section of your WordPress website.
- Paste the code in the plugin settings.
- Click Save changes after you finish the editing.
4. Remove Powered by WordPress Link
The small link that says “Powered by WordPress” in the footer is not a widget. It is for this reason that users are so puzzled about how to change it. Most of the WordPress themes have this link like some kind of watermark or signature. The text is either “Powered by WordPress” or “Proudly powered by WordPress” and it is included by default in most of the WordPress themes.
This text in the footer area also includes a link to the self-hosted WordPress.
There are some easy tips on how to hide this watermark. One way is to modify the text by editing the WordPress theme.
Another method is to click on the Remove Footer Credit. You can do this with one of the free WordPress plugins. This is a good choice if you don’t want to deal with editing the WordPress theme.
You will need to go to your site and install the needed plugin. After you do, type the text or HTML code you wish to delete from the footer. You will see the box where you need to insert this text.
You may then insert your own, custom footer link if you want to. It is not necessary, you may leave it blank. Save all the changes you made and reload the page to see the changes you’ve made.
You can even take editing the footer a step further. Develop your own entirely unique WordPress footer. You don’t need any specific technical knowledge or programming abilities to achieve this. Instead, you can build a perfect footer for your WordPress site using a visual, drag-and-drop editor. Simply drag and drop the widget into the footer area.
In general, all the methods to edit the footer are not that difficult. As you can see in this article there are various options to edit your WordPress footer. But always pay attention to what theme is applied at the moment.
There are various options for different skills and requirements. We recommend you always have a backup before you make any alterations to your WordPress site. Have the original file stored somewhere in case something unexpected occurs. We hope this article about how to edit footer in WordPress will be useful for you. With learning some of the basic methods you will surely create amazing WordPress sites.
If you enjoyed reading this article on how to edit the footer in WordPress, you should check out this one about how to check the WordPress version.
We also wrote about a few related subjects like how to watermark images, creating a comparison table with WordPress plugins, how to upload an HTML file in WordPress, where are WordPress pages stored, why is WordPress so hard to use and how to delete WordPress themes.
