WordPress comes with several free themes developed by themselves, like Twenty Seventeen, Twenty Sixteen, and so on.
These themes have a “Proudly powered by WordPress” link in the footer, which you can’t remove by going through the theme settings.
Some of you might want to remove that link because it can look a bit unprofessional if you’re using the theme for your business, or a client, or for something else.
In this article, I’ll show you two different ways to remove the “Proudly powered by WordPress” link from your default theme’s footer.
Hide the “Proudly powered by WordPress” link via CSS
This method is easier for beginners and more reliable because it will work with almost all WordPress themes.
The downside is that it’s not the best SEO practice to hide content, especially links. But, sometimes, it’s necessary.
So, all you need to do is to add this CSS code to your website:
.site-info{display: none;}
There are different methods which you can use to add CSS to your website. I’m going with WordPress’ built-in feature, Additional CSS, since everyone has and can access that.
1. Log in to your Dashboard, then go to Appearance -> Customize.
2. Click on Additional CSS.
3. Add the code .site-info{display: none;} in the CSS box to hide the link.
The Customize feature lets you preview changes in real-time, so when you add that code, the “Proudly powered by WordPress” link should disappear.
4. You still have to press the Publish button in order for the change to be implemented.
Remove the “Proudly powered by WordPress” link via footer.php
footer.php file or your entire website first! I also strongly recommend using a child theme. Copy the footer.php file in your child theme and edit it there, otherwise, the changes will be lost with the next theme update. This method is not a one-size-fits-all, so it might not work for your theme, unfortunately.There are several ways in which you can access your theme’s files. For this example, I’m going to use a feature provided by WordPress, which is the Theme Editor.
This option might not be there for some of you, depending on your security features/plugins. Therefore, use another method pointed in the above link.
1. Go to Appearance -> Editor.
2. Your current theme will be selected, but if you want to remove the link from another theme, then select it from the drop-down menu.
3. Look for the Theme Footer file (footer.php) on the right side, and select it.
4. Find the following PHP code and remove it:
get_template_part( 'template-parts/footer/site', 'info' );
5. Press the Update File button.
Refresh your page, and the “Proudly powered by WordPress” link should be removed.
If not, perform a hard refresh on your browser to override the cache:
- CTRL-F5 for Windows;
- Cmd-Shift-R for Mac.
If that still doesn’t do the trick, then also clear the cache from your website, if you have any cache plugins or server cache features.
If the link is still there, then you should check if you properly removed the code.
The PHP code is different for older themes
The above example was for the Twenty Seventeen theme. For older themes, like Twenty Sixteen, Twenty Fifteen, and so on, the PHP code is different.
You’ll still find it in the footer.php file, but it will look like this:
<div class="site-info">
<?php
/**
* Fires before the Twenty Fifteen footer text for footer customization.
*
* @since Twenty Fifteen 1.0
*/
do_action( 'twentyfifteen_credits' );
?>
<a href="<?php echo esc_url( __( 'https://wordpress.org/', 'twentyfifteen' ) ); ?>"><?php printf( __( 'Proudly powered by %s', 'twentyfifteen' ), 'WordPress' ); ?></a>
</div><!-- .site-info -->
So delete that, press the Update File button, and the “Proudly powered by WordPress” link will be removed from the footer on older WordPress themes as well.
That’s a wrap
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Thank you so much. it’s cool
Thanks a lot, I can usually figure out how to remove or change the footer text. But this one was a bit more difficult. Thanks for the info
I can usually figure out how to remove or change the footer text. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much!!! It worked for me.
Thank you, finally.
You’re welcome!
Thanks For Sharing This Article. I really wanted to know that, how to remove footer link. By the way, you describe everything in an elegant way
Thanks! I try to be as comprehensive as possible.
Thanks for the tip. Do you know how I can add my own link instead? or add an all rights reserved notice?
I assume you want to do that in the Twenty Seventeen theme.
You’ll have to edit the file found in
/wp-content/themes/twentyseventeen/template-parts/footer/site-info.php. It’s best if you create those folders (“template-parts” and “footer”) in your child theme and copy the php file there, and then edit it.Once you open the file for editing, remove everything that’s between the
<div>...</div>tags, and then add your own text. Here’s an example of how it should look like:<div class="site-info">© <a href="https://example.com">Example.com</a>. All Rights Reserved.
</div><!-- .site-info -->
©is for the copyright sign.Hope this helped!
Or better, just look for, wordpress plugin “WP Hide and Security Enhancer”, removing “Powered by WordPress” is like a piece of cake with it, Do look for it on WpBlog, they have a very good article on it.
If something can be done without a plugin, then it would be best to do it that way.
Also, it’s not a good idea to install a pretty heavy plugin with a lot of features, just to use it for one small thing.
Hi,
please advise for the eStore theme
how to remove below footer
Theme: eStore by ThemeGrill. | Proudly powered by WordPress.
Hello! I believe the code differs on your theme, so you should contact the developers. Unfortunately, the solution I provided won’t work for every theme.
WOW. useful article. I really appreciate your blog.
Thank you!
Thank you. That single CSS line made my day.
Yep, the CSS method is more reliable since it will work on almost all themes. It’s also easier.
Hi,
please advise for the eStore theme
how to remove below footer
Hello! Use the CSS method if the PHP method won’t work for that specific theme. In case the theme uses a different CSS selector, use this guide to find out which is the correct one.
The CSS method worked for me. It’s the first time I’ve ever put code into anything – so huge thanks!