How to Edit the Footer in WordPress

When installing WordPress, one important part that is sometimes overlooked is the default branded footer text at the bottom of your pages. A footer usually includes elements such as the privacy policy and terms of service, copyright and date information, contact details and a sitemap.

A footer improves overall design quality, the user experience and engagement, and raises visitors' awareness of your brand. If you don't edit the footer text to fit your brand, it will look unprofessional and out of place to anyone who visits your site. In this article, MONA Media will show you methods you can use to edit the footer in WordPress.

How to edit the footer in WordPress

For almost all WordPressthemes, editing the footer is allowed. However, if you use a third-party theme on your website, make sure you have read the license agreements and documentation, because they may restrict removing the copyright notice.

Before you start changing the footer of your website, back up your site so you can quickly restore it if anything goes wrong.

You can edit the footer in WordPress in the following ways:

• Theme Options
• Install a plugin
• Footer Widgets
• Edit the code in the footer.php file

How to edit the footer in WordPress with the Theme Customizer

The Theme Customizer is a built-in part of every WordPress site. You can reach it from the Appearance tab in the webmasterdashboard. This WordPress feature lets you change colors and fonts, add icons, and even edit your footer and header.

• Step 1: To edit the footer in WordPress with the Theme Customizer, go to your WordPress admin dashboard and choose Appearance.
• Step 2: Choose Customize

• Step 3: Click Theme Settings
• Step 4: Next, choose Footer

• Step 5: Replace the default text with your own branded text

How to edit the footer in WordPress using a plugin

There are in fact thousands of WordPress plugins you can use to add functions to your site. Footer plugins make it easy to make big or small changes to your WordPress site without any coding experience or other technical skills.

If your theme doesn't have a built-in footer option, you can use a third-party plugin to create the WordPress footer, such as Remove Footer Credit.

• To edit the footer with a plugin, go to the settings and activate the plugin. Go to Tools in the settings of your WordPress admin dashboard and choose Remove Footer Credit.
• In the first text field, enter the text you want to remove, then add your own footer text in the second text field. When you are done, click Save.

Other useful WordPress plugins:

• What is Jetpack? What to know about the Jetpack WordPress plugin
• What is Yoast SEO? How to set up and use Yoast SEO
• WordPress auto-posting plugin: an effective SEO tool for news websites

How to edit the footer in WordPress using a Footer Widget

If your WordPress theme has a widget area in the footer, you can use widgets to add links, images and text, as well as legal disclaimers.

• To edit the footer with a Footer Widget, go to Appearance and choose Widgets.

• Inside the footer widget area, you can add footer text that reflects your brand.

Learn more about widgets:

• What Is a Widget? Everything You Need to Know About WordPress Widgets

How to edit the footer in WordPress using footer.php

footer.php is a WordPress template file that displays the footer area of your theme. With this method you can replace the default WordPress theme footer text with your own custom footer text.

You should not edit the footer.php code directly, especially if you are not used to working with code. Instead, use other methods such as backing up the theme files, creating a child theme and commenting out code in footer.php.

To edit the footer in WordPress using footer.php. Next, log in to your WordPress admin dashboard, go to Appearance and then choose Editor.

Go to Theme Files and find your theme's footer Footer.php. Then find the line Powered by, and if you have trouble finding it, you can use the CTRL + F shortcut to search.

You can change it to your own brand information or delete the line completely. Then click Update file to save the changes.

How to add elements to the WordPress footer

If you want to connect your website with a third-party app, you can add code to the WordPress footer.

Example: You can add social media buttons such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube or Pinterest to your website footer. Simply get the script from the social network you want to add, then paste it into the footer.

See more: Embed a fan page in your website

You also need to install and activate a plugin that lets you add scripts to the footer. One useful plugin for this is Insert Headers and Footers plugin.

To do this, install and activate the Insert Headers and Footers plugin. Copy and paste your footer code into the footer scripts section. Save your changes before continuing.

You can also add images to the footer by dragging and dropping image widgets into the footer area or through the Customizer.

Those are the ways to edit the footer in WordPress. Each has its own pros and cons, but they all have one thing in common: they are simple and easy to do. Just follow the steps above and you will succeed, even if you are new to WordPress.

More WordPress tips:

• What is WordPress debug? A guide to debugging in WordPress
• How to fix a Syntax Error in WordPress
• What is a taxonomy? How to use custom WordPress taxonomies effectively
• How to embed a Facebook video in a WordPress website