How to edit Footer in WordPress? [2023]
If you want to know how to edit footer in WordPress, this article is for you.
A web page will always consist of 3 major sections, the header, body, and the footer. Visitors will always notice your header first and this may tempt you to ignore your footer. However, the footer is also an important section of your website. If utilized well, you can easily use it to increase conversions or build trust or provide quick information such as contact information. Therefore, both the header and the footer of your website deserve attention when designing your website.
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In WordPress, the footer content is stored in the footer.php file This file mostly contains HTML code and some PHP code that displays dynamic content. The classic footer has 2 main horizontal rows. The first row contains widgets such as the sitemap, social buttons, text widget, custom HTML widget, etc. The second section contains copyright info and credits to the theme’s author usually. However, instead of looking at the footer as 2 horizontal rows, you can divide it into columns.
Now that we have a general idea of how the footer works, we can look into various methods how to edit footer in WordPress. The method applicable to your website will mainly depend on the theme that you are using. The process might be different for certain themes. However, the general procedure is the same and you should be able to figure out any minor deviations in the methods below.
Using the Theme Customizer
Many themes allow makes changes to the footer using the theme customizer. If your theme provides this option, it is the easiest way of making changes to the footer area of your website.
You access the theme customizer by going to Appearance >> Customize inside the WP admin area.
Premium Theme Options
Many themes will have specific footer options and settings that you will need to configure. It is important to check your theme’s documentation to see if there are any theme-specific footer options. Most paid themes will have some kind of footer configurations in the theme’s settings panel. An example is shown below.
To make it easier to create a custom footer, most paid themes will have pre-defined templates or allow you to create your own templates. This can give you the flexibility to create a perfectly designed footer.
The content in the first row of the footer is controlled by the footer widgets. You can easily change the footer widgets and their content from your WordPress dashboard.
In your WordPress dashboard under the appearance, menu click on Widgets as shown below.
On the Widgets page, you can edit the widgets in your footer. As shown below the footer for the 2020 theme has 2 different sections. Footer #1 and Footer #2. In the example below, we have added 3 widgets to each section.
Widgets can easily deleted by expanding the relevant widget and clicking on delete as shown below.
You can also add new widgets by selecting any widget from the left-hand side. The widgets available might depend on the theme that you are using and the plugins you have installed.
To add a widget, expand the relevant widget that you want to add, select the relevant section to which you would like to add the widget and click on Add Widget.
Once the widget has been added, you will need to define a title for it. You may need to configure it if it has any configuration options. Click on save to save your changes.
Log in to your WordPress dashboard and under the appearance menu, click on Theme editor as shown below
On the right-hand side search for the footer.php file and click on it to open it.
You should now have access to the code of the footer.php file as shown above. The example shown above is for the default 2020 WordPress theme. You can modify this code to make changes to the footer.php file.
If you wanted to edit the link you would change the link highlighted above in green. If you wanted to change the text you would edit the text highlighted in Yellow.
You could also remove the code if you wish to remove the powered by section. Alternatively, you could comment out the code.
Making changes directly to the footer.php file can have implications on your website. Here are some important notes:
- Always backup the file before making any changes. This will help you in case anything goes wrong or your website breaks. You can easily restore the backup of the file to undo any changes you made.
- It is recommended not to make changes directly to the footer.php file. Instead, you should consider using a child theme. If you make changes directly to the footer.php and a theme developer issues a theme update you can easily lose the changes you made to the footer.php file.
- It is also recommended not to remove code from the file. Instead, you should consider commenting out the code that you want to remove. This will make it easier to rectify any mistakes you make when editing the code.
Generally, you should be careful when editing code on your WordPress website. A backup of your complete website is always recommended.
We hope this article helped you understanding how to edit footer in WordPress. As mentioned earlier always remember to take a backup of your website before making significant changes. If you have any questions or comments, please let us know in the comments below.
The footer gives you a chance to make your website’s visitors remember your website. Use it wisely.
