Remove the “Proudly powered by WordPress”

Remove the “Proudly powered by WordPress” link via CSS

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.

While this is an easier method, it’s not the best practice when it comes to SEO since Google doesn’t really like it when you hide links.

Remove the “Proudly powered by WordPress” link via footer.php

I recommend backing up the footer.php file or your entire website, if you’re not familiar with this! I also strongly recommend using a child theme.

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.