Create a free website or build a blog with ease on WordPress.com. Dozens of free, customizable, mobile-ready designs and themes. Free hosting and support. WordPress.org, often called self-hosted WordPress, is the free, open-source WordPress software that you can install on your own web host to create a website that’s 100% your own. WordPress.com is a for-profit, paid service that is powered by the WordPress.org software. It’s simple to use, but you lose much of the flexibility of the self.
Security is an important concern for WordPress users. We talk regularly about security, among other things, in alerts about themes and plugins and how to protect ourselves from hackers. But the word “security” is a simple point of view and there is no limit to the protection of our websites.
- Then, click on Appearance on your WordPress Sidebar and click on Customize. Next, click on the Theme option s listing on the left sidebar and you should be able to see a Remove Powered By WordPress option. Simply check in the checkbox option and that should remove the Powered by WordPress footer credit.
- Description Remove “Proudly powered by WordPress” This plugin removes the “Proudly powered by WordPress” for those who want to use the default theme for their website but don’t want everyone to know what they’ve used to build it. Content can then be added in its place with a new “Site Info” widget area on some themes.
Find Out Why and How to Remove Powered by WordPress Link
Majority of the users don’t think the same when they say “hide WordPress”. What do we usually mean by “hiding that we use WordPress”? The answer is simple, we try to hide the fact that our website works in WordPress, to all users and robots trying to identify the content management system (CMS).
Tip: Security plugins enhance the security aspects of WordPress websites, but there are other ways to harden them. Read more: Tips to Secure Your WordPress Website.
Does Hiding That You Use WordPress Improve Security?
Many of us may have asked, “how to hide my WordPress?”. The idea is not new, but there is a lot of controversy about hiding or not hiding that WordPress is powering your website.
The information concealment technique is known as obfuscation security. Many WordPress experts believe that this has no impact on the security of WordPress websites.
You are probably wondering, why?
According to the experts, there are hundreds of other ways to know that you are using WordPress, core version, and other aspects. The advanced users can find many websites that explain to them that you use WordPress by obfuscation hence it has no impact on WordPress security.
How to Remove Proudly Powered by WordPress Link?
It should be noted that many small online eCommerce stores think that hackers will never attack them because their stores are too small to interest them. The reasoning is intuitive, but the truth is different. According to an article in Forbes Magazine, nearly 30,000 websites are hacked daily. Hacker attacks on WordPress & Similarly, Sucuri issued Hacked Website Report 2017 that “analyzes over 34,000+ infected websites” and WordPress tops in that report with 83 percent.
You’re A Giant or Not, It Doesn’t Matter!
Image Courtesy: Sucuri
Don’t you think it is an impressive number, an eye-opener?
In short, it doesn’t matter whether you are a whale (AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Walmart) or a goldfish, you can be hooked or caught one day.
But, before we go any further, let’s list some of the basic things you can do to make your WordPress website more secure & some of the best WordPress security plugins to secure your WordPress websites.
Basic Safety Rules to Secure WordPress
The first rule of securing your WordPress website is to use strong passwords. There is nothing like a strong password. If you don’t know how to generate a strong password, there are many random password generators available for free on the Internet.
Here is an example of a strong password:
3VMgzm<u@gdjduA
The second rule is to make updates as soon as a new version is available. We have seen many WordPress website owners (including professional websites) who “superbly” ignore all updates: WordPress Core, plugin, and themes. This behavior is the door open to the problems since hackers only wait for that vulnerabilities to access your website without permission. These are the most common WordPress mistakes that people ignore.
The third rule is to use a security plugin such as iThemes Security, Wordfence, etc.
The fourth rule is to consider protecting your WordPress admin & login page from brute force attacks by inserting a CAPTCHA and/or two-factor authentication.
Why You Should Not Hide Powered by WordPress?
Many WordPress website owners are not convinced that using obfuscation to secure their websites is a good thing and that’s why we have mentioned few reasons at the beginning of this article.
Here are other reasons that may convince you not to use obfuscation to secure your WordPress website:
- Malicious robots don’t consider the version of WordPress.
- There are many ways to know that you are using WordPress.
- Any hacker able to access your website will eventually find information that you forgot to hide.
- If obfuscation was the solution, we would have no version of the products available on the market.
Still Not Convinced? Let’s Continue!
We understand that there are many situations that can lead to the use of obfuscation for security, but whatever the reason, we must go ahead and hide WordPress from hackers to protect your WordPress site from brute force attacks.
WordPress is a well-known content management system. More than 30% websites on the Internet use WordPress. Because of this popularity, hacking a WordPress website has become a goal of achievement for hackers.
Every year, thousands of WordPress websites are hacked. The reasons are many, such as vulnerable themes or plugins, simple passwords, etc.
Yet that WordPress is a secure platform?
Image Courtesy: Wordfence
If a hacker gains access to a WordPress website, he makes changes most of the time to hide his tracks and keep his access as administrator of a WordPress website:
- He creates a new account with administrator privileges
- He resets the password to make sure no other user can recover access
- He changes the role of existing accounts
- He modifies the content by injecting malicious code
- He creates redirects in .htaccess files
Hacking of WordPress Is Easy but Can Be Avoided
There are different plugins, free and paid, to secure WordPress website. The most popular are WordFence Security, BulletProof Security, and iThemes Security.
And if you could completely hide that you use WordPress for websites for even more protection?
If you have the budget and if your WordPress website is the hub of your business, it is recommended to strengthen the security of your website to ensure you are protected against targeted attacks.
The most popular plugins for you to remove proudly powered by WordPress are Hide My WP, Swift Security, and WP Hide and Security Enhancer.
Hide My WP
Hide My WP works as a general security plugin and hides the fact that you use WordPress by changing your permalinks without making any changes to the actual locations of your files. The goal of this plugin is to give your WordPress website an extra layer of security.
Features That makes Hide My WP The Great Plugin:
- It allows changing the permalinks of the files (like wp-admin) to hide them from the collecting robots.
- Removes meta information (such as the version number) from your headers.
- Control access to your PHP files.
- Modify subdirectories of default vulnerable folders, such as wp-content.
- Hide files that can give information about your WordPress installation (like readme.html or license.txt).
- Warns you of security risks with the new “Intrusion Detection System” service.
- Access notifications to a 404 page.
- Setting custom URLs for static files (image, CSS, and JavaScript files) etc.
Hide My WP is easy to install and configure. All settings and options are well explained so you always know what you are doing and what each feature works. It is a great investment for anyone using WordPress for blogging, ecommerce or a small businesses.
Swift Security Bundle
Swift Security puts a bulletproof vest on your WordPress website. This plugin, not content to remove powered by WordPress, also has a Firewall module and a module that scans the code to detect the malicious code.
Features That Makes Swift Security Bundle The Great Plugin:
- Minification of CSS/JavaScript code
- Filter IP addresses
- Anti Force Brute
- Notifications by email or Push
- Removes HTML comment code etc.
With Swift Security, you will make your WordPress website more secure. A big advantage of this plugin is that you don’t need any special technical knowledge.
WP Hide and Security Enhancer
WP Hide completely hides your WordPress core files along with login page, theme, and plugin from those who are visiting your website. Apart from changing the default URLs of your WordPress website, it also hides them!
Features of WP Hide & Security Enhancer plugin include:
- Block default plugins paths
- Block default upload URLs
- Block any direct folder access to completely hide the structure
- Adjustable theme URL
WP Hide is an effective plugin if you want to completely remove proudly powered by WordPress from your WordPress website.
How to Remove “Powered by WordPress”
For this article, I will use the free Remove “Powered by WordPress” plugin which you can download from the WordPress repository.
Once you install and activate the plugin, navigate to Appearance > Customize.
Click on Theme Options…
… and you will see a checkbox that lets you hide “Powered by WordPress” from your website. I hope this method answers your question on how to get rid of the default “proudly powered by WordPress” message on your site.
The plugin works with all the default themes including:
- Twenty Nineteen (widget area not implemented as it’s not suitable)
- Twenty Seventeen
- Twenty Sixteen
- Twenty Fifteen
- Twenty Fourteen
- Twenty Thirteen
- Twenty Twelve
- Twenty Eleven
- Twenty Ten
Did You Choose to Hide WordPress?
After reading this article, have you made the choice to hide your website uses WordPress or will you change anything? What steps did you take to hide your favorite CMS and how did it work for you? Share your points of view and experiences in the comments below!
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. Can you remove the Powered by WordPress?
Sometimes the theme that you are using has the option to remove or change the footer giving you the ability to remove “Powered by WordPress” from the admin panel. Other than that, you can also edit the footer.php by opening this file and search for “Proudly Powered by”.
Q2. How do I change the copyright in WordPress?
Steps to change the WordPress Copyright footer text:
- Log in to WordPress admin panel
- Navigate on Appearance
- Select Theme Editor
- Search for the text on the footer
- Update
Q3. Am I allowed to hide powered by WordPress?
It is a common misconception that WordPress websites must have powered by WordPress on their websites. This is far from the truth as every WordPress user has the right to remove this statement for various reasons as mentioned in the article above.
If you are aspiring to launch your websites and have finally managed to put a comprehensive site together but you do not want Proudly powered by WordPress in the footer section then this article will help you get rid of the Proudly powered by WordPress embedded text from the footer link from your website. Here is “how to remove proudly powered by WordPress” from the footer section in a WordPress based website.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems available in the market currently and a vast number of websites are designed, published, and managed via WordPress. The reason for the popularity of WordPress is it’s open-source licensing and free of cost availability to the public. It has enabled developers around the globe to create themes and templates for all sorts of websites from blogs to top e-commerce stores.
On top of its free user license, you can choose from beautiful WordPress themes by top developers.
Proudly powered by WordPress is written in the footer section and it communicates that the website is designed and managed on WordPress but if you feel like it creates a bad impression for your website then removing it is the best option to consider rather than fretting over it. For further insights on WordPress, click here.
Without further ado, let’s delve into how to remove “Proudly Powered by WordPress.” The footer message links to the WordPress website and there are multiple ways to remove the link.
Can you legally remove the “Proudly Powered by WordPress” footer link?
WordPress is a free and open-source content management platform and there are no legal implications whatsoever about anything that you want to add or remove from the selected theme of WordPress. Now that you know that it’s perfectly legal and appreciable to remove the link, consider the following methods to remove Proudly Powered by WordPress.
If you have finalized the content and the website is ready then before making any changes, create a backup of your website in case anything goes astray.
Hiding WordPress footer from Theme settings
This method is not appreciable but it is quite easy. You just need to login to the admin console of WordPress. Once you have logged in navigate to the Appearance menu and go to Customize, it is usually the first section where footer/ footer credits setting`s are hidden. But different themes have this setting hidden elsewhere.
Once you have found the footer section then change the link or completely remove it from the theme and you will be good to go.
Via WordPress theme customizer
To remove the WordPress footer by this method you will need to access your WordPress Admin area. It depends on what WordPress you are currently using. You might get the option to straightaway remove the footer section from the theme. Or follow these steps
- Navigate to Appearance, click on Customize. Options are available in the WordPress dashboard.
- Press Footer and click on Bottom Bar
- Disable the footer from the menu or add the text that you want in the footer section.
It is an easy way to remove the footer credits but, in some themes, there is a restriction or option to remove the link that is not available.
From Native theme options
This method is best when it comes to third party themes. Native word press theme customizer can help you remove the footer, if it is not able to remove the footer link, check the theme settings.
If you are not able to find the option in theme settings then try to locate the Widgets section. Sometimes checking individual theme options is also helpful.
Rescript Footer.php
SEO is essential when it comes to the website and if search traffic is your priority then editing footer.php is a better option to get rid of the footer section. The footer.php file houses all the information that is displayed in the footer of your site, including the “Proudly Powered by WordPress” link.
Sometimes the WordPress developers disable the theme editing option due to security reasons. If you couldn’t find the desired setting then surely your developer has locked the setting. Don’t worry you can still edit the footer by using SFTP file manager. SFTP file manager can help you access the core files of your site. You can use the following 6 steps to edit the footer.
- Connect with your website via SFTP file manager.
- Open the following directory public_html/wp-content/themes
- Now open the theme you want to edit
- Find and open Footer.php, copy the file and paste at the appropriate child theme directory
- Open the footer file in a text editor. Now find and erase the footer code. Code may vary depending on the theme.
- For the 2016 theme follow the following code.
- For the 2019 theme, add the following code
After adding the footer file update the file and the credit link will be gone or modified as per the changes in the code.
By using CSS
You can also use the CSS method to hide the footer link but it is detrimental to the SEO of your website and can severely damage the ranking of your website. This method can make your site appear as spam in Google’s search engine algorithm.
This method is however really quick and you can easily do it in a few steps.
- Go to Appearance then click on Customize in the WordPress dashboard
- Find the Additional CSS option at the bottom of the menu
- Then add the code that you want to hide the footer with
We don’t advise taking this route to remove footer links but if you want to risk the traffic coming from the Google search then you can try it. This method is often used by spammers to conceal malicious links from the visitors, that is why Google does not rank such pages. WordPress also enables the users to take SEO measures, you can learn how to make your site SEO here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Questions: What is Proudly Powered by WordPress?
“Proudly Powered by WordPress” is a small credit note that appears in the footer section of various WordPress themes. A link is embedded in the text that rediverts the traffic to wordpress.org.
Powered By Wordpress Twenty Twenty
Questions: How to remove “Proudly Powered by WordPress?”
You can remove proudly powered by WordPress by using these five methods
Hide Powered By Wordpress
- Hiding WordPress footer from Theme settings
- Via WordPress theme customizer
- From Native theme options
- Rescript Footer.php
- By using CSS
Comments are closed.