Footer
Quick Definition
The footer is the section at the bottom of every page on your WordPress site. It typically contains copyright info, navigation links, contact details, and widget areas.
What Is a Footer?
The footer is the bottom section of every page on your WordPress site. It appears consistently across all pages and typically contains information that visitors expect to find at the bottom: copyright notices, legal links (Privacy Policy, Terms of Service), secondary navigation, contact information, and social media links.
In WordPress, the footer is generated by a template file. In classic themes, it's footer.php, loaded by the get_footer() function. In block themes, it's a template part that you edit visually in the Site Editor.
The footer also contains a critical WordPress function: wp_footer(). This hook runs just before the closing </body> tag and is where plugins inject their scripts — analytics tracking, chat widgets, performance tools, and more. Without wp_footer(), many plugins would break.
The Footer in Practice
Classic themes: Most classic themes include widget areas in the footer (often 3-4 columns) where you can add widgets from Appearance → Widgets. The theme controls the footer's layout and styling.
Block themes: You edit the footer directly in the Site Editor (Appearance → Editor → Template Parts → Footer). This gives you full design control — add columns, images, menus, forms, or any block you want.
A typical WordPress footer includes:
- Copyright notice — "© 2026 Your Site Name"
- Legal links — Privacy Policy, Terms, Cookie Policy, Disclaimer
- Navigation links — secondary menu with important pages
- Contact info — email, phone, address
- Social media icons — links to your profiles
- Newsletter signup — email capture form
Many themes let you assign a specific menu to the footer location from Appearance → Menus.
Why It Matters
The footer is your site's safety net — it's the last thing visitors see before leaving. A well-structured footer with clear links improves navigation, builds trust (legal pages), and provides a final conversion opportunity (newsletter signup). It's also where search engine crawlers find important site-wide links. See our beginner's guide and best themes for themes with great footer options.