Trusted WordPress tutorials, when you need them most.
Beginner’s Guide to WordPress
WPB Cup
25 Million+
Websites using our plugins
16+
Years of WordPress experience
3000+
WordPress tutorials
by experts

How to Add Header and Footer Code in WordPress (the Easy Way)

At WPBeginner, we write many tutorials that require you to insert code into the <header> or <footer> sections of your WordPress website. This can feel like a daunting task, especially since WordPress doesn’t provide a built-in option to add code snippets in the header and footer.

But, adding header and footer code in WordPress is necessary when trying to integrate with web services like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Facebook Pixel, and more.

You may also come across WordPress tutorials that ask you to add some custom CSS or JavaScript code to your WordPress header or footer.

Luckily, there is an easy solution for beginners. With the free WPCode plugin, you can safely add the code without directly editing your WordPress theme files.

In this article, we’ll show you how to easily add header and footer code in WordPress.

How to Add Header and Footer Code in WordPress

The Best Way to Add WordPress Header and Footer Code

If you want to add WordPress header and footer code, there are three possible solutions:

  1. Manually, by editing your theme’s header.php and footer.php files
  2. With your theme’s built-in header and footer code feature
  3. Using a WordPress plugin

The first option is not beginner friendly because it requires you to add header and footer code by directly editing the header.php and footer.php files manually.

Another disadvantage of using this method is that your code will be removed if you install an update to your theme.

The second option is using your theme’s built-in feature. Some WordPress themes like Elegant Themes and Genesis Framework by StudioPress offer a built-in option for quickly adding code and scripts to your WordPress header and footer.

If you are using a theme with a built-in feature, then it seems like a safe and simple solution. However, if you change your theme, then all the code snippets added to your website will be gone. This includes site verification in Google Search Console, website analytics via Google Analytics, and so on.

This is why we always recommend users to use the third option, a headers and footers plugin. This option is by far the easiest and safest method to add header and footer code in WordPress.

After a lot of requests from readers, our team has built the WPCode plugin.

WPCode

WPCode (formerly Insert Headers and Footers) is a 100% free code snippet plugin. You can use it to easily add code to the header and footer in WordPress.

Here are some benefits of using the WPCode plugin:

1. Easy, Fast, and Organized: It lets you add code to your site’s header and footer easily and quickly. Plus, it keeps you organized by allowing you to store all your footer and header codes in one place.

2. Prevents Errors: The smart code snippet validation helps prevent errors that may occur if you edit your theme files manually.

3. Upgrade or Change Your Theme Without Worry: The plugin will save your header and footer code in a separate place, so you can update or change your theme without worrying about the code being erased.

Aside from header and footer scripts, you can also use WPCode to easily insert custom PHP, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, and text code snippets without editing your theme files.

Plus, WPCode has a built-in snippets library where you can find all of the most useful WordPress code snippets. This allows you to quickly remove WordPress features that you don’t want like automatic updates, REST API, XML-RPC, comments, and more.

Note: If you want advanced features like a private cloud snippet library, conversion pixels, scheduled snippets, code revisions, and more, you can upgrade to WPCode Pro.

For more details, read our guide on how to easily add custom code in WordPress.

With that said, let’s see how to easily add header and footer code in WordPress using the WPCode plugin.

Video Tutorial

Subscribe to WPBeginner

If you don’t want to watch the video tutorial, then you can continue reading the text version below:

Adding Code to Header and Footer in WordPress

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the free WPCode plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Once the plugin is activated, go to Code Snippets » Header & Footer from your WordPress admin panel. After that, you will see a ‘Header’ box where you can add your code.

Add code to header and footer with WPCode

If you scroll down, you’ll also see a ‘Body’ and a ‘Footer’ box.

Header and footer script boxes WPCode

Simply paste the code into one of the three boxes. Once you’re done, don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.

The plugin will now automatically load the code in the respective locations on your WordPress site.

You can always edit and remove any code that you don’t want to keep.

You’ll need to keep the plugin installed and activated at all times. Deactivating the plugin will stop adding all custom code to your site.

If you accidentally deactivate the plugin, the code will still be safely stored in your WordPress database. You can simply reinstall or reactivate the plugin, and the code will start appearing again.

Note: You may have to clear your WordPress cache after saving changes, so the code properly appears on the front-end of your website.

We have found the biggest reason why a lot of beginners use the WPCode plugin is to add Google Analytics to their website. For that, we actually recommend using the free MonsterInsights plugin.

MonsterInsights is the best Google analytics plugin for WordPress. It helps you properly set up Google Analytics tracking with just a few clicks, and it shows you helpful stats right inside your WordPress dashboard.

For step by step instructions, see this tutorial on how to install Google Analytics in WordPress.

We hope this article helped you to learn how to add header and footer code in WordPress easily. You may also want to see our guide on how to display code on your WordPress site or our expert picks of the best WordPress development tools.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

Disclosure: Our content is reader-supported. This means if you click on some of our links, then we may earn a commission. See how WPBeginner is funded, why it matters, and how you can support us. Here's our editorial process.

Editorial Staff

Editorial Staff at WPBeginner is a team of WordPress experts led by Syed Balkhi with over 16 years of experience in WordPress, Web Hosting, eCommerce, SEO, and Marketing. Started in 2009, WPBeginner is now the largest free WordPress resource site in the industry and is often referred to as the Wikipedia for WordPress.

The Ultimate WordPress Toolkit

Get FREE access to our toolkit - a collection of WordPress related products and resources that every professional should have!

Reader Interactions

267 CommentsLeave a Reply

  1. Dennis Muthomi

    This guide is awesome! I manage websites for multiple clients, and I’m so glad you highlighted using WPCode plugin instead of editing themes directly. Trust me on this one – I learned this lesson the hard way! Had a theme update once that wiped out tracking codes for three of my clients. Not fun at all.
    Something that’s saved me tons of headaches is I keep a simple spreadsheet tracking all the header and footer codes for each client site. It shows what each code does and where it’s used. It’s been super helpful during theme changes, and I never have to guess what’s running on which site anymore.

  2. Moinuddin Waheed

    Ever since I have used wpcode on my website, it has reduced many troubles of messing with the functions.php file.
    I remember messing with the code back in 2017 and it was horrible.
    wpcode makes it easy not only to insert the code snippets but also it helps in easy maintenance.
    Moreover, it gives power to avoid lots of plugins to get small functionalities.

  3. Mrteesurez

    Thanks for this guide.
    Although adding code to the header and footer was once a big problem for me as I am afraid to loose the custom code when updating my theme, I then created a child theme for this but it was somehow technical.
    Now, I am using WPcode to add the code and implement other custom codes with ease, it’s even faster as there are some ready made custom code in WPcode itself. The plugin is very useful, thanks.

    • WPBeginner Support

      Glad to hear you found the plugin helpful!

      Admin

  4. Jiří Vaněk

    I’ve been using the WpCode plugin for several years and it’s really great. Especially for newbies who are afraid to insert codes into the website. This plugin is almost a must on every website. It can really save a lot of work and here on wpbeginner there are a lot of ready-made solutions.

  5. Pierre-Yves

    Hello
    I’ve installed the WPCode plugin and I’ve inserted code in the header field in the “Global Header and Footer” tab. This code shows a popup.
    The website is multisite and WPCode is activated on all the network.
    The popup shows well in the home page of my website, but not on other pages where people can land after searching in Google.
    What I’ve to do to get the popup showing on any page ?
    Thanks

    • WPBeginner Support

      Just to be certain, does your theme have a style for your other pages that uses a different header or removes the header?

      Admin

  6. Viney Bhatia

    Is there any way to hide the header or footer code for some posts/pages?

    • WPBeginner Support

      Not at the moment with the plugin.

      Admin

  7. Aamir Nadeem

    How many codes we can add in single header or footer section, I mean can i use two or three codes in single header section like facebook code google code etc.

    • WPBeginner Support

      As long as the code is added properly and you’re not placing code within other blocks of code you can add as many as you would like.

      Admin

  8. FRANK Pirrone

    Hello, I added the code and clicked save. Nothing happened. Is there a publish button I need to press?

    • WPBeginner Support

      It would depend on the code you added as not all code has a visible component, you may also want to try clearing any caching on your site for another common reason for not seeing any change on a site.

      Admin

  9. Jamie Turner

    Hi — Quick question. I’ve installed the plugin. Is there a way to select which pages the header and footer show up on? All I see is a global install without the ability to select pages. Thanks!

    • WPBeginner Support

      At the moment the plugin is for adding code to your site’s header and not showing/hiding your header. Your theme’s templates would decide where your header and footer show on your site.

      Admin

  10. Pierre Patenaude

    I have installed the plugin (and it shows as being activated in the plugin list) but it doesn’t show up in the “Settings” menu. Did I miss a step? Could you provide a solution?
    Thanks

    • WPBeginner Support

      No, the option should be available once the plugin is active as long as you have access to edit the site’s settings, you would want to ensure you are an admin on the site and if it is still not visible you would want to try disabling your other plugins to see if it is possibly a conflict with one of those plugins.

      Admin

  11. Ashleigh White

    Hi! I have a question! I am trying to add the global site tag and phone snippet to my code on each page so I can track my google ad calls. I have the “Headers and Footers” plugin, can I just paste it here and I am good? Or does it matter where I post it (Header vs. Body. Footer)? Thanks so much!

  12. Deborah Dakota

    So close to being what’s needed! But Google strongly recommends using different metadata for every page. “Identical or similar descriptions on every page of a site aren’t helpful when individual pages appear in the web results. In these cases we’re less likely to display the boilerplate text. Wherever possible, create descriptions that accurately describe the specific page. ” Please consider updating your plugin accordingly.

    • WPBeginner Support

      Our plugin is not for metadata, it is mainly for code to add things like Google Analytics tracking or for verification codes. If you want a plugin for adding metadata to individual posts, we would recommend taking a look at All in One SEO as that will give you far better control over your metadata :)

      Admin

  13. Robert Zou

    I have a question. How do you remove code that you added using the insert headers and footers plugin? When I open up the theme editor I can’t find the code I added using this plugin.

    • WPBeginner Support

      Code added using the plugin would be removed when removed from the plugin’s settings or the plugin is uninstalled.

      Admin

  14. James

    Hello, hey I added the plugin above to my site and added the code to the header section. Then I tested with your site and it said it was saved successfully.

    But I don’t see the bot when I go to the live site. Could u tell me what I’m doing worng? Tnx.

    • WPBeginner Support

      It would depend on the specific code you are adding, we would recommend checking with the support for the code for if you added it correctly as not all code is made to have something visible.

      Admin

  15. Emmanuel

    I wanted to change the color of my address bar using this plugin but each time I paste it gives me an error message

    Is my code okay?

    • WPBeginner Support

      It would depend on the specific code and where the code is intended to be added. You would want to reach out to who you received the code from for where it should be placed.

      Admin

  16. Elizabeth

    I bought a theme but it does not let me add any button action in the header nor in the menu, do you think this plugin could help me???

  17. Ahmed

    How can add the code in the header as high as possible? I need to put Code first of few lines in the header. How can I control the position of the code?

    Thanks

    • WPBeginner Support

      If you need a very specific location for the code, you would want to manually add the code to your files.

      Admin

  18. William

    USELESS for a theme that does not have headers in the first place, like wordpress 2021. Useless.

    It was implied that this plugin would do that. It. Does. Not. ALL it does in insert a GIANT version of the picture you choose ABOVE your menu and site name.

    • WPBeginner Support

      The 2021 theme does have a header but, the Insert Headers and Footers plugin is for inserting code such as Google Analytics, not for adding photos to the header of your website. We would not recommend using this plugin for adding a header image as that would cause the errors you are running into.

      Admin

  19. Muhammad Shoaib

    Hey There,

    I have already installed “Insert Footer and Header plugin”, if I wanna to remove from site then the inserted code would also be removed from header section or still saved without plugin?
    Kindly light me.

    • WPBeginner Support

      If you remove the plugin, the added code should be removed as well.

      Admin

  20. Kirsten

    I’m being told by Google Analytics to add a Global Site Tag code immediately after the tag. Does this plugin do that? Otherwise, I have no idea how to add this code to *every* page on my site!

    • WPBeginner Support

      Yes, the plugin will add it to all of your pages with a header.

      Admin

  21. Lisa Masquelier

    Thank you SO much for these simple instructions and the plug-in. I could not figure out why my website kept deleting from Pinterest!

    • WPBeginner Support

      Glad our guide was helpful!

      Admin

  22. Kamlesh

    The Header and Footer in each blog post will be different? Is the Plugin for each Post?

    • WPBeginner Support

      Code added using the plugin will be on every post and page and not individual codes for individual posts and pages.

      Admin

  23. Denise

    If I need to add code before the closing tag, which box do I put the code into?

    • WPBeginner Support

      You would place that code into the footer section :)

      Admin

  24. Redentor mariano

    Thank you for some plug in that you shared.
    I gonna try it into my site.

    • WPBeginner Support

      We hope our plugin helps you add code to your header :)

      Admin

  25. Ana

    Thank you! Very helpful!

    • WPBeginner Support

      You’re welcome :)

      Admin

  26. Trang

    Hey,

    I can’t find the “Insert Headers” section below my post’s editor? So how can I enable that function allowing me insert different code for specific post?

    • WPBeginner Support

      Our plugin is for the entire site at this time and not individual posts or pages.

      Admin

  27. Emory

    How do I install different code for each page type instead of putting all the code in every page?

    • WPBeginner Support

      You would need to manually add that if we’re understanding what you’re wanting.

      Admin

  28. Ali

    Is “Insert Headers and Footers” plugin compatible with WordPress version 5.5.1?

    • WPBeginner Support

      Yes, we will look into updating the tested with version as soon as we are able

      Admin

  29. Brian Small

    I am getting the following error when hitting SAVE from this plug-in:

    A potentially unsafe operation has been detected in your request to this site

    • WPBeginner Support

      You would want to check if you have any security plugins active on your site or if your host has one set up. You may also want to ensure you copied the code you are attempting to add correctly.

      Admin

  30. DAVE

    On your demonstration you didn’t have anything come up on the top.
    This is the instructions from the code generator I am using;
    Paste the copied code into bottom of your HTML page just before the closing tag
    I tested the code and it does not work, “Am I doing something different? “

    • WPBeginner Support

      We would first recommend reaching out to the support of what has generated the code to ensure there isn’t anything specific about the code that needs to be set on your page for it to work correctly.

      Admin

      • DAVE

        Yes thank you, good idea.

  31. James

    Hello. I need to edit the header code on a specific set of pages only. I have currently added the script I need to the header.php file, however this applies the code to all pages globally.

    Is there any way I can add the script to a specific set of pages only?

    • WPBeginner Support

      Unless I hear otherwise, we do not have a recommended method for page specific code at this time.

      Admin

  32. Susan

    Thank you so much!!!

    This stuff scares me as I think I am going to doom my website forever!!

    So easily explained will definitely be subscribing.

    I need to work on this every day.

    • WPBeginner Support

      Glad our guides have been helpful :)

      Admin

  33. Marc

    If my theme does not allow custom header images, will this plugin allow me to make custom header images. Lost on how to do this. We have an old theme with custom header function

  34. Mark

    Would i be able to use a relative path? so I can move the site to a different host without changing header? if so where is the origin?

    i tried to include some some examples but sucuri blocked the post as malicious. i guess it doesn’t like seeing paths.

    • WPBeginner Support

      It would depend on the code but you should be able to user relative paths if you wanted.

      Admin

  35. Alexandra

    Yaaaaaaay! I am so excited. I was having so much trouble getting my Mailchimp pop-up to work, but this plugin did the job easy-peasy!

    • WPBeginner Support

      Glad our recommendation could help :)

      Admin

  36. Steve

    Hi, I have installed the Headers and Footers plugin and added code for the footer. The text that I want displayed is at the very bottom, below the Bento copyright line. Is there a way to have my footer appear at the top of the footer display? Thanks

    • WPBeginner Support

      For footer customizations, you would want to reach out to your theme’s support to see if they have any recommended options you can use.

      Admin

  37. Subrat

    I have already put Google analytics code in the header section using insert header and footer plugin how can I add adsense code there again?

    • WPBeginner Support

      You would add the new code below the analytics code

      Admin

  38. rooch

    How about using the functions.php file in child theme to add header and footer snippets

    • WPBeginner Support

      That would be something you can do but not all beginners want to or understand how to create a child theme, that is why we recommend this method.

      Admin

  39. Ruhul

    This plugin’s activation active auto bulk mail sending from my hosting server. This is working like a spam. So I have to delete this from my website.

    • WPBeginner Support

      This plugin does not have anything like that, we would recommend scanning your site to ensure you do not have any malicious code on your site

      Admin

  40. Tom

    I added this plugin to my site but nothing showed when I clicked on the plugin? I’m using an old version of WP but not sure if this is the reason why.

    • WPBeginner Support

      You should find the plugin’s section under Settings>Insert Headers and Footers

      Admin

  41. Fazil Ibrahim Moihammed

    Hi team,

    Does the FB Pixel Base Code was copied and paste on the header tag in that plugin.
    will it automatically apply to every page of the website? Please reply!

    • WPBeginner Support

      Yes, the plugin will add the code to every page

      Admin

  42. Anchal

    How can I add a code in body section (not in the header/footer section ) with this plugin?
    I want to add certain code in the body section to avoid render blocking.

    • WPBeginner Support

      The plugin should currently have a third input box where you can include code that should be in the body of your site.

      Admin

  43. firatba

    Thanks a lot! It helps me while adding our on-site messagin system code.

    • WPBeginner Support

      You’re welcome, glad it was helpful :)

      Admin

  44. ANA LUIZA

    Very helpful! <3 Thank you!

    • WPBeginner Support

      You’re welcome :)

      Admin

  45. Noya

    Hi,
    My site was built by a web developer who already included all sorts of code snippets in the section of my site.
    If I add new snippets of code using this plugin, will it overwrite the code that’s already there or just add the new code to the existing code?
    I don’t want to make a mess of my site… :-)
    Thanks!

    • WPBeginner Support

      If you add code using this plugin it would be added to your site, it would not replace code

      Admin

  46. Arsalaan

    Nice explanation!

    • WPBeginner Support

      Thank you :)

      Admin

  47. Wendy

    Hi! I tried to add the plugin to my site but you need to have a business page to add any plugins? Can I add the code without a plugin?

  48. anudeep

    hi
    First i have install header and footer plugin than after past my google analytics code . but my problem is once past the code and see my website, the code showing disable? How to solve it?

    • WPBeginner Support

      If the code is not being added to your header, you would want to clear any caching on your site as that is the most common root of that issue.

      Admin

  49. Shahad

    my header and footer in not showing in particular page..how can i solve it

    • WPBeginner Support

      You would want to check with your specific theme’s support for the header not appearing on a specific page as it could be a page specific template causing you issues.

      Admin

  50. Lio

    Thanks guys for your plugin! I used it to add FB Pixel to my site, but now I have a landing page and I need a different Pixel event (Lead) on the Thank You page after visitors confirm their details. Can I use the plugin to add the script to a specific page?

    • WPBeginner Support

      Not at the moment, for the time being, the plugin adds the code to all pages by default

      Admin

Leave A Reply

Thanks for choosing to leave a comment. Please keep in mind that all comments are moderated according to our comment policy, and your email address will NOT be published. Please Do NOT use keywords in the name field. Let's have a personal and meaningful conversation.