Many times, it might be necessary to remove the author’s name from the WordPress posts on your website. The reasons can be quite a few. Before we go into those reasons, we will share with you multiple methods to remove author name from WordPress posts.
How to Remove Author Name From WordPress Posts?
There are essentially two ways to remove the author name from WordPress posts which include hide/remove metadata plugin and modifying the code.
We will go into the step-by-step details of these methods below.
Method 1: Use Hide/Remove Metadata plugin:
The Hide/Remove Metadata plugin will easily help you control the author name on your WordPress posts. Follow the steps below to remove the author’s name using this plugin. The plugin is compatible with most WordPress versions.
Step 1: Log in to dashboard:
The very first thing you can do is log in to your WordPress dashboard. For the same, visit the URL https://yourdomain.com/wp-admin. Once you visit this page, you can view the username and password field. Enter those details and then click login.
Step 2: Click on add new option from the sidebar:
In the sidebar, there will be a plugin menu. That will allow you to search for the name of the plugin. Click on the plugins menu and click on add new.
Step 3: Install the plugin “Hide/Remove Metadata”:
In the upper right side of screen, there will be a search bar. Search for Hide/Remove Metadata plugin and press enter. Once you do so, you can view the dialogue box of the plugin. Click install now and activate when the activate button appears after installation.
Step 4: Visit the plugin settings from the sidebar:
After the plugin’s activation is complete, you can view the plugin’s name in the sidebar. You have to click on that, and the plugin’s settings page will appear.
Step 5: Activate Hide Author and Click Save changes:
From that page, activate the hide author option and click on save changes.
That’s it!
These five steps will help you hide the author’s name on every WordPress post.
If you do not want to install this plugin for some reason, you can even modify the code to hide the author names. However, it is a cumbersome process, so you should prefer this method.
Still, if you want to modify the code, follow the steps below.
Method 2: Modify code:
if you still wonder how to remove author name and date in WordPress posts in another way, you can do that by modifying the code.
If you’re willing to modify the code to remove the author’s name from all WordPress posts, this method will help you out.
Step 1: Visit any WordPress post:
After logging into your website, visit any WordPress post. On the top, you can view the author’s name. Select the author’s name and right-click on it. You will view the inspect element option.
Step 2: Locate the label:
After that, the HTML code will open up. Use Ctrl+F to search the author-name label in the code.
The label is the exact sequence of words after class=”
In the image example, the label is author-name.
Step 3: Draft CSS code:
The CSS code, in that case, becomes:
.author-name
{display: none;}
The words author-name will change according to the label you discovered on the HTML page.
Step 4: Add CSS code:
After drafting the code, visit the URL yourdomain.com/wp-admin. After you load this page, select the appearance option from the left-hand sidebar and then choose customize option and an additional CSS. You have to paste the code we drafted above in the left-hand sidebar and click the publish button.
As always, taking a backup of your website before you perform the steps is a good idea.
When looking for an alternative method that provides a solution but doesn’t exactly hide the name entirely, refer to the alternative method below.
Alternate way: Use a pen name:
There is an option to change your name to a pen name if you want to hide your identity. The procedure is as follows:
Step 1: Log in to dashboard:
To log in to the dashboard, use the same procedure highlighted in method one.
Step 2: Click on users > Your profile
After logging in, you must select the user’s option from the sidebar and click on your profile.
Step 3: Change NickName:
In front of the nickname field, you must enter the new name you want to display for your posts and click Update Profile below.
Step 4: Select the Nickname:
After the page reloads, click the display name publicly in the drop-down menu and select your new nickname.
Once again, click the Update profile button below, and you can change the author name across all your posts.
When it makes sense to Remove the Author Name From WordPress Posts?
Before you think about removing the author’s name from all the WordPress posts, it is time to understand if it is the only way to move forward. In certain cases, it makes sense to remove the author’s name. We will highlight those cases below.
1. Ghostwriting:
You might often not write the blog post you are publishing on your website. When individuals are often busy, they hire ghostwriters. In that case, many website owners prefer not to lie to their audience. Because of the same, they do not take credit for the post.
Simultaneously, they cannot publish the name of the original author either. In such circumstances, removing the author’s name from WordPress posts makes perfect sense.
2. Privacy:
The Internet is the best place to expose a scam or something shady. However, associating your name with such a WordPress post can lead to many problems especially when you publish an investigative report or the results of an investigation.
In this case, the author of the report or the study needs to be private. Nobody should know about their name. To hide the identity of the author, it is better to remove the author’s name from WordPress posts.
3. Teamwork:
Many times, a WordPress post is a result of collaborative teamwork. In that case, mentioning a single author’s name is not good. Simultaneously, mentioning ten authors on a WordPress post doesn’t look good either.
A much better alternative is to remove the author’s name altogether.
4. Ongoing work:
Whenever news is constantly updated, there might be multiple authors every time there is an update. For example, when covering a sporting event or ongoing disaster, the authors might be plenty. In that case, removing the author’s name from the WordPress post certainly makes perfect sense.
5. Anonymous blogging:
Many people prefer to share their views and thoughts without revealing their identities. If you are one of them, removing the author’s name from WordPress posts makes perfect sense.
These are the common situations in which it makes sense to remove the author’s name from WordPress posts.
Before you act on any of these methods, understand what steps you need to undertake to secure your website.
Before removing the author name from WordPress posts:
Once you perform these actions in advance, your website will be completely secure, and you can achieve your goal of removing the author’s name.
Take a backup:
Before you install any plugins on your website or make any changes, it is good to take a full website backup. You have to store it in an offline device like a flash drive, hard disk, or your computer.
You can revert to the backup if something goes wrong when editing the code or installing a plugin to remove the author name. That way, your website will be online within a couple of minutes.
Check if an alternative method is usable:
We have also highlighted the alternative method above. In that case, you won’t need to edit any code or install a new plugin. You have to decide if using that method is feasible. In that case, hiding or removing your identity is certainly very easy.
Set aside ample time:
Even though it seems like the methods can be completed in a short time, it is important to set aside at least a couple of hours while undertaking any of these methods.
Wondering why?
Something might go wrong when undertaking these methods. At the same time, the methods are completely accurate, but you never know what breaks down while executing them. Because of the same, set aside at least a couple of hours.
Only when you can perform these things before attempting to remove the author name from the WordPress post can you go for it.
FAQ:
What does the author mean in WordPress?
The author role in WordPress allows you to write and publish content on a WordPress website. That is why the author’s name above or below indicates the person who has written or drafted the post.
What is the difference between an author and an editor on WordPress?
The editor can access all posts, comments, categories, and media on the website. On the other hand, the author only has access to the posts in the related comments and media they have written on their own. Thus, in the hierarchy, the level of an editor is higher than the author.
Conclusion:
Thus, if you’re wondering how to hide author name in WordPress, these are the methods you can go with. Using the guide above, removing the author’s name from all the WordPress posts will hardly take more than a few minutes.
We hope this guide on “how to remove author name from WordPress posts?” was helpful.
please feel free to ask anything in the comments, we would love to hear from you.