Ranking sites showing a past copyright year in the footer, by platform
| Platform | Sites with a footer year | Show 2025 | Show 2024 or earlier | Any past year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress | 6,924 | 5.7% | 9.0% | 14.8% |
| Shopify | 3,639 | 1.6% | 2.3% | 3.9% |
| Other | 7,689 | 4.6% | 7.4% | 12.0% |
| All ranking sites | 18,252 | 4.4% | 7.0% | 11.4% |
Source: PageSpeed Matters, Oct 2026. Sites in the Google top 20 for 10,019 US searches with a year in the footer.
Summary
The copyright line in a footer is the smallest signal a site gives that someone is looking after it. When it still shows last year, or a year from long ago, some visitors will notice. It reads like a shop with an old calendar on the wall.
We counted how many homepages are behind. 452,273 homepages crawled in 2026 carry a 'Copyright © 2025' line with no mention of 2026 anywhere on the page. Among homepages that show a 2025 or 2026 copyright line, 26.0% are still on 2025, a figure that includes homepages captured early in the year, before many owners update the footer. Sites that actually rank in Google are far more current.
What we measured
The headline counts cover 40,295,452 homepages crawled from January 1 to October 14, 2026. For each year we counted homepages whose code contains 'Copyright © [year]' and that do not mention 2026 anywhere on the page. That rule also leaves out year ranges such as 2018 to 2026.
The per-year counts overlap, because one homepage can mention several old years, so they should never be added together. Sites that set the footer year with JavaScript may also be counted as stale if the crawl captured the fallback year in the HTML. And because homepages were crawled across the year, some were captured in early 2026, before their owners had a chance to update the footer.
The ranking-site figures come from a separate check of the homepages of sites in the Google top 20 on October 15, 2026, for 10,019 US searches. We read the year after the copyright sign or word in the footer, and took the platform from markers on the same page. 18,252 of those sites showed a footer year.
A quarter of copyright lines are a year behind
452,273 homepages show 'Copyright © 2025' and no 2026 anywhere on the page, against 1,284,675 that show 'Copyright © 2026'. So 26.0% of homepages with a 2025 or 2026 copyright line are still on 2025.
Many footers are older still. Counting homepages that show an older copyright year and no 2026 on the page:
- 2024: 183,789 homepages
- 2023: 112,643
- 2022: 98,763
- 2021: 104,506
- 2020: 108,179
- 2019: 79,188
- 2018: 102,992
These groups overlap, so they are not a running total. They do show that a large number of sites have not touched their footer in years, and likely not their theme either.
26.0%
Share of homepages with a 2025 or 2026 copyright line that still show 2025 and no 2026 anywhere on the page.
Ranking sites are far more current
Sites that rank in Google are much less likely to show an old year. Of 18,252 ranking sites with a footer year, 4.4% still show 2025 and 7.0% show 2024 or earlier.
That makes sense. Sites that earn rankings for competitive US searches tend to be actively run, and an active team is more likely to update the footer, or to have it set automatically.
WordPress sites lag more than Shopify stores
Among ranking sites with a footer year, 14.8% of 6,924 WordPress sites show 2025 or earlier, against 3.9% of 3,639 Shopify stores and 12.0% of 7,689 sites on other platforms.
The gap is widest for footers that are more than a year behind. Only 2.3% of Shopify stores show 2024 or earlier, against 9.0% of WordPress sites. A likely reason is how the footer gets its year: many store themes print the current year automatically, while many WordPress footers are typed into a widget or theme setting once and then left alone.
Stale footers get rarer higher up the results
The higher a site's best Google position, the less likely it is to show a past year. 7.8% of the 2,046 sites whose best position is #1 show a past year, against 10.2% at positions 2 to 5, 11.6% at 6 to 10 and 13.3% of the 6,694 sites whose best position is 11 to 20.
This is a correlation, not evidence of a ranking factor. A current footer is more likely a sign of a well-kept site, and well-kept sites tend to do better in search for many other reasons.
Recipe and restaurant sites lag the most
Recipe sites are the most out of date: 19.8% of 410 ranking recipe sites show 2025 or earlier. Restaurants follow at 18.5% of 487, then fitness at 16.7% of 540.
At the other end, jewelry (5.4% of 709) and apparel (6.1% of 539) are the most current. Both are retail verticals, and Shopify stores showed the fewest stale footers in the platform split above, so platform mix is a likely part of the reason.
What this means for your site
Check your footer today. If it shows a past year, fix it once so it never goes stale again: print the year from the server in your theme template rather than typing it into a text widget. On WordPress that is a one-line change in the footer template, or a setting in many themes and page builders.
Avoid setting the year only with JavaScript if you can, since crawlers and some visitors may still see the fallback year in the HTML.
Treat the footer as a signal, not a fix. If the year is years out of date, the theme, plugins and content behind it probably are too, and those matter far more for speed, security and search.
Sources
- PageSpeed Matters analysis of 40,295,452 homepages crawled January 1 to October 14, 2026, October 2026
- PageSpeed Matters analysis of the homepage footers of sites in the Google top 20 for 10,019 US searches, October 2026
Embed this research
Paste this on your site to embed the chart. It links back to the source automatically.
<iframe id="psm-copyright-year-statistics" src="https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/embed/data-studies/copyright-year-statistics" width="100%" height="600" style="width:100%;border:1px solid #E2E3E1;border-radius:12px" loading="lazy" title="Copyright Year Statistics 2026: 26.0% Still Show 2025 - PageSpeed Matters"></iframe>
<script>window.addEventListener("message",function(e){if(e&&e.data&&e.data.psmEmbed==="copyright-year-statistics"&&e.data.height){var f=document.getElementById("psm-copyright-year-statistics");if(f){f.style.height=e.data.height+"px";}}});</script>
<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif">Source: <a href="https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/copyright-year-statistics">Copyright Year Statistics 2026: 26.0% Still Show 2025 - PageSpeed Matters</a></p>
Frequently asked questions
How many websites still show last year's copyright date?
452,273 homepages crawled in 2026 carry a 'Copyright © 2025' line with no 2026 anywhere on the page. That is 26.0% of homepages with a 2025 or 2026 copyright line.
Does an outdated copyright year hurt SEO?
Our data shows a correlation, not a ranking factor. 7.8% of sites whose best Google position is #1 show a past year, against 13.3% of sites whose best position is 11 to 20.
Which platforms are most likely to show an old copyright year?
Among ranking sites with a footer year, 14.8% of WordPress sites show 2025 or earlier, against 12.0% of sites on other platforms and 3.9% of Shopify stores.
How do I keep my footer copyright year current?
Print the year from the server in your theme's footer template instead of typing it into a text widget. Then it updates on its own every January.
An old footer year is a one-time fix, and it is often the first visible sign that a theme, its plugins and its content need a review. Need help with this? See our website maintenance services.