Default WordPress tagline in title or meta description, top 1M WordPress homepages (HTTP Archive, Sept 2026)
| Popularity tier | WordPress homepages | With tagline | % with tagline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top 100K | 7,776 | 0 | 0.0% |
| 100K to 500K | 39,165 | 12 | 0.03% |
| 500K to 1M | 66,863 | 41 | 0.06% |
Source: PageSpeed Matters, Sept 2026. Titles and meta descriptions only, not full page code.
Summary
'Just another WordPress site' is the default tagline WordPress set on new installs for years. It is meant to be replaced, and when it is not, it can end up in the header, the page title or the meta description of a live site.
We searched homepage code for it. 78,827 homepages still carry the default tagline, 0.89% of 8,811,077 WordPress homepages, or about 1 in 112. Popular and ranking sites almost never show it where searchers can see it.
What we measured
The main counts cover homepages crawled from January 1 to October 14, 2026. We searched the full page code for exact phrases, and counted a homepage as WordPress when its code contains 'wp-content' (8,811,077 homepages).
We also checked two narrower markers. In HTTP Archive's September 2026 crawl we looked for the tagline in the title or meta description of top 1M WordPress homepages, and we checked the visible text of 38,373 pages ranking in Google's top 20. Those measure where the tagline is visible, so they are not a breakdown of the page-code figure.
The default tagline is still on 1 in 112 WordPress homepages
'Just another WordPress site' appears in the page code of 78,827 homepages, 0.89% of WordPress homepages. Other default content survives too: 92,284 homepages (1.05%) still carry the default first post text, 'Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post'.
The default 'Hello world!' post title appears on 149,525 homepages crawled since January 1, 2026, 1.7% by the same WordPress denominator. That phrase is not unique to WordPress, so treat it as an upper bound.
Popular and ranking sites almost never show it
Where searchers would see it, the default tagline is close to absent on popular sites. In HTTP Archive's September 2026 crawl, 53 of 113,804 top 1M WordPress homepages (0.05%) have it in the title or meta description. None of the 7,776 in the top 100K do, against 12 of 39,165 ranked 100K to 500K and 41 of 66,863 ranked 500K to 1M.
None of 38,373 top 20 ranking pages shows it in visible content. When it does reach a title or meta description, it is on the less visited end of the top 1M.
What this means for your site
Check your tagline in the WordPress admin under Settings, then General. Replace it with a short line about what you do, or clear it, and check that your theme and SEO plugin are not printing it in the page title.
While you are there, delete the default 'Hello world!' post and sample page if they still exist. Leftover defaults are a sign the setup was never finished, to visitors and to anyone checking your site.
Sources
- PageSpeed Matters analysis of homepages crawled January 1 to October 14, 2026, October 2026
- HTTP Archive crawl of the top 1M sites, September 2026, mobile WordPress homepages: titles and meta descriptions
- PageSpeed Matters analysis of the visible text of pages in the Google top 20 for US searches, October 2026
Embed this research
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<script>window.addEventListener("message",function(e){if(e&&e.data&&e.data.psmEmbed==="default-wordpress-tagline"&&e.data.height){var f=document.getElementById("psm-default-wordpress-tagline");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/default-wordpress-tagline">Default WordPress Tagline: Still on 1 in 112 WordPress Sites - PageSpeed Matters</a></p>
Frequently asked questions
How many WordPress sites still use the default tagline?
78,827 homepages still carry 'Just another WordPress site' in their page code, 0.89% of 8,811,077 WordPress homepages, or about 1 in 112.
Do popular sites still show 'Just another WordPress site'?
Almost never. Only 53 of 113,804 top 1M WordPress homepages have it in the title or meta description, and none of them are in the top 100K.
How do I change the default WordPress tagline?
In the WordPress admin, go to Settings, then General, and edit or clear the Tagline field. Then check that your theme and SEO plugin are not still printing the old text in the page title.
Leftover setup defaults take minutes to clear, and a finished setup tells visitors and search engines the site is looked after. Need help with this? See our WordPress support services.