Categories: Joomla

Remove meta generator from Joomla Head Tag

As Joomla CMS by default has a meta generator tag which shows that the website is developed using Joomla platform. For security, the purpose is it important to hide the meta generator joomla tag from the source code and stop letting users/hackers to know which version of CMS you are using. You can do the following to remove Joomla generator tag.

How to see the meta generator tag?

You can very easily find the meta tag generator in the page source code inside Joomla head <head></head> tag. To view the HTML source code :

Open the Joomla website in Firefox or Google Chrome browser.
Right Click on the webpage and view source code.
On top of the source codes, you will find the following

<meta name="generator" content="Joomla! - Open Source Content Management" />

How to remove Joomla meta generator from head?

You can remove Joomla generator tag from the Joomla website by either adding a few lines of code to the index.php file of the active Joomla template or by simply using a third-party plugin which will need no modification to any of the files.

To remove the meta generator tag using code

Using your hosting cPanel or FTP open the template index.php file located at templates/YOUR_ACTIVE_TEMPLATE/ directory.
Edit the file and add the following custom code into the <head> tag.

$document = JFactory::getDocument(); $document->setGenerator('');

Save the file after adding the code.
On clicking any of the menu items of the Joomla website, you won’t find the meta tag anymore.

After Joomla update/upgrade if template gets updated, you might lose the changes that have been done to the template core files. So it’s better to use a third-party plugin.

To remove the meta generator tag using Joomla Plugin

As you know that we can install third-party plugins into Joomla. The simplest way to remove the tag is to install one. Just download, install and activate the plugin does the work.
We have recently developed a free Joomla Plugin called Remove Tag Generator which can remove both generator meta tag as well as the Robots meta tag from the Joomla source code. The plugin isn’t available in Joomla Extensions Directory. So, you can also search for other similar plugins and install it into your Joomla website.
Download the free Remove Tag Generator Plugin for Joomla 3.x

Download Plugin

Will removing of Joomla meta tag generator impact SEO?

No, removing the meta tag generator will have any impact on Joomla SEO or any changes in the ranking of the website or the pages in Google.

Abhilash Sahoo

Abhilash Sahoo, with 14 years of experience, is a Certified Joomla and WordPress Expert and the Founder & CEO of Infyways Solutions, specializing in innovative web development solutions.