How to Remove Author Meta from Kadence Blog Posts

ByThe WP Ninja

If you’re the only person writing on your WordPress site, showing “By Admin” on every single post looks unprofessional. And if you haven’t changed your display name from the default, it’s even worse – you’re literally advertising your login username to anyone who views your source code.

The good news: Kadence lets you remove the author name without touching any code. No CSS hacks, no plugins. But there’s a catch that trips up almost every beginner. Kadence has 3 separate places where author info appears, and turning it off in one spot doesn’t affect the other two. I’ll walk through all 3 so you can clean up every instance in about 2 minutes.

Where Does the Author Name Show Up in Kadence?

Before you start toggling things off, it helps to know what you’re dealing with. Kadence displays author information in 3 distinct locations:

  1. Single post meta – The “By Author Name” text that appears near the title when you open an individual blog post.
  2. Archive/blog page meta – The author name shown on each post card in your blog listing, category pages, and search results.
  3. Author box – A full bio section at the bottom of individual posts with your avatar, name, description, and social links.

These are controlled by 3 separate settings. I’ve seen people turn off the author in their single post layout, then wonder why it still shows on their blog page. It’s because the archive layout has its own toggle. Let me show you each one.

How Do I Hide the Author on Individual Blog Posts?

This controls the “By Author Name” text that appears near the post title when someone clicks into a full article.

  1. Go to Appearance > Customize > Posts/Pages Layout > Single Post Layout.
  2. Scroll down to the Post Title section.
  3. Find the meta elements area – you’ll see toggles for Author, Date, Categories, and Comments.
  4. Click the eye icon next to Author to disable it.
  5. Hit Publish to save.

Here’s the before and after. In the first screenshot, the Show Author toggle is on and “By admin” appears above the post content:

Kadence Single Post Layout with Show Author toggle enabled and By admin visible in preview

Flip the toggle off and the author line disappears from the preview instantly:

Kadence Single Post Layout with Show Author toggle disabled and author name removed from post preview

That’s it for individual posts. The author name disappears from every single post on your site. And here’s something important – Kadence actually removes the HTML from the page output. More on why that matters in a minute.

You can also disable Date, Categories, or Comments the same way if you want a completely clean look under your post titles. And if you want to go further and hide the page title itself, that’s a separate toggle I cover in another guide.

How Do I Hide the Author on Blog and Archive Pages?

This is the step most people miss. Your blog listing page (the one that shows all your recent posts as cards or excerpts) pulls its meta settings from a completely different Customizer panel.

  1. Go to Appearance > Customize > Posts/Pages Layout > Archive Layout.
  2. Look for the Item Elements section.
  3. Find the meta element controls – same layout as before, with eye icons for each meta item.
  4. Click the eye icon next to Author to disable it.
  5. Click Publish.

Before – the archive shows “By admin” on every post card:

Kadence Archive Layout settings with Show Author toggle on and author visible on post cards

After – same cards, no author line:

Kadence Archive Layout with Show Author toggle off and clean post cards without author name

Now the author name won’t appear on your blog page, category archives, tag archives, or search results. These all use the archive template.

If you only disabled the single post setting from the previous step and skipped this one, you’d still see “By Admin” on every post card in your blog listing. That’s the mistake I made my first time around – I spent 10 minutes trying to figure out why the author was still showing after I’d already turned it off.

What About the Author Box at the Bottom of Posts?

The author box is a separate feature entirely. It’s that larger section below your post content that shows your avatar, bio, and social media links. Some people want to remove the small “By Author” meta text at the top but keep the full author box at the bottom. Others want everything gone.

To disable the author box:

  1. Go to Appearance > Customize > Posts/Pages Layout > Single Post Layout.
  2. Scroll down past the title section until you find “Show Post Author Box?”.
  3. Toggle it Off.
  4. Click Publish.

With the toggle on, you get the full bio card below each post:

Kadence Post Author Box toggle enabled with full author bio section visible below post

Toggle it off and the entire bio block is gone:

Kadence Post Author Box toggle disabled with author bio section hidden from single post

If you decide to keep the author box, you have a couple of extra options. Kadence lets you choose between two styles – a normal layout and a centered layout. And there’s a toggle for whether the author name links to your author archive page.

But here’s my suggestion: if you’re a solo blogger, turn the author box off. It adds nothing when every post on your site was written by the same person. Save that space for a call-to-action, email signup, or social icons in your footer instead.

Why Kadence’s Method Is Better Than CSS Hacks

If you Google “hide author name WordPress,” you’ll find dozens of tutorials telling you to add CSS like display: none to your stylesheet. Something like .posted-by { display: none; }. And it works visually – the author name disappears from the screen.

But the HTML is still there. Open your page source, and you’ll see the full author markup sitting in the code. That means:

  • Your WordPress username might be exposed. If your display name is still set to your login username, it’s visible in the HTML to anyone who views your page source. That’s a minor security concern.
  • Screen readers still read it. display: none hides content visually, but some assistive technologies may still process it depending on how it’s hidden.
  • It’s extra HTML for nothing. Your server generates the author markup, sends it to the browser, and then CSS tells the browser to ignore it. It’s wasted bytes.

Kadence’s toggles work differently. When you disable the author through the Customizer, Kadence checks that setting in PHP before rendering the page. If the author toggle is off, the theme skips the author code entirely. No HTML is generated, nothing is sent to the browser, and there’s nothing to hide. It’s cleaner and slightly better for performance.

So skip the CSS snippets. Use the built-in toggles.

Should You Remove the Author Name at All?

Removing the author meta isn’t always the right call. Here’s how I think about it.

Remove it if:

  • You’re a solo blogger. Showing “By [Your Name]” on every post is redundant when there’s only one possible author.
  • Your display name is still “admin” or your username. Fix this first (see below), but if you’re not ready to set up a proper author profile, hiding the name is better than showing a default.
  • You want a minimalist design with just the date and category. You might also want to adjust your sidebar layout for a cleaner look.

Keep it if:

  • Multiple people write for your site. Readers need to know who wrote what.
  • You’re building a personal brand and want your name associated with your content.
  • Your niche is health, finance, legal, or anything where Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines matter. Author credibility signals help in those spaces. Removing author info from YMYL content can actually hurt your rankings.

For most hobby bloggers and small business sites with a single author, removing it is perfectly fine.

Fix Your Display Name Before Anything Else

If you decide to keep the author visible, make sure you’re not showing “admin” as your name. I’m surprised how many sites I visit where the author line reads “By admin” – it screams that no one configured the basics.

  1. Go to Users > Your Profile in the WordPress admin.
  2. Find the Display name publicly as dropdown.
  3. Pick your real name, a pen name, or whatever you want readers to see.
  4. Click Update Profile.
WordPress user profile page with Display Name publicly as dropdown expanded

This changes what appears everywhere your author name is displayed – post meta, author box, comments, and author archive pages. It takes 10 seconds and makes your site look immediately more professional.

And one more thing: while you’re in your profile, fill out the Biographical Info field and upload a profile picture through Gravatar. If you do keep the author box enabled, a blank avatar and empty bio look worse than no author box at all.

Quick Reference

What to Hide Where to Find It
Author name on single posts Customize > Posts/Pages Layout > Single Post Layout > Meta elements > Author eye icon
Author name on blog/archive pages Customize > Posts/Pages Layout > Archive Layout > Meta elements > Author eye icon
Author bio box below posts Customize > Posts/Pages Layout > Single Post Layout > “Show Post Author Box?” toggle
Display name (fix, don’t hide) Users > Your Profile > Display name publicly as

Frequently Asked Questions

Does hiding the author name hurt my SEO?

For most sites, no. Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines value author credibility mainly in YMYL topics (health, finance, legal). If you’re a hobby blogger or small business site, removing the author name won’t affect your rankings. I’ve run sites both ways with no noticeable difference.

Can I hide the author on some posts but keep it on others?

Not through the Customizer – Kadence’s toggles are global for all posts. But you can use Kadence Pro’s Hooked Elements to conditionally show or hide elements on specific posts or categories. In the free version, your only per-post option would be a small CSS snippet targeting that post’s ID.

Will hiding the author name also hide it from my RSS feed?

No. The Customizer toggles only affect the visual theme output. Your RSS feed pulls author data directly from WordPress core, which is separate from Kadence’s display settings. RSS readers will still show the author name.

Is it safe to hide the author if I have multiple writers?

I wouldn’t recommend it. Readers expect to know who wrote what on a multi-author site, and Google uses author signals for content credibility. If you have multiple contributors, keep the author visible and make sure each person has a proper display name and bio filled out.

Wrapping Up

Hiding the author name in Kadence takes about 2 minutes, but you need to remember that there are 3 separate places to check: single posts, archive pages, and the author box. Miss one and you’ll wonder why the name is still showing up somewhere.

The key takeaway: always use Kadence’s built-in toggles instead of CSS hacks. The toggles actually remove the author HTML from your page – CSS just hides it visually while leaving the code (and potentially your username) exposed in the source.

And if you’re keeping the author visible, take 10 seconds to fix your display name first. “By admin” isn’t doing your site any favors.

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