TL;DR
If your site didn’t launch this year, don’t replace your footer with a single © 2026. It can imply the site (and its content) only dates from this year. A clearer option is a range like © 2018–2026, with 2026 updating automatically each year. It keeps the site looking maintained without rewriting its history.
Don’t change your website footer to “© 2026”. Do this instead.
Each January I see people reminding website owners to update the copyright year in their footer.
It’s usually well-meant. Nobody wants a website that looks neglected, and a footer showing an old year can give the wrong impression.
But I’ve never liked the common “just change it to © 2026” approach.
Before I go any further: this isn’t legal advice — it’s simply based on my understanding and research, plus what I’ve seen in the real world when websites, content, and ownership get a bit messy.
Why people update the year in the first place
Most of the time, it’s to keep the website looking current.
A footer with © 2021 can make a visitor assume the site hasn’t been updated since 2021, even if you’ve been actively adding pages, updating services, and posting content. Updating the year is seen as a quick signal that “this site is maintained”.
Fair enough.
The problem is the way it’s commonly done.
The issue with changing it to a single year
If you replace your footer with a single © 2026, you can accidentally imply that the site (and its content) only dates from 2026.
That might be accurate for a brand new website launched this year. But for most businesses, it isn’t.
If your site has existed for years, the design work, layout choices, written copy, photography, and blog posts didn’t magically start in January 2026. They existed before that — and that history matters.
A clearer option: use a range
Instead of swapping the date to the current year, I prefer using a range from the original year through to the current year. For example:
© 2018 – 2026
This does two things at once:
It shows when the website (or published content) started - 2018
It shows the site is still current - 2026
It’s clear, it’s accurate, and it doesn’t imply you’ve only existed since this year.
Make the end year dynamic (so you never think about it again)
The best part: you can set it up once and let the end year update automatically every year.
So your footer becomes:
© 2018 – [current year]
…and as the calendar changes, so does the date — without anyone needing to log in every January to tweak it. You may need your web developer’s help to implement the dynamic version.
What should your start year be?
In most cases, choose one of these:
the year the website first went live, or
the year the business started publishing under that brand/name
If your website has been completely rebuilt or rebranded, you can choose the year that best reflects what you want the footer to represent — just be consistent. The key is that the start year is meaningful, and the end year stays current.
The takeaway
If your website didn’t launch this year, I wouldn’t recommend changing your footer to a single © 2026.
A range is usually clearer:
© 2018 – 2026 (with 2026 updating automatically)
It makes the site look actively maintained, without rewriting its history.
Iain helped the club create a modern Online Club Shop. We've already hit 50% of our previous annual online sales within the first 10 weeks of launching. His time, patience with training and availability to answer queries has been invaluable.
