SEOLZ

Landmark no duplicate contentinfo

Moderate effort

Found on 4% of audited stores.

Remove duplicate `<footer>` elements or `role="contentinfo"` landmarks so your page has exactly one, site-wide footer region.

What it is

A "contentinfo" landmark is the accessible name for the footer section of a webpage — typically the `<footer>` HTML element, or any element marked with `role="contentinfo"`. It signals to screen readers and assistive technologies that this region contains site-level information like copyright notices, legal links, and contact details. WCAG and ARIA rules require that this landmark appear only once per page. When a page contains more than one `<footer>` element (or more than one element with `role="contentinfo"`) that is a direct child of the `<body>`, assistive technologies become confused about which one is the "real" footer, and navigation shortcuts that jump to the footer region break or behave unpredictably.

Why it matters

Screen reader users rely on landmark navigation to skip directly to major page regions — heading, main content, navigation, and footer — without reading every word. When two contentinfo landmarks exist, screen readers may announce "footer" twice, jump to the wrong one, or leave users disoriented. This is a WCAG 2.1 failure (best practice under ARIA Landmark Regions guidance) that exposes your store to accessibility-related legal risk in jurisdictions where web accessibility is required (e.g. ADA in the US, EAA in the EU). Fixing it also improves the overall structural quality of your HTML, which indirectly supports search engine crawling and indexing by making your page outline cleaner and more predictable.

How to fix it

  1. Audit your page's HTML source: search for all occurrences of `<footer>` tags and any elements carrying `role="contentinfo"` that are direct children of `<body>` (not nested inside `<article>`, `<section>`, or other sectioning elements, where a nested `<footer>` is allowed).
  2. Identify which footer element is the true site-wide footer (usually the last one, containing copyright, legal links, and site navigation).
  3. Remove, merge, or re-wrap the duplicate. If two footers contain unique content that both must remain visible, consolidate their content into a single `<footer>` element, or nest the secondary one inside a `<section>` or `<article>` so it is no longer a top-level contentinfo landmark.
  4. If a third-party widget, app, or theme component is injecting an extra `<footer>` or `role="contentinfo"`, locate that component and either remove it, override its markup, or wrap its output in a `<div>` or `<section>` element to strip the conflicting landmark role.
  5. After making changes, re-test with a free tool (e.g. axe DevTools browser extension or WAVE) to confirm only one contentinfo landmark is reported.
  6. Do a final manual check with a screen reader (VoiceOver on Mac/iOS or NVDA on Windows) by using the landmark navigation shortcut to verify only one footer region is announced.
<footer>
  <!-- Only ONE <footer> element should be a direct child of <body> -->
  <p>&copy; 2025 My Store. All rights reserved.</p>
  <nav aria-label="Footer navigation">
    <a href="/privacy">Privacy Policy</a>
    <a href="/contact">Contact Us</a>
  </nav>
</footer>

<!-- ✅ CORRECT: one <footer> at page level -->

<!-- ❌ WRONG: a second top-level <footer> or role="contentinfo" anywhere else on the page -->
<!-- <footer>... duplicate content ...</footer> -->
<!-- <div role="contentinfo">... duplicate ...</div> -->

<!-- ✅ OK: <footer> nested inside <article> or <section> is allowed and does NOT create a contentinfo landmark -->
<article>
  <footer>Article-level footer (author, date) — this is fine</footer>
</article>

Fix it on your platform

Pick your platform for the exact steps.

How to fix landmark no duplicate contentinfo on Shopify
  1. Go to Online Store → Themes → click 'Customize' on your active theme.
  2. To edit theme code directly: Online Store → Themes → Actions → Edit code.
  3. Open 'layout/theme.liquid' — this is your global page wrapper. Search for `<footer` and `role="contentinfo"`. You should see exactly one. If duplicates exist here, merge or remove the extra one.
  4. Also check 'sections/footer.liquid' (or similarly named footer section file). Ensure it contains only one `<footer>` tag and does not repeat one that already exists in theme.liquid.
  5. If you have installed apps that inject content (e.g. review widgets, chat widgets, cookie banners), check their output in your browser's DevTools (right-click → Inspect) to see if they render a `<footer>` element. Contact the app developer to have them use a `<div>` instead, or wrap the app embed in a `<div role="none">` override.
  6. Save changes, then re-audit with the axe browser extension to confirm one contentinfo landmark.
Full Shopify guide →Official Shopify docs ↗
How to fix landmark no duplicate contentinfo on WooCommerce
  1. In your WordPress admin, go to Appearance → Theme File Editor (or use a local IDE/FTP client for safety).
  2. Open your active theme's 'footer.php' file. Check for `<footer` and `role="contentinfo"` tags — there should be only one wrapping element.
  3. Also open 'header.php' and any page-builder template files to check nothing accidentally outputs a second `<footer>` or `role="contentinfo"` outside of footer.php.
  4. If you are using a block theme (Full Site Editing), go to Appearance → Editor → Templates → select your template, then inspect the Footer block. Make sure you have not added a second Footer block to the template.
  5. If a plugin (e.g. footer builder, cookie notice, live chat) injects duplicate footer markup, deactivate plugins one-by-one and re-test with axe to isolate the culprit, then update or replace that plugin.
  6. Use a child theme to make any direct edits to footer.php so updates don't overwrite your fix.
Full WooCommerce guide →Official WooCommerce docs ↗
How to fix landmark no duplicate contentinfo on BigCommerce
  1. Go to Storefront → My Themes → click 'Advanced' → 'Edit Theme Files' on your active theme (or download the theme to edit locally).
  2. Open 'templates/layout/base.html' — search for `<footer` and `role="contentinfo"`. Your global footer should be declared here exactly once.
  3. Also check 'templates/components/common/footer.html' — ensure it is referenced once in base.html and does not itself contain a wrapping `<footer>` tag if base.html already provides one.
  4. Search all partial/component files under 'templates/components/' for any additional `<footer>` or `role="contentinfo"` occurrences and remove or change them to `<div>` elements.
  5. If a third-party script or widget injected via the Script Manager (Storefront → Script Manager) adds a `<footer>`, edit that script's output or contact the vendor.
  6. Save and publish, then verify with the axe DevTools extension in your browser.
Full BigCommerce guide →Official BigCommerce docs ↗
How to fix landmark no duplicate contentinfo on Wix
  1. In the Wix Editor, your page footer is a built-in section at the bottom of every page — Wix renders this as the site footer automatically and it should not be duplicated.
  2. Check whether you have added a 'Footer' section strip manually inside the page body (separate from the actual site footer at the very bottom). If so, that strip likely renders its own landmark. Remove it or convert its content into a regular section/container strip.
  3. If you use Wix Velo (custom code), open the Page Code or Site Code panel and search for any custom HTML components or `$w` elements that output a `<footer>` tag. Change those to `<div>` elements.
  4. For custom HTML widgets (Insert → Embed → Custom Code or HTML iFrame), inspect the widget's code for `<footer>` tags and replace with `<div>`.
  5. Preview the page and use the axe browser extension to verify only one contentinfo landmark is detected.
Full Wix guide →Official Wix docs ↗
How to fix landmark no duplicate contentinfo on Squarespace
  1. Squarespace themes automatically render one site footer. The most common cause of a duplicate is a custom Code Block or Footer Injection that wraps content in `<footer>` tags.
  2. Go to Pages → scroll to the bottom of your page list → click on 'Footer' to inspect footer content blocks. Check any Code Blocks for `<footer>` or `role="contentinfo"` HTML and replace those wrapper tags with `<div>`.
  3. Go to Settings → Advanced → Code Injection → Footer section. If any injected code uses `<footer>` as a wrapper element, change it to `<div>`.
  4. Also inspect any third-party embed codes added via Embed Blocks for `<footer>` tags and update accordingly.
  5. Use browser DevTools or the axe extension on a preview/published page to confirm only one footer landmark remains.
Full Squarespace guide →Official Squarespace docs ↗
How to fix landmark no duplicate contentinfo on Webflow
  1. Open your project in the Webflow Designer. In the Navigator panel (left sidebar), expand your page structure and look for any elements with the tag `Footer` (Webflow renders these as `<footer>` in HTML).
  2. Your site should have exactly one Footer element — typically inside your global symbol or on the page canvas. If you see two Footer-tagged elements on the same page (one in a Symbol and one added manually to the page), delete the duplicate.
  3. To change the HTML tag of an element: select the element → go to the Element Settings panel (D key) → under 'Tag', change `footer` to `div` for the non-primary one.
  4. Check your global Footer Symbol (if used): go to Assets panel → Symbols → open Footer Symbol. Ensure it contains only one `<footer>` element inside it.
  5. If any Embed code component (</> icon) contains `<footer>` HTML, edit that embed and replace the tag with `<div>`.
  6. Publish and verify with the axe extension.
Full Webflow guide →Official Webflow docs ↗
How to fix landmark no duplicate contentinfo on Adobe Commerce (Magento)
  1. In your theme directory (e.g. `app/design/frontend/<Vendor>/<theme>/`), open `Magento_Theme/templates/html/footer.phtml` — this is the main footer template.
  2. Search this file and all layout XML files under `Magento_Theme/layout/` for `<footer` and `role="contentinfo"`. The tag should appear only once in the rendered page.
  3. Also check your custom theme's `default.xml` or `cms_index_index.xml` layout files to make sure you have not added a second footer container block that renders its own `<footer>` tag.
  4. If a third-party module injects an additional footer, locate its template in `app/code/<Vendor>/<Module>/view/frontend/templates/` and change the wrapping `<footer>` tag to a `<div>`.
  5. Clear cache: go to System → Cache Management → Flush Magento Cache, then re-test with axe DevTools.
  6. Always make changes in a custom child theme, never in core or vendor files.
Full Adobe Commerce (Magento) guide →Official Adobe Commerce (Magento) docs ↗

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Frequently asked questions

What is Landmark no duplicate contentinfo?

A "contentinfo" landmark is the accessible name for the footer section of a webpage — typically the `<footer>` HTML element, or any element marked with `role="contentinfo"`. It signals to screen readers and assistive technologies that this region contains site-level information like copyright notices, legal links, and contact details. WCAG and ARIA rules require that this landmark appear only once per page. When a page contains more than one `<footer>` element (or more than one element with `role="contentinfo"`) that is a direct child of the `<body>`, assistive technologies become confused about which one is the "real" footer, and navigation shortcuts that jump to the footer region break or behave unpredictably.

Why does landmark no duplicate contentinfo matter?

Screen reader users rely on landmark navigation to skip directly to major page regions — heading, main content, navigation, and footer — without reading every word. When two contentinfo landmarks exist, screen readers may announce "footer" twice, jump to the wrong one, or leave users disoriented. This is a WCAG 2.1 failure (best practice under ARIA Landmark Regions guidance) that exposes your store to accessibility-related legal risk in jurisdictions where web accessibility is required (e.g. ADA in the US, EAA in the EU). Fixing it also improves the overall structural quality of your HTML, which indirectly supports search engine crawling and indexing by making your page outline cleaner and more predictable.

How do I fix landmark no duplicate contentinfo?

Remove duplicate `<footer>` elements or `role="contentinfo"` landmarks so your page has exactly one, site-wide footer region.

Authoritative references

Related Accessibility (WCAG) issues