How to Remove Social Media Links in Ghost CMS (All Cases)
Quick answer: To remove social media links in Ghost, go to Settings → General → Social accounts and clear the Facebook and X (Twitter) fields. For share buttons that appear at the bottom of posts, you'll need to edit your theme's Handlebars templates or add custom CSS to hide them.
You publish on Ghost. You don't use Twitter. You never set up Facebook. But your site still shows icons for both — sometimes in the header, sometimes in the footer, sometimes as share buttons at the end of every post. Sound familiar?
This is one of the most common frustrations new Ghost users run into. The confusion comes from the fact that Ghost has three separate places where social media links can appear, and each one needs a different fix. Clear one and the others stay. That's why so many people end up posting the same question on the forum over and over.
This guide covers all three cases — Settings-based links, theme-baked icons, and post share buttons — with the exact steps for each.
Why does Ghost show social links I never added?
Ghost ships with default social account placeholders in Settings → General → Social accounts. Until you clear them, most themes pull those values and display them. The defaults are usually Ghost's own Facebook and Twitter pages — so if you installed Ghost and never touched that screen, you're technically linking to Ghost's accounts, not your own.
On top of that, some themes — especially older community themes — hardcode social icons directly into their Handlebars template files. No amount of settings-clearing will remove those. And finally, Ghost core itself adds a social share popup (X, Facebook, LinkedIn) after each post, which lives in the Ghost admin settings or theme's post template.
How do I remove social media links from Ghost Settings?
This is the first place to check and covers 80% of cases. Here's the path:
- Open your Ghost admin panel (usually
yourdomain.com/ghost) - Go to Settings → General
- Scroll down to Social accounts
- Clear the Facebook URL and X (Twitter) URL fields
- Click Save settings
If your theme reads social links from the Ghost settings API (which well-built themes do), the icons will disappear immediately after clearing and saving. No theme editing needed.
Ghost only exposes two social fields in the admin UI by default: Facebook and X. If your theme shows other icons — Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube — those are either hardcoded in the theme or pulled via custom social media feed integrations.
What if clearing Settings doesn't remove the icons?
If icons persist after clearing the social accounts fields, they're hardcoded in your theme's template files. You'll need to edit the Handlebars (.hbs) files directly.
The icons usually live in one of these files:
default.hbs— site-wide wrapperpartials/footer.hbs— footer sectionpartials/header.hbs— navigation headerpartials/navigation.hbs— mobile nav
Open each file and look for blocks like this:
{{#if @site.facebook}}
<a href="{{facebook_url}}">...</a>
{{/if}}
Delete the entire {{#if @site.facebook}}...{{/if}} block (or the equivalent for Twitter/X). Save and restart Ghost or reload the theme.
For Ghost Pro users who can't edit theme files directly, use the Code injection option instead. Go to Settings → Code injection → Site footer and add:
<style>
.site-footer__social,
.gh-social,
[class*="social-link"],
a[href*="facebook.com"],
a[href*="twitter.com"],
a[href*="x.com"] {
display: none !important;
}
</style>
This is a blunt approach — it hides any element that matches those selectors. Check your theme's actual CSS class names first so you target the right elements. You can inspect the icons with your browser's DevTools (right-click → Inspect) to find the exact class names your theme uses.
How do I remove the social share popup that appears after posts?
The share popup — the overlay that appears after a reader finishes a post, prompting them to share on X, Facebook, or LinkedIn — is baked into Ghost's post templates, not your theme settings.
In most themes, it lives in post.hbs or a partial like partials/post-card.hbs. Look for blocks containing {{share_url}} or references to twitter-share, facebook-share.
For the Dawn theme specifically, the share section is in post.hbs. Search for:
{{#if @labs.NativeComments}}
...
{{/if}}
And the share block near it. Delete or comment out the share link section:
{{!-- Removed: share buttons
<section class="post-share">
<a class="post-share-item" href="...">Share on X</a>
...
</section>
--}}Alternatively, hide it with CSS in Code injection:
<style>
.post-share,
.gh-share,
.article-share,
[class*="share-button"] {
display: none !important;
}
</style>
How do I remove the social sharing popup that shows when publishing a new post?
This is different from the reader-facing share buttons. When you hit Publish in the Ghost editor, a dialog pops up asking if you want to share the post to X, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.
As of 2026, this publish dialog is baked into Ghost core and can't be fully disabled through settings. The only options are:
- Just close it: Hit the X on the popup each time — it's only 1 click
- Don't connect accounts: If you haven't connected any social accounts, the options appear but do nothing when clicked
- Submit feedback: Ghost's hosted plans have a feedback button in the dashboard sidebar — it's worth requesting a "disable post-publish share prompt" toggle
This popup is a Ghost admin UI element and isn't accessible to theme editing or CSS injection since it's part of the admin panel, not the front-end site.
Ghost CMS social media features: what does what?
| Feature | Location | How to Remove |
|---|---|---|
| Facebook / X site icons (footer/header) | Settings → General → Social accounts | Clear the URL fields and save |
| Hardcoded social icons in theme | Theme .hbs files (footer.hbs, default.hbs) | Edit or delete the Handlebars block |
| Post share buttons (reader-facing) | post.hbs template | Delete share section or CSS hide |
| Publish-time share dialog (admin) | Ghost admin core UI | Not removable (close manually) |
| Additional social icons (Instagram, etc.) | Theme custom settings or hardcoded | Theme edit or Code injection CSS |
Can I keep social links for some pages but not others?
Yes, but it takes theme-level conditional logic. Ghost's Handlebars templating lets you use context helpers. For example, to show social links only on the homepage:
{{#is "home"}}
{{#if @site.facebook}}
<a href="{{facebook_url}}">Facebook</a>
{{/if}}
{{/is}}Wrap the social link block in {{#is "home"}}...{{/is}} and it'll only render on the homepage. Use {{#is "post"}}...{{/is}} to show them on posts. The Ghost HTML embed guide covers more conditional template patterns.
What about custom social networks like Bluesky or Mastodon?
Ghost's built-in social fields only cover Facebook and X. For other platforms, you have two options:
Option 1: Custom theme settings. Some themes expose additional social fields via package.json custom settings. You add an entry there, then reference it in your template with {{@custom.bluesky_url}}. This is the cleanest approach for theme developers.
Option 2: Direct HTML in Code injection. If you just want a Bluesky link in the footer, add it directly via Settings → Code injection → Site footer. No theme editing required:
<script>
document.querySelector('.site-footer').insertAdjacentHTML('beforeend',
'<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/yourhandle" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bluesky</a>'
);
</script>For newsletter and membership site setups, managing which social links appear ties into your broader Ghost SEO and site structure strategy. Social icons in the footer can affect page layout and load time, so keeping only what you actually use makes sense.
Does removing social links affect SEO?
No. Ghost's SEO features — structured data, meta tags, sitemaps — are independent of which social links you display on the front end. Removing footer icons doesn't change how Google crawls or indexes your site.
One thing worth noting: if you've set a Facebook URL in Settings → General, Ghost uses it to populate the og:article:author Open Graph tag. Clearing the field removes that tag. For most Ghost blogs, this has no meaningful SEO impact.
Your meta titles and descriptions, canonical URLs, and structured data all stay intact regardless of social link settings.
Related Ghost Guides
- How to Add a Social Media Feed to Your Ghost Website — if you want to show feeds instead of static icons
- Ghost SEO: How to Rank Better with Ghost Blog — full SEO setup guide
- How to Add Nofollow Links in Ghost — control link attributes in your content
- How to Edit Meta Title and Description on Ghost — basic SEO settings
- Ghost Tags SEO Best Practices — site structure and taxonomy
- How to Add Full-Width HTML Embed in Ghost — custom code patterns
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I remove Facebook and Twitter icons from my Ghost site footer?
Go to Settings → General → Social accounts in your Ghost admin. Clear both the Facebook URL and X (Twitter) URL fields, then save. Most themes will stop showing the icons immediately. If they persist, the icons are hardcoded in your theme's footer.hbs or default.hbs file and need to be removed from the template directly.
Why do social media icons still show after I clear the Settings fields?
Your theme is hardcoding the icons rather than reading them from Ghost's settings API. Open your theme files and search for facebook or twitter in the .hbs files. Delete the relevant HTML blocks, or hide them with CSS via Settings → Code injection.
Can I remove social share buttons from Ghost posts without editing theme files?
Yes. Use Code injection. Go to Settings → Code injection → Site footer and add CSS targeting your theme's share button class names. Use browser DevTools to find the exact class names. Something like .post-share { display: none !important; } typically works, but the class name varies by theme.
How do I stop the share popup when publishing a Ghost post?
You can't fully disable the publish-time share dialog — it's part of Ghost admin's core UI. The only workaround is closing it each time. Submit feedback to Ghost if you want a toggle added.
Does Ghost support social links for platforms other than Facebook and X?
Not out of the box. Ghost's built-in fields cover only Facebook and X. For Instagram, LinkedIn, Bluesky, or others, you need to either use your theme's custom settings (if it supports them via package.json) or add the links manually through Code injection.
Will removing social links break my Ghost site's SEO or Open Graph tags?
No, not meaningfully. Ghost's SEO metadata, sitemaps, and structured data work independently from social link display. Clearing the Facebook field removes the og:article:author Open Graph reference, but this has no measurable ranking impact for most sites.
I use Ghost Pro and can't edit theme files. How do I remove social icons?
Use Settings → Code injection → Site footer to add CSS that hides the icon elements. Right-click the icon on your front end, choose Inspect, find the element's class name, then target it with display: none !important;. If you're on a paid Ghost Pro plan, you can also upload a modified theme ZIP via Settings → Theme.
How do I know if social icons are coming from Settings or the theme template?
Clear both social fields in Settings → General → Social accounts and save. Reload your site. If the icons disappear, they came from Settings. If they're still there, they're hardcoded in the theme.