The wp_head and wp_footer methods are two important things to add to a WordPress theme. \”Action hooks\” are used to do both of these things. Action hooks can be easy or hard to understand depending on how much you know about how themes grow. Action hooks are places in a theme where code can be added on the fly.
This means that the wp_head and wp_footer functions are used as places for plugins to put code in the theme\’s head> and footer>. For example, if you have a Google Analytics app on your WordPress site, the plugin uses wp_head to add some JavaScript to your site\’s head> so that Google Analytics can track visits. The app wouldn\’t be able to add the code to your theme without this code.
How to put wp_head into a WordPress theme
To add the wp_head function to your WordPress theme properly, open your theme\’s header.php file and add the following line of PHP code right before the closing head tag (/head>):
<?php wp_head();?>
How to put the wp_footer to a WordPress theme
To add the wp_footer function to your WordPress theme properly, open the theme\’s footer.php file and add the following line of PHP code before the closing /body> tag:
<?php wp_footer();?>
Broken Plugins
You might find that a WordPress app on your site doesn\’t work. Maybe the tool worked at one time, but it stopped working after you updated either the plugin or WordPress. The plug-in might have never worked at all. If you\’re having trouble with a plugin, the first thing you should do is check that wp_head and wp_footer are in the right place in your design.
Conclusion
Action hooks like wp_head and wp_footer are crucial to how plugins work with your WordPress theme. In the past, these functions were not always needed, so if you have a theme that hasn\’t been changed in a while, it would be a good idea to add these action hooks to protect it from some future problems.