Once upon a time and not so long ago, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell them apart.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and changed all this. Now, it’s becoming increasingly harder to tell if the website was built using a “blogging” CMS application like the WordPress platform, or if it’s been developed using website-building software. Not so much in terms of what the sites are being used for, but in terms of web design and also being able to tell what’s under the surface.
(It’s Getting Harder To Tell Websites Built With Web Development Tools Vs ‘Blogging’ Software!)
For website owners, understanding the difference between a CMS application like WordPress and other website-building tools is huge, not so much in terms of the technical differences, but more importantly, in terms of the things that matter to most website owners, such as web development costs, ease of use, ability to maintain the site up-to-date, managing content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of the options below would you choose?
A) An eye-catching, professional-looking website that is expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking site, but for a tiny fraction of the cost of getting option ”A” built.
If you decided to go with option “B”, then you need to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can give you an eye-catching website that could cost far less to build than websites which use a website building application … and how to tell these two types apart!
WordPress is the world’s most used online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a flexible and powerful CMS suitable for ”non-techy” website owners.
Whether your reason for having a website or blog is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a newbie with no programming skills to use and manage, and offers many helpful extensions that make your web presence extremely effective in terms of getting your content published and indexed by search engines, promoting visitor interaction, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s functionality, scalability, etc.
With almost one in every five websites around the world being powered by WordPress, chances are that if you already own a website, your site is also driven by the WP CMS.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are thinking of getting a website built, then wouldn’t it be great to be able to show your web developer an existing site with the design and layout that you like, know that it was built with WordPress and that you can, therefore, get something similarly built to a smaller budget if required?
Does My Blog Run On WordPress?
Do you need to know if a website was built using WordPress? Maybe you’ve come here because you’ve read about all of the great benefits and advantages of using WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site runs on the WordPress software, or some other website application.
Also, have you ever looked at a competitor’s website and wondered what they’re doing to try and get better results online?
Knowing if your competitor’s site is built with WordPress can tell you a few things about their strategies and methods, such as what themes or plugins they are using.
Here are a number of ways to tell if a web site is running on WordPress:
Check The Source Code
If you know how to view the source code of a web page (e.g. Firefox Menu > Web Developer > Page Source if using Firefox, or Google Menu > More Tools > View Source if using Google Chrome), you can look for an obvious tell-tale footprint that the site was built using WordPress …
(Viewing web page source code in the Firefox browser)
Suppose that you are surfing the web and you come across a site that you like, and you’re wondering if the site runs on WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
After the source code of the page loads on your screen, you can search for “wp-content” either by visually scanning the code …
Or use your browser’s “Find” function …
(Use the Firefox browser ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site is powered by WordPress or not.
Note: If you are unable to see the words “wp-content” in the page source code, it does not necessarily mean that the website is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if the site runs on the WordPress software, as we will soon see.
As the point of this post is to try and help non-technical users, however, we have listed below a number of easier methods you can use to check if your web site is built using WordPress other than viewing the source code.
Ask Your Website Developer
While this may seem like the most obvious thing to do, a number of web development companies, for whatever reason, may build clients a website and not tell them it’s been built with WordPress.
If you have an existing web site and you can’t tell what application was used to build it, just ask your web developer or whoever built your site if your website was built with WordPress.
That was easy, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t get in touch with the person who looks after your site, or what if you’ve come across a site that you really like while surfing the net and you really would like to know if it was built with WordPress?
Check Below Footer
If the site uses a WordPress theme where the templates have not been customized, you will typically find a “Proudly powered by WordPress” notice showing below the footer section of the site …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress)
If these simple methods aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of telling whether a website was built with WordPress or not …
Tools That Can Tell You If A Website Was Built Using WordPress
Here are a some online applications that will tell you if a website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WordPress? – WordPress Checker
(Is It WordPress? – WP Site Checking Tool)
IsItWP.com is a free online tool that tells you if a website was built with WordPress or not.
Using this tool is super simple. Just enter the URL of the website into the search field and click the button next to it.
The tool will search through the URL and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, it will even tell you the version of WordPress the site is currently using …
If the web site is not powered by WordPress, you will get a message like the one below …
To use this tool, go here:
Advanced WP Theme Checker by Satori
(WordPress Theme Detector)
WordPress Theme Detector by Satori Studio is a free tool that can help determine whether or not a website uses WordPress as its CMS engine; it will also tell you which theme the site is using and provide a link to the theme’s official page.
To use this tool, paste the URL of a web page (it doesn’t have to be the home page) into the ‘Enter website URL’ field and click on the ‘What WordPress theme is that?’ button …
(Enter website URL and click the button)
The Detector will automatically scan the website and output its theme information …
(WordPress Theme Detector displays theme results)
If a website is built with WordPress but the theme is too customized to contain any traces of its origins, the Detector will still let you know it’s a WP site by outputting a message on the right.
(Modified WordPress theme message)
If the website is not using WordPress at all, the tool will also let you know …
(This website is not WordPress)
You can try the Detector yourself by visiting this link:
Wappalyzer – Add-On For Firefox / Chrome Web Browser
(Wappalyzer)
If you browse the net using either the Firefox or Chrome browsers and want to be able to instantly tell if the sites that you are visiting are WP sites, then Wappalyzer is a very useful extension to add to your web browser.
Wappalyzer identifies what software is installed on the sites you are visiting.
According to their website …
“Wappalyzer is a browser extension that uncovers the technologies used on websites. It detects content management systems, eCommerce platforms, web servers, JavaScript frameworks, analytics tools and many more.”
Wappalyzer is also easy to install and easy to use.
Once you have installed Wappalyzer, icons will show up in your browser, in the URL field identifying which technologies are installed on the sites you are visiting …
If you see the WordPress icon on the browser menu (as the above screenshot shows), then the site uses WordPress.
(A WordPress site!)
Visit the Wappalyzer add-on site here:
SpyBar
(SpyBar – Browser Addon For WordPress)
SpyBar is a browser addon that lets you ‘reverse engineer’ any WordPress site you visit and see which WordPress plugins and themes are being used, right inside your web browser …
(SpyBar – Discover WordPress Plugins And Themes Used By Your Competitors)
SpyBar can be installed as a browser extension on Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox and is compatible with PC and Mac.
To download or learn more about SpyBar, go here:
Plugin Sniper
(Plugin Sniper – Find out what plugins a WordPress site is using)
Plugin Sniper lets you find out what plugins a WordPress site is using. This is a useful tool if you want to know what WordPress plugins are being used by your competitors.
Plugin Sniper is also a useful tool for researching what kinds of plugins businesses in certain niches are using …
(Search WordPress sites by categories and location)
To download or learn more about Plugin Sniper, visit the site below:
I hope that you have found this tutorial useful.
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