Once upon a time and not so long ago, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell the difference between the two.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and changed all this. Now, it’s becoming harder to tell the difference between what tools are being used to build the two. 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.
(Can You Tell Which Application Websites Are Built With?)
For many website owners, understanding the difference between a Content Management System tool like WordPress and other website-building software 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, like 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 turns out to be fairly expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking website, but at a cost that is significantly less than the cost of getting site ”A” built.
If you picked option ”B” above, then you need to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can give you an eye-catching website that will typically turn out to be far less expensive to build than websites which use other website editor tools … and how to tell these apart!
WordPress is the world’s preferred online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful CMS suitable for ”non-techy” website owners.
Whether your reason for having a digital presence is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a novice with no knowledge of web coding to use and manage, yet it offers a range of helpful tools that make your website more effective when it comes to getting your content published and indexed by search engines, promoting visitor engagement, 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 website could probably be powered by WordPress too.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are considering getting a website built, then wouldn’t it be great to show your web developer an existing website with the design and layout that you like, know that it was built with WordPress and that you can, therefore, get a similar site built for your business to a smaller budget if required?
Is My Blog WordPress?
Do you need to know if a website is powered by WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to this page because you’ve heard about all of the great benefits of using WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site runs on the WordPress software, or some other CMS 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 some simple methods you can use to quickly tell if a website has been built using WordPress:
Look At Your Page Source Code
If you know how to access 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 a tell-tale footprint that the site was built with WordPress …
(View the web page source code using Firefox)
Let’s say that you are browsing online and you visit a website that you like, and you wonder if the site is built on WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
In the page’s source code, you can search for words like “wp-content” either by scanning the code visually …
Or use your browser’s “Find” function …
(Using the Firefox web browser ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site runs on WordPress or not.
Note: If you do not locate “wp-content” within the source code, it does not mean that the site you’re looking at is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if a site was built using the WordPress software, as we will soon see.
As the point of this post is to help non “techies”, however, we have listed below a number of easier ways to check if your web site is built using WordPress other than looking at the source code.
Just Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the most logical thing to do, some web developers, for whatever reason, will build their clients a website and not tell them it’s been built with WordPress.
If you have an existing web site and you’re not sure what CMS application was used to build it, just ask your web developer or whoever built your site if it has been built with WordPress.
That was simple, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t get in touch with your webmaster, or what if you’ve come across a site that you really like while browsing the net and you need to know if the site was built using WordPress?
Check Below Footer
If the site uses a WordPress theme and the website them template has not been edited, you will often find a “Proudly powered by WordPress” message showing at the bottom of the site …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress – site footer area)
If these simple methods aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites …
Online Tools That Tell You If A Website Has Been Built With WordPress
Here are a some tools that can tell you if the website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WordPress? – WP Checking Tool
(Is It WordPress?)
Is It WP? is a free online tool that can tell you very quickly if a site runs on WordPress or not.
Using this site is really simple. Just enter the URL of the website into the search field and click the button next to it.
It will then search through the URL files and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, which version of WordPress the site is currently using …
If the web site is not a WordPress website, you will see a message like the one shown below …
To visit this site, 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 – Browser Add-On (Firefox / Chrome)
(Wappalyzer – Add-On For Firefox / Chrome Web Browser)
If you browse the net using either Firefox or Chrome and want to be able to instantly tell if the sites that you are visiting are WordPress-driven, then Wappalyzer is a very useful add-on to add to your web browser.
Wappalyzer helps you identify what type of software is installed in the sites while you are browsing.
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 an easy to install and very easy to use web browser add-on.
Once you have installed the Wappalyzer add-on on your web browser, icons will show up in your web browser menu, next to the site URL identifying which technologies are installed on the sites you are visiting …
If the WordPress icon displays on your browser menu (as shown in the screenshot above), then the site uses WordPress.
(This is a WordPress site!)
Visit the Wappalyzer extension website 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, visit the site below:
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:
We hope that you have found the above tutorial useful.
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum