When the “blogging revolution” first began, 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 revolutionized web publishing. Now, it’s getting more and more difficult to tell the difference between what software is being used to build the two. Not so much in terms of what the sites are being used for, but in terms of website 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 many website owners, understanding the difference between a CMS application like WordPress and other website-building software is huge, not so much in terms of the technical differences, but more importantly, regarding 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 turns out to be fairly 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 went with website ”B” above, then you need to learn more about WordPress, why WordPress can provide you with a stunning website that will normally turn out to be much less expensive to build than websites which use other web editor tools … and how to tell the two apart!
WordPress is the world’s preferred online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a flexible and powerful content management system that is ideally suited for most types of business applications.
Whether your reason for having a website is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a newbie with no programming skills to use and manage, and offers an array of helpful features that make your website more effective in terms of getting your content published, promoting visitor interaction, generating business leads and sales, scalability, etc.
With almost one in every five websites around the world currently being powered by WordPress, chances are that if you already own a website, your site is probably 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 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 a similar site built quite inexpensively?
Is My Blog WordPress?
Do you need to know if a website is powered by WordPress? Maybe you’ve come here because you’ve heard about all of the great advantages of using WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site was built using WordPress, or some other CMS.
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 website is running on WordPress:
View Your Source Code
If you know how to check 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 telltale footprint …
(Viewing page source code in the Firefox browser)
Suppose that you are surfing the web and you visit a site that you like, and you would like to know if the site uses WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
In the page’s source code, search for words like “wp-content” either manually …
Or using your browser’s “Find” function …
(Using the Firefox web browser ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site runs on WordPress or not.
Note: If you do not see “wp-content” within the source code, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are not looking at a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if a site runs on the WordPress software, as we will soon discuss.
As the focus of this article is to try and help non “techies”, however, below you will find a number of easier ways to check if your web site is built with WordPress other than looking at the source code.
Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the logical thing to do, some website developers, for whatever reason, will build their clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you employed the services of a website developer or got somebody else to build you a website, just ask your web developer or whoever built your web site if the site runs on WordPress.
That was easy, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t get in touch with the person who built your website, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while surfing the net late at night and you want to know if the site was built using WordPress?
Check Below Footer
If the site uses a WP theme where the website templates have not been modified, you can typically see a “Proudly powered by WordPress” notice displayed below the footer area …
(Powered by WordPress – site footer)
If the simple methods above aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of telling whether a website runs on WordPress or not …
Online Tools That Tell You If A Website Has Been Built With WordPress
Here are a some online applications that can tell you if the website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WP
(Is It WP)
IsItWP.com is a free online tool that can check very quickly if a website was built with WordPress or not.
Using this site is really quite simple. Just paste the address of the site into the URL field and click the button next to it.
The tool will go and search through the page code on the URL and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, which version of WordPress it is currently using …
If the site is not a WordPress website, you will see a message similar to the one 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 Theme 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 – Extension For Firefox / Chrome Browser
(Wappalyzer – Browser Extension (Firefox / Chrome))
If you browse the net using either the Firefox or Google Chrome browsers and want to be able to tell if the sites that you are visiting are WordPress-powered, then Wappalyzer is a useful add-on for your web browser.
Wappalyzer identifies what type of software is installed on 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 very easy to install and easy to use.
After installing the Wappalyzer add-on on your web browser, icons will appear in your web browser, next to the site URL allowing you to see which software is installed on the sites you are visiting …
If you see the WordPress icon displayed on the browser menu (as shown in the screenshot above), then the site uses WordPress.
(A WordPress site!)
To visit the Wappalyzer extension website, go 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, go here:
We hope you have found this tutorial useful.
***
"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)