It used to be that blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell blogs and websites apart.
Then WordPress came along and changed all this. Now, it’s becoming almost impossible to tell the difference between what applications are 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 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, regarding the areas that matter to most website owners, like web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep the site up-to-date, managing content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of these options would you choose?
A) An eye-catching, professional-looking website that is expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking website, but at a cost that turns out to be significantly less than the cost of getting site ”A” above built.
If you picked website “B”, then you need to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can give you an eye-catching website that will probably turn out to be far less expensive to build than websites built using a web building tool … and how to tell these apart!
WordPress is the world’s most popular online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful and easy-to-use CMS platform suitable for all types of businesses.
Whether your reason for having an online presence is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a newbie with no technical knowledge to use and manage, yet it offers an array of helpful features that make your website highly effective when it comes to getting your content published, promoting visitor engagement, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s functionality, 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 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 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?
The Easy Way To Tell If Your Blog Was Built Using WordPress Software
Do you need to know if a website uses WordPress? Maybe you’ve come here because you’ve heard or read about all of the great benefits of using WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site was built using the WordPress software, or some other content management system.
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 methods you can use to quickly tell if sites are running on WordPress:
Look At The 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 your web page source code in the Firefox browser)
Let’s say that you are browsing online and you come across 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.
After the source code of the site loads on your screen, you can search for the words “wp-content” either by scanning the code with your eyes …
Or use your browser’s “Find” function …
(Use Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site was built with WordPress or not.
Note: If you cannot locate the words “wp-content” within the page source code, it doesn’t mean that the site you’re looking at is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if the site was built using WordPress, as we will soon see.
As the focus of this post is to try and help non “techies”, however, we have listed below a number of easier ways to check if your website is powered by WordPress other than scanning the source code.
Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the most obvious thing to do, some website developers, for whatever reason, will build clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you used the services of a website developer or got somebody else to build your website, just ask your webmaster or whoever built your website if your website has been built with WordPress.
That was easy, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t reach your webmaster, or what if you’ve come across a site that you really like while browsing online and you really would like to know if the site was built with WordPress?
Check Below The Footer
If the site uses a WP theme and the site template has not been customized, you will typically see a “Proudly powered by WordPress” notice shown in the footer section …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress)
If these simple methods aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites …
Tools That Can Tell You If A Website Is Built With WordPress
Here are a couple of sites that can tell you if your website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WordPress?
(Is It WP)
Is It WordPress? is a free online tool that tells you if a website runs on WordPress or not.
Using this site is super simple. Just add the URL of the website into the URL field and click the button next to it.
The tool will search through the site code 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 has not been built with WordPress, you will see 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 – Browser Extension (Firefox / Chrome)
(Wappalyzer)
If you use either the Firefox or Google Chrome browser and want to be able to see if the sites that you are visiting use WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a useful add-on for your browser.
Wappalyzer tells you 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 a very easy browser add-on to install and use.
Once you have installed Wappalyzer, icons will appear in your browser menu allowing you to see which technologies are being used by all the sites you visit …
If the WordPress icon displays on the browser menu (as the above screenshot shows), then the site uses WordPress.
(This is a WordPress site!)
Visit the Wappalyzer add-on 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, go here:
I hope that you have found this tutorial useful.
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