When the “blogging revolution” first began, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell blogs and websites apart.
Then WordPress came along and changed all this. Now, it’s becoming more and more difficult to tell the difference between blogs and websites. 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 hood”.
(It’s Getting Harder To Tell Websites Built With Web Development Tools Vs ‘Blogging’ Software!)
For website owners, understanding the difference between a Content Management System tool 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, like web development costs, ease of use, ability to maintain the website up-to-date, managing content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of the following options would you choose?
A) An eye-catching, professional-looking website that is actually 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”.
If you picked website ”B” above, then you need to know more about WordPress, why WordPress can give you an eye-catching website that will usually end up costing you far less to build than websites which use other website development tools … and how to tell the two apart!
WordPress is the world’s most used online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful CMS application that is ideally suited for all businesses and non-technical users.
Whether your reason for having a digital presence is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a newbie with no knowledge of coding to use, and offers a range of helpful features that make your web site extremely effective when it comes to getting your content published, promoting visitor interaction, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s capabilities, 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, yours is also a WordPress site.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are considering getting one 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 for your business for a much smaller cost?
How Can I Check If My Web Site Was Built With WordPress?
Do you need to know if a website uses 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 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 sites are running on WordPress:
Search Your Page’s Source Code For Obvious TellTale WordPress Footprints
If you know how to search 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 that the site was built with WordPress …
(View the page source code using Firefox)
Let’s say that you are browsing online and you come across a website that you like, and you’re wondering 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 page loads on your screen, you can search for words like “wp-content” either by visually scanning the code …
Or using the browser’s “Find” function …
(Using Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site is powered by WordPress or not.
Note: If you cannot find “wp-content” in the source code, it does not mean that the site you’re looking at is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if a site runs on WordPress, as we will soon discuss.
As the point of this article is to help non-technical users, however, below you will find a number of easy ways to check if your site is built using WordPress other than looking at the source code.
Ask Your Website Developer
While this may seem like the most logical thing to do, a number of website development agencies, for whatever reason, may build their clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you have an existing web site and you’re not sure what application was used to build it, just ask your web developer or whoever built your site if the site runs on 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 surfing the net late at night and would like to know if it was built using WordPress?
Powered By WordPress
If the site uses a WP theme and the theme templates have not been modified, you will typically find a “Proudly powered by WordPress” notice showing below the footer section of the site …
(Powered by WordPress – footer)
If the methods above haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of telling whether a site runs on WordPress or not …
Online Tools That Can Tell You If A Website Uses WordPress
Here are a couple of online applications that will tell you if your website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
IsItWP.com – WP Site Checking Tool
(IsItWP.com – WP Website Checking Tool)
Is It WordPress? is a free online tool that lets you check 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.
It will go and search through the URL 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 does not run on WordPress, you will get 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 – Add-On For Firefox & Chrome Browser
(Wappalyzer)
If you browse the net using either Firefox or Google Chrome and would like to be able to instantly tell if the sites that you are visiting are WordPress sites, then Wappalyzer is a great extension for your web browser.
Wappalyzer helps you identify what type of software is installed in 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 an easy to install and very easy to use web browser extension.
After installing the Wappalyzer add-on on your browser, icons will appear in your browser identifying which software is being used by all the sites you visit …
If the WordPress icon displays on your browser menu (as the above screen shot shows), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(It’s a WordPress site!)
To visit the site, 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, 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, go here:
We hope you have found this information useful.
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