It used to be that blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell the difference between the two.
Then WordPress came along and changed everything. Now, it’s becoming more difficult to tell if a website was built with a “blogging” CMS tool like WordPress, or if it’s been built using website-building software. 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 kind of web application is actually powering the site.
(Can You Tell Which Application Your Website Is Powered By?)
For website owners, understanding the difference between a CMS 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 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 actually expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking website, but for a tiny fraction of the cost of getting option ”A”.
If you chose site “B”, then you need to learn more about WordPress, why WordPress can be used to create an eye-catching website that will typically turn out to be far less expensive to build than websites which use other website development tools … and how to tell the two types apart!
WordPress is the world’s leading online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful and easy-to-use CMS platform that is ideally suited for small, medium and even large businesses.
Whether your reason for having an online presence is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a novice with no web design skills to use and manage, yet it offers many helpful tools that make your website more effective in terms of getting your content published, promoting visitor engagement, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s capabilities, 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, yours is also a WordPress site.
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 website 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?
Tell-Tale Signs It’s A WordPress Web Site And WordPress-Checking Tools
Do you need to know if your website was built using 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 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 methods you can use to quickly tell if sites are powered WordPress:
Look At The Page Source Code
If you know how to bring up 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 tell-tale footprints …
(How to view page source code in Firefox)
Suppose that you are surfing the web and you come across a website that you like, and you wonder if the site uses WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
In the source code, search for “wp-content” either manually …
Or use the browser’s “Find” function …
(Use the Firefox browser ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site was built with WordPress or not.
Note: If you do not locate the words “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 the site was built using WordPress, as we will soon see.
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 website 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, many website development agencies, 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 your website, just ask your web developer or whoever built your website if your website has been built using WordPress.
That was simple, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t reach your website developer, or what if you’ve come across a site that you really like while browsing the net late at night and you really need to know if the site was built with WordPress?
Check Below Footer
If the site uses a WP theme and the template has not been customized, you can often find a “Proudly powered by WordPress” notice showing in the footer section of the site …
(Powered by WordPress)
If these simple methods haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites …
Tools That Can Tell You If A Website Was Built Using WordPress
Here are a some sites that will tell you if a website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WP
(Is It WP)
Is It WP? is a free online tool that can tell you if a website uses WordPress or not.
Using this site is very easy. Just type in or paste in the URL of the website into the search field and click the button.
The tool will search through the URL code and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, it will even tell you the version of WordPress it is currently using …
If the site is not a WP website, you will get a message like the one shown 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 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
(Wappalyzer)
If you browse the net using either the Firefox or Chrome web browsers and would like to be able to tell if the sites that you are visiting are WordPress-driven, then Wappalyzer is a very useful add-on to install on your web browser.
Wappalyzer tells you 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.”
It’s also an easy web browser extension to install.
After installing the Wappalyzer add-on on your browser, icons will appear in your web browser identifying which software is installed on the sites you are visiting …
If you see the WordPress icon showing on your browser menu (as shown in the screen shot above), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(This is a WordPress site!)
Visit the Wappalyzer extension 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, go here:
We hope that you have found the above the information in this tutorial useful.
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