Once upon a time and not so long ago, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell the difference between the two.
Then WordPress came along and revolutionized the online publishing world. Now, it’s getting almost impossible to tell if the website is running on a “blogging” content management system (CMS) like the WP CMS, or if it’s been built using web-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’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 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 areas that the majority of website owners are mostly concerned with, like web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep the site up-to-date, managing web 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 option “A” above.
If you picked web site ”B” above, then you need to learn more about WordPress, why WordPress can give you an eye-catching website that could cost far less to build than websites built using traditional web development tools … and how to tell the two apart!
WordPress is the world’s leading online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a flexible and powerful CMS suitable for most business needs.
Whether your reason for having a web site is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a beginner with no programming skills to use, yet it offers an array of helpful functions that make your website more effective when it comes to getting your content published and indexed by search engines, promoting visitor interaction, 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, yours is also a WordPress site.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are thinking of 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 something similarly built for your business for very little cost?
How Can I Tell If A Site Was Built Using WordPress?
Do you need to know if your website is powered by WordPress? Maybe you’ve come here because you’ve read wonderful things about all of the great benefits 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 some simple ways to tell if a website is running on WordPress:
Search The Source Code For The Tell-Tale WordPress Footprint
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 tell-tale footprints …
(Viewing web page source code using Firefox)
Suppose that you are browsing online and you come across a site that you like, and you would like to know if the site is built with 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 the words “wp-content” either by visually scanning the code …
Or use the browser’s “Find” function …
(Using the Firefox web browser ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site was built with WordPress or not.
Note: If you are unable to find “wp-content” within the source code, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if a site was built using WordPress, as we will soon discuss.
As the point of this post is to help non “techies”, however, we have listed below a number of easy methods you can use to check if your web site is built with WordPress other than viewing the source code.
Simply Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the most obvious thing to do, many web development agencies, for whatever reason, will build clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you have an existing website and you’re not sure what application is driving it, just ask your developer or whoever built your web site if your website has been built with WordPress.
That was easy, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t get in touch with the person who looks after your website, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while surfing online and you want to know if the site was built using WordPress?
Check Below The Footer
If the site uses a WordPress theme and the web template has not been modified, you can typically see a “Proudly powered by WordPress” message shown at the bottom of the site …
(Powered by WordPress – footer area)
If these simple methods aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites …
Online Tools That Can Tell You If A Website Is Built With WordPress
Here are a some tools that will tell you if a particular website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
IsItWP.com
(IsItWP.com)
IsItWP.com is a free online tool that tells you if a website was built using WordPress or not.
Using this tool is super simple. Just type in or paste in the URL of the website into the search field and click the button.
The tool will then go through the URL files and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, it will even tell you the version of WordPress the site is currently using …
If the site is not a WordPress-powered website, you will get a message similar to 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 – Extension For Firefox / Chrome Browser
(Wappalyzer.com)
If you use either the Firefox or Google Chrome browser and would like to be able to see if the sites that you are visiting have been built using WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a useful add-on to install on your browser.
Wappalyzer identifies what software is installed on 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 a very easy extension to install and use.
Once you have installed Wappalyzer on your web browser, icons will display in your web browser allowing you to see which software is installed on the sites you visit …
If you see the WordPress icon on the browser menu (as the above screen shot shows), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(A WordPress site!)
To download and install Wappalyzer 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, visit the site below:
We hope that you have found this the information in this tutorial useful.
***
"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)