When the “blogging revolution” first began, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell the difference.
Then WordPress came along and changed all this. Now, it’s becoming more and more difficult to tell blogs and websites apart. Not so much in terms of what the sites are being used for, but in terms of web design and also being able to tell what type of web application is actually powering the site.
(It’s Getting Harder To Tell Websites Built With Web Development Tools Vs ‘Blogging’ Software!)
For many website owners, understanding the difference between a Content Management System application 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 the majority of website owners are concerned with, like web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep the website 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 is actually expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking site, but at a much cheaper price than the cost of getting site ”A” above built.
If you went with site ”B” above, then you need to know more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can give you a stunning website that will usually turn out to be much less expensive to build than websites built using web-building software … and how to tell these two types apart!
WordPress is the world’s leading online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful CMS that is ideally suited for ”non-techy” website owners.
Whether your reason for having a digital presence is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a newbie with no technical skills to use, and offers many helpful features that make your web site highly effective when it comes to getting your content published and indexed by search engines, promoting visitor engagement, 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 also driven by the WordPress CMS.
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 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 Web Site Runs On WordPress
Do you need to know if your website was built using WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to this page because you’ve heard or read wonderful things about all of the great benefits and advantages of using WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site runs on WordPress, 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 a website is running on WordPress:
Search The 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 telltale footprints that the site was built using WordPress …
(Viewing the page source code using the Firefox browser)
Let’s say that you are browsing online and you visit a website that you like, and you would like to know if the site was built with 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 by visually scanning the code …
Or using the browser’s “Find” function …
(Using Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site runs on WordPress or not.
Note: If you do not locate “wp-content” within the page source code, it does not mean that this is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if a site runs on the WordPress software, as we will soon be discussing.
As the point of this post is to help non-technical users, however, we have listed below a number of easier methods you can use to check if your website is powered by WordPress other than searching the source code.
Just Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the most obvious thing to do, a number of website development companies, for whatever reason, will build clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you hired a website developer or got somebody else to build your website, just ask your developer or whoever built your web site if your website has been built using WordPress.
That was easy, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t reach your website developer, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while browsing the net and need to know if the site was built with WordPress?
Powered By WordPress
If the site uses a WordPress theme and the them template has not been edited, you will often find a “Powered by WordPress” message shown at the bottom of the site …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress – footer area)
If the methods above haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites …
Online Tools That Can Tell You If A Website Was Built Using WordPress
Here are a couple of tools that will tell you if your website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WP – WordPress Checker
(Is It WordPress? – WP Checking Tool)
Is It WordPress? is a free online tool that can check very quickly if a site uses WordPress or not.
Using this site is really quite easy. Just add the address of the website into the search field and click the button.
The tool will then 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 using WordPress, you will get a message like the one shown 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.com
(Wappalyzer – Extension For Firefox & Chrome Web Browser)
If you browse the net using either the Firefox or Google Chrome browsers and would like to be able to tell if the sites that you are visiting are WP sites, then Wappalyzer is a great extension to install on your browser.
Wappalyzer identifies 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.”
It’s also an easy to install and easy to use browser add-on.
Once you have installed Wappalyzer on your browser, icons will show up in your browser menu, next to the site URL identifying which software is installed on all the sites you are visiting …
If you see the WordPress icon displayed on your browser menu (as shown in the screen shot above), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(This is a WordPress site!)
Go here to visit the site:
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, visit the site below:
I hope that you have found this the information in this tutorial useful.
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"Learning WordPress has been a huge stumbling block for me. I've been looking for something that covers absolutely everything but doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Thank you so much ... you have just provided me with what I have been looking for! Truly appreciated!" - Tanya