It used to be that blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell the difference between the two.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and everything changed. Now, it’s becoming more difficult to tell if a site is running on a “blogging” content management system (CMS) like WordPress, or if it’s been developed using a traditional website editing application. 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.
(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 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 many website owners care most about, like web development costs, ease of use, ability to maintain the site 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 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” above built.
If you went with option “B”, then you need to learn more about WordPress, why WordPress can be used to create an eye-catching website that could cost far less to build than websites which use traditional website development tools … 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 flexible and powerful CMS platform that is ideally suited for most types of business applications.
Whether your reason for having an online presence is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a newbie with no web design skills to use and manage, and offers many helpful tools that make your web presence more effective in terms of getting your content published and indexed by search engines, 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, your site is also driven by WordPress.
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 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 very little cost?
How To Tell If A Web Site Is A WordPress Website
Do you need to know if a website uses WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to this page because you’ve heard or read about WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site was built using 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 a number of methods you can use to quickly tell if a web site is running on WordPress:
View Your Page Source Code
If you know how to view 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 obvious telltale footprints that the site was built with WordPress …
(How to view your web page source code using Firefox)
Let’s say that you are browsing online and you come across a website 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.
In the page’s source code, search for “wp-content” either by visually scanning the code …
Or using your browser’s “Find” function …
(Use Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site runs on WordPress or not.
Note: If you are unable to see the words “wp-content” within the source code, it doesn’t mean that the website is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if the site was built using the WordPress software, as we will soon be discussing.
As the focus of this article is to help non “techies”, however, below you will find a number of easier methods you can use to check if your site is built using WordPress other than viewing the source code.
Simply Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the logical thing to do, some website development agencies, for whatever reason, will build clients a website and not tell them it’s been built with WordPress.
If you used a website developer or got somebody else to build your website, just ask your developer or whoever built your website if your website was built with WordPress.
That was simple, 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 want to know if the site was built using WordPress?
Check Below The Footer
If the site uses a WP theme and the web them template has not been edited, you can often see a “Proudly powered by WordPress” notice displayed in the footer section …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress – site footer)
If these simple methods aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of telling whether a site uses WordPress or not …
Sites That Tell You If A Website Was Built Using WordPress
Here are a couple of tools that can tell you if your website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WP – WP Checker
(Is It WP – WP Site Checker)
IsItWP.com is a free online tool that can tell you very quickly if a website runs on WordPress or not.
Using this site is very easy. Just type the URL of the site into the search field and click the button next to it.
The tool will then search through the page code on 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 has not been built with 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
(Wappalyzer)
If you browse the net using either Firefox or Google Chrome and would like to be able to tell if the sites that you are visiting are WP-powered, then Wappalyzer is a very useful extension for your browser.
Wappalyzer tells you what type of 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.”
It’s also an easy to install and very easy to use web browser add-on.
After installing Wappalyzer on your web browser, icons will appear in your web browser, next to the site URL identifying which technologies are being used by the sites you visit …
If the WordPress icon shows up on your browser menu (as the above screenshot shows), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(A WordPress site!)
Go here to learn more and download the Wappalyzer extension:
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:
I hope you have found this information useful.
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"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum