When the “blogging revolution” first began, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell blogs and websites apart.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and everything changed. Now, it’s getting more and more difficult to tell if the website is being powered by a “blogging” content management system (CMS) like WordPress, or if it’s been created 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 application like WordPress and other website-building software 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, such as web development costs, ease of use, ability to maintain the website up-to-date, managing web 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 site, but at a much cheaper price than the cost of getting site ”A”.
If you picked web site “B”, then you need to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can be used to create an eye-catching website that will usually turn out to be much less expensive to build than websites which are built using other website development tools … and how to tell these two types apart!
WordPress is the world’s most popular online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a budget-friendly content management system that is ideally suited for most types of business applications.
Whether your reason for having a website or blog is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a novice with no technical skills to use and manage, and offers an array of helpful extensions that make your web presence more effective in terms of getting your content published, 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, your site is also driven by WordPress.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are thinking of getting one 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 to a smaller budget if required?
How Can I Check If A Site Was Built With WordPress?
Do you need to know if a website was built using WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to our site because you’ve heard or read about all of the great advantages 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 a number of methods you can use to quickly tell if sites are built using 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 an obvious telltale footprint that the site was built using WordPress …
(Viewing web page source code using Firefox)
Suppose that you are browsing online and you come across a website that you like, and you’re wondering if the site runs on WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
Once 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 your browser’s “Find” function …
(Using Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site runs on WordPress or not.
Note: If you are unable to see “wp-content” within the page source code, it does not mean that this is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if a site runs on WordPress, as we will soon see.
As the point of this article is to try and help non-technical users, however, we have listed below a number of easy methods you can use to check if your site is built using WordPress other than scanning the source code.
Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the logical thing to do, some website developers, for whatever reason, may build their clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you used the services of a website developer or got somebody else to build you a website, just ask your web developer or whoever built your web site if it runs on WordPress.
That was easy, 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 and you really need to know if it was built with WordPress?
Check Below The Footer
If the site uses a WP theme where the theme templates have not been customized, you can typically see a “Proudly powered by WordPress” message showing at the bottom of the site …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress)
If the simple methods above aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites …
Tools That Can Tell You If A Website Is Built With WordPress
Here are a couple of sites that will tell you if a website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
IsItWP.com
(IsItWP.com)
IsItWP.com is a free tool that can tell you very quickly if a website uses WordPress or not.
Using this tool is super easy. Just enter the address of the website into the URL field and click the button.
The tool will then search through the URL code and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, which version of WordPress it is currently using …
If the web 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
(Wappalyzer – Add-On For Firefox & Chrome Web Browser)
If you use a browser like Firefox or Chrome and would like to be able to tell if the sites that you are visiting have been built using WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a useful extension to add to your web browser.
Wappalyzer helps you identify what software is installed on 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.”
Wappalyzer is also easy to install.
Once you have installed Wappalyzer, icons will appear in your web browser identifying which software is installed on all 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 website has been built with WordPress!)
To visit the Wappalyzer add-on website, 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 the above 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