It used to be that blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell the difference.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and revolutionized web publishing and online content management. Now, it’s becoming 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’s under the surface.
(Can You Tell Which Application Is Powering Your Website?)
For website owners, understanding the difference between a CMS tool like WordPress and other website-building software is huge, not so much in terms of the technical differences, but more importantly, regarding the things that many website owners are 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 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 much cheaper cost than the cost of getting site ”A”.
If you went with site “B”, then you need to learn more about WordPress, why WordPress can provide you with an eye-catching website that will usually turn out to be far less expensive to build than websites which use a website development tool … 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 flexible and powerful CMS platform that is ideally suited for small, medium and even large businesses.
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 knowledge to use, and offers many helpful add-ons that make your web presence highly effective when it comes to getting your content published, promoting visitor interaction, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s functionality, scalability, 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 the WP CMS.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are thinking of 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 for your business for a much smaller cost?
Tell-Tale Signs It’s A WordPress Web Site And WordPress-Checking Tools
Do you need to know if a website was built using WordPress? Maybe you’ve come here because you’ve heard or read about WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site runs on WordPress, or some other content management system.
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 sites are powered WordPress:
View The Page Source Code
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 a telltale footprint …
(View the web page source code in the Firefox web browser)
Let’s say that you are browsing online and you come across a web site 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.
In the source code, you can search for the words “wp-content” either manually …
Or using your browser’s “Find” function …
(Using the Firefox web browser ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site was built with WordPress or not.
Note: If you do not find “wp-content” within the page source code, it does not necessarily mean that this is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if a site runs on WordPress, as we will soon discuss.
As the focus of this post is to try and help non “techies”, however, below you will find a number of easier methods you can use to check if your web site is built with WordPress other than searching the source code.
Just Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the most logical thing to do, a number of website developers, for whatever reason, may build their clients a website and not tell them it’s been built with WordPress.
If you hired a website developer or got somebody else to build you a website, just ask your webmaster or whoever built your website if your site runs on WordPress.
That was simple, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t get in touch with your webmaster, or what if you’ve come across a site that you really like while surfing online and you really want to know if it was built using WordPress?
Powered By WordPress
If the site uses a WordPress theme and the site them template has not been modified, you can often find a “Powered by WordPress” notice shown at the bottom of the site …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress)
If these simple methods haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites …
Online Tools That Tell You If A Website Runs On WordPress
Here are a some sites that can tell you if a website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WP – WP Site Checking Tool
(Is It WP – WordPress Website Checker)
Is It WP is a free online tool that can tell you very quickly if a website uses WordPress or not.
Using this tool is very easy. Just add the address of the site into the search field and click the button next to it.
The tool will search through the URL pages and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, it will even tell you which version of WordPress it is currently using …
If the site is not a WordPress web site or blog, you will see a message similar to the one 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 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 – Extension For Firefox / Chrome Web Browser)
If you browse the net using either Firefox or Google Chrome and would like to be able to know if the sites that you are visiting are WordPress sites, then Wappalyzer is a very useful extension for your browser.
Wappalyzer tells you what type of 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 an easy to install and easy to use web browser extension.
Once you have installed the Wappalyzer add-on on your browser, icons will appear in your browser, in the URL field identifying which software is installed on all the sites you visit …
If the WordPress icon shows up on your browser menu (as the above screenshot shows), then the site uses WordPress.
(This site is built using WordPress!)
Go here to learn more and download the Wappalyzer browser 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:
We hope that you have found the above the information in this tutorial useful.
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum