When the “blogging revolution” first began, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell the difference between the two.
Then WordPress came along and changed everything. Now, it’s getting more and more difficult to tell if the website is running on “blogging” tools like the WordPress publishing platform, or if it’s been built using a web editing application. 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 website owners, understanding the difference between a CMS 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 areas that matter to most website owners, such as 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 actually expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking site, but at a much cheaper cost than the cost of getting option ”A”.
If you went with option ”B” above, then you need to learn more about WordPress, why WordPress can provide you with an eye-catching website that will normally cost far less to build than websites built using website-building software … and how to tell the two apart!
WordPress is the world’s preferred online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a flexible and powerful content management tool suitable for all businesses and non-technical users.
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 web design skills to use, and offers an array of helpful functions that make your web site more effective when it comes to getting your content published, promoting visitor interaction, generating business leads and sales, 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 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 your business for very little cost?
The Easy Way To Tell If Your Website Runs On WordPress
Do you need to know if your website is powered by WordPress? Maybe you’ve come here because you’ve heard or read wonderful things about WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site was built using WordPress, 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 ways to tell if a website is running on WordPress:
Check The Source Code For Tell-Tale The Tell-Tale WordPress Footprint
If you know how to bring up 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 …
(View your web page source code in Firefox)
Suppose that you are browsing online and you come across a web site that you like, and you wonder if the site runs on 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 words like “wp-content” either by scanning the code with your eyes …
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 cannot find “wp-content” in the page source code, it does not necessarily mean that the website 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 try and help non “techies”, however, we have listed below a number of easier ways to check if your website is powered by WordPress other than looking at the source code.
Just Ask Your Website Developer
While this may seem like the obvious thing to do, some web developers, for whatever reason, may build their clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you have an existing web site and you can’t tell what application is driving it, just ask your web developer or whoever built your website if it runs on WordPress.
That was simple, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t reach your webmaster, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while browsing the net late at night and you really need to know if it was built using WordPress?
Powered By WordPress
If the site uses a WP theme and the them template has not been modified, you can typically find a “Powered by WordPress” notice shown below the footer section …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress)
If the simple methods above haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites …
Sites That Can Tell You If A Website Has Been Built With WordPress
Here are a couple of sites that can tell you if your website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WordPress?
(Is It WordPress? – WordPress Checking Tool)
Is It WP? is a free online tool that tells you if a website was built using WordPress or not.
Using this tool is super easy. Just add the address of the site into the URL field and click the button next to it.
The tool will go through the site code and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, it will even tell you which version of WordPress the site is currently using …
If the site is not powered by WordPress, you will get 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 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 – Web Browser Extension (Firefox / Chrome)
(Wappalyzer – Web Browser Add-On (Firefox / Chrome))
If you browse the net using either Firefox or Google Chrome and would like to be able to instantly tell if the sites that you are visiting use WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a great add-on to add to your browser.
Wappalyzer helps you identify what type of software is installed in 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 very easy to use web browser add-on.
Once you have installed the Wappalyzer add-on on your web browser, icons will display in your browser allowing you to see which software is installed on the sites you visit …
If the WordPress icon displays on your browser menu (as shown in the screenshot above), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(It’s a WordPress site!)
Visit the Wappalyzer extension site 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, go here:
We hope that you have found this tutorial useful.
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