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 everything changed. Now, it’s getting more difficult to tell if a site is running on a “blogging” CMS tool like the WordPress CMS, or if it’s been built using a traditional website development software 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.
(Can You Tell Which Application A Website Has Been Built With?)
For many 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 many website owners care about, such as web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep 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 actually expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking site, but at a tiny fraction of the cost of getting site ”A” built.
If you decided to go with web site ”B” above, then you need to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can be used to create a beautiful website that will normally turn out to be much less expensive to build than websites built using a website building tool … and how to tell these two types apart!
WordPress is the world’s preferred online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful CMS platform suitable for businesses on a budget.
Whether your reason for having a web site is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a newbie with no technical knowledge to use and manage, and offers a range of helpful features that make your web presence highly effective in terms of 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 being powered by WordPress, chances are that if you already own a website, your site could also be powered 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 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 very little cost?
Tell-Tale Signs It’s A WordPress Site And WP-Checking Tools
Do you need to know if your website is powered by WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to this page because you’ve heard or read about all of the great benefits and 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 ways to tell if sites are powered WordPress:
Search The Source Code For Obvious TellTale WordPress Footprints
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 tell-tale footprints that the site was built with WordPress …
(Viewing your web page source code in the Firefox web browser)
Suppose that you are browsing online and you come across a web site that you like, and you’re wondering if the site was built with WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
Once the source code of the site loads on your screen, you can search for “wp-content” either by scanning the code …
Or use the browser’s “Find” function …
(Using the Firefox web browser ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site was built using WordPress or not.
Note: If you are unable to see “wp-content” in the page source code, it does not necessarily mean that the site you’re looking at is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if the site runs on WordPress, as we will soon be discussing.
As the point of this article is to help non-technical users, however, we have listed below a number of easier ways to check if your web site is built using WordPress other than looking through the source code.
Just Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the most obvious thing to do, many website development companies, for whatever reason, will build their clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you have an existing website and you’re not sure what application is driving it, just ask your developer or whoever built your website if it has been built using WordPress.
That was easy, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t get in touch with the person who looks after your website, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while browsing online and you really would like to know if it was built using WordPress?
Check Below The Footer
If the site uses a WP theme and the web templates have not been customized, you will often find a “Powered by WordPress” notice displayed at the bottom of the site …
(Powered by WordPress)
If these simple methods aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of telling whether a website runs on WordPress or not …
Tools That Can Tell You If A Website Has Been Built With WordPress
Here are a some sites that will tell you if a website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WP
(Is It WordPress? – WP Site Checking Tool)
Is It WP is a free tool that can tell you if a site uses WordPress or not.
Using this tool is very simple. Just add the URL of the website into the search field and click the button.
The tool will go and 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 is not a WP-powered website, you will see a message similar to 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 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 – Extension For Firefox & Chrome Web Browser
(Wappalyzer – Extension For Firefox & Chrome Browser)
If you use either the Firefox or Chrome web browser and want to be able to instantly tell if the sites that you are visiting are powered by WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a very useful extension to add to your web browser.
Wappalyzer helps you identify 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.”
Wappalyzer is also a very easy to install and easy to use browser extension.
After installing the Wappalyzer extension on your browser, icons will display in your browser, in the URL field identifying which technologies are being used by the sites you are visiting …
If you see the WordPress icon on your browser menu (as the above screenshot shows), then the site uses WordPress.
(This website is built using WordPress!)
Go here to learn more:
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 you have found this tutorial useful.
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