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 changed everything. Now, it’s getting more and more difficult to tell if the site was built with “blogging” tools like WordPress, or if it’s been created using a traditional website editor tool. 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 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 many website owners, understanding the difference between a Content Management System 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 the majority of website owners care about, such as web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep 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 site, but at a much cheaper cost than the cost of getting site “A” above.
If you went with site ”B” above, then you need to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can give you an eye-catching website that could turn out to be much less expensive to build than websites built using a web development tool … 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 budget-friendly CMS application suitable for small, medium and even large businesses.
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 skills to use and manage, and offers a range of helpful functions that make your web presence highly effective when it comes to getting your content published, 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, yours is also a WordPress site.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are considering getting one 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 a similar site built for your business to a smaller budget if required?
The Easy Way To Tell If Your Web Site Runs On WP Software
Do you need to know if your website is powered by WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to this page because you’ve heard about WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site was built using the WordPress software, 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 methods you can use to quickly tell if sites are running on WordPress:
Check 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 obvious tell-tale footprints …
(View the web page source code using the Firefox browser)
Suppose that you are surfing the web and you visit a website 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.
Once the source code of the page loads on your screen, search for the words “wp-content” either manually …
Or use the browser’s “Find” function …
(Use the Firefox web browser ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site was built using WordPress or not.
Note: If you are unable to find “wp-content” in the source code, it does not mean that the website is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if a site runs on WordPress, as we will soon be discussing.
As the focus of this article is to help non-technical users, however, below you will find a number of easy methods you can use to check if your web site is built using WordPress other than viewing the source code.
Simply Ask Your Web Developer
While this may seem like the logical thing to do, a number of website development agencies, for whatever reason, may build clients a website and not tell them it’s been built with WordPress.
If you have an existing web site and you can’t tell what application is driving it, just ask your webmaster or whoever built your website if your website runs on WordPress.
That was easy, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t get in touch with your webmaster, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while browsing online and you want to know if the site was built with WordPress?
Check Below Footer
If the site uses a WP theme and the site them template has not been customized, you will often find a “Powered by WordPress” notice displayed at the bottom of the site …
(Powered by WordPress – footer)
If these simple methods aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of telling whether a site was built using WordPress or not …
Online Tools That Tell You If A Website Is Built With WordPress
Here are a couple of tools that can tell you if the website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WP
(IsItWP.com)
Is It WordPress? is a free online tool that can check very quickly if a site was built using WordPress or not.
Using this tool is really easy. Just add the address of the site into the search field and click the button next to it.
It will go through the URL files and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, which version of WordPress it is currently using …
If the site has not been built using 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.com
(Wappalyzer – Browser Add-On (Firefox / Chrome))
If you browse the net using either the Firefox or Chrome web browsers and would like to be able to tell if the sites that you are visiting are powered by WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a useful extension to add to your web browser.
Wappalyzer tells you 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.”
It’s also a very easy to install and easy to use browser extension.
After installing Wappalyzer, icons will appear in your browser menu, in the URL field allowing you to see which software is installed on the sites you visit …
If the WordPress icon displays on the browser menu (as the above screen shot shows), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(This site uses WordPress!)
Visit the Wappalyzer web browser add-on 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, 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, go here:
We hope that you have found the above information useful.
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