Once upon a time and not so long ago, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell them apart.
Then WordPress came along and changed all this. Now, it’s getting harder to tell the difference between what software is being used to build the two. 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’s “under the hood”.
(Can You Tell Which Application A Website Has Been Built With?)
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 many website owners care most about, such as web development costs, ease of use, ability to maintain the website 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 website, but for a tiny fraction of the cost of getting site ”A” above built.
If you decided to go with website “B”, then you need to know more about WordPress, why WordPress can provide you with an eye-catching website that will typically end up costing you far less to build than websites built using web-building software … and how to tell these apart!
WordPress is the world’s most used online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful CMS platform that is ideally suited for businesses on a budget.
Whether your reason for having a website or blog is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a beginner with no programming skills to use, yet it offers a range of helpful extensions that make your website more effective in terms of getting your content published, promoting visitor engagement, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s capabilities, 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 probably be powered by WordPress too.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are considering 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?
How Can I Check If A Site Was Built Using WordPress?
Do you need to know if a website uses WordPress? Maybe you’ve come here 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 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 methods you can use to quickly tell if sites are powered WordPress:
Search The Source Code
If you know how to check 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 telltale footprints …
(Viewing 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 is built using 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, search for “wp-content” either by visually scanning the code …
Or use your browser’s “Find” function …
(Use the Firefox browser ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site was built with WordPress or not.
Note: If you do not see the words “wp-content” within the source code, it doesn’t necessarily mean that this is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if the site runs on the WordPress software, 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 easier methods you can use to check if your website is powered by WordPress other than scanning the source code.
Simply Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the most obvious thing to do, some web development agencies, for whatever reason, may build clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you have an existing web site and you’re not sure what application was used to build it, just ask your developer or whoever built your website if it has been built with WordPress.
That was simple, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t reach the person who looks after your site, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while surfing the net late at night and you really would like to know if it was built with WordPress?
Powered By WordPress
If the site uses a WordPress theme where the web them template has not been customized, you will typically find a “Proudly powered by WordPress” message showing at the bottom of the site …
(Powered by WordPress – site footer area)
If these simple methods haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of telling whether a site runs on WordPress or not …
Tools That Tell You If A Website Uses WordPress
Here are a couple of tools 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 online tool that tells you if a site runs on WordPress or not.
Using this tool is super simple. Just paste the address of the website into the URL field and click the button.
It 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 the site is currently using …
If the web site is not a WordPress-powered website, you will get a message similar to the one shown in the screen shot 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.com)
If you use either the Firefox or Chrome browser and want to be able to know if the sites that you are visiting are powered by WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a great extension for your browser.
Wappalyzer tells you what type of software is installed on 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 an easy to install and easy to use browser extension.
Once you have installed the Wappalyzer add-on on your web browser, icons will display in your web browser menu identifying which technologies are installed on all the sites you are visiting …
If the WordPress icon displays on the browser menu (as the above screenshot shows), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(This is a WordPress site!)
Go here to visit the website:
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:
I hope 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