Does Your Website Run On WordPress? How To Tell

Does your website run on WordPress? Here are some tell-tale signs that a website was built with WordPress …

Learn WPIt used to be that blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell the difference between the two.

Then WordPress came along and everything changed. Now, it’s becoming harder to tell blogs and websites apart. 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.

Does My Site Run On WordPress?

(Can You Tell Which Application A Website Has Been Built With?)

For many website owners, understanding the difference between a Content Management System 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 things that many website owners care about, like 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 expensive to build, or

B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking site, but at a cost that turns out to be significantly less than the cost of getting option ”A”.

If you went with site ”B” above, then you need to know more about WordPress, why WordPress can provide you with an expensive-looking website that could cost far less to build than websites built with web-building software … and how to tell the two types apart!

WordPress is the world’s most used online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a budget-friendly CMS application that is ideally suited for most types of business applications.

Whether your reason for having a web site is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a beginner with no technical knowledge to use, and offers many 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 functionality, 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 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 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 a similar site built for your business to a smaller budget if required?

Is My Website Built Using WordPress? How To Tell

Do you need to know if your website is powered by WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to this page because you’ve heard wonderful things about all of the great advantages of using WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site runs on the WordPress software, or some other website 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 built with WordPress:

Look At Your Page Source Code

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 …

Viewing the web page source code using Firefox

(How to view web page source code in Firefox)

Let’s say that you are browsing online and you come across a site that you like, and you’re wondering if the site uses WordPress …

How To View Page Source Code In Firefox

First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.

In the source code, search for the words “wp-content” either manually …

Is It A WordPress Website?

Or use the browser’s “Find” function …

Using Firefox's 'Find' function

(Use Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)

This will tell you if the site is powered by WordPress or not.

Note: If you do not see “wp-content” in the source code, it does not necessarily mean that the site you’re looking at is not a WordPress site.

Viewing Page Source Code In Firefox

There are other ways to tell if the site was built using the WordPress software, as we will soon be discussing.

As the point of this post is to try and 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 looking at the source code.

Simply Ask Your Webmaster

While this may seem like the most logical thing to do, some web development agencies, for whatever reason, may build clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.

If you used the services of a website developer or got somebody else to build your website, just ask your web developer or whoever built your web site if the site was built using WordPress.

That was easy, huh?

Okay … what if you can’t get in touch with your website developer, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while browsing the net late at night and need to know if the site was built using WordPress?

Check Below Footer

If the site uses a WordPress theme and the templates have not been modified, you can typically find a “Powered by WordPress” notice shown at the bottom of the site …

Powered by WordPress - footer section

(Proudly Powered by WordPress – site footer area)

If these simple methods aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of telling whether a site was built with WordPress or not …

Sites That Can Tell You If A Website Has Been Built With WordPress

Here are a couple of online applications that can tell you if your website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …

IsItWP.com

IsItWP.com - WordPress Checking Tool

(Is It WP – WP Checker)

Is It WP? is a free online tool that lets you check if a site was built using WordPress or not.

Using this tool is super simple. Just type the URL of the site into the search field and click the button.

It will go and search through the URL pages and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, which version of WordPress it is currently using …

Is It WP - WP Website Checker

If the site is not a WordPress site, you will see a message similar to the one below …

Is It WP

To use this tool, go here:

Advanced WP Theme Checker by Satori

WordPress Theme Detector

(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

(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

(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

(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

(This website is not WordPress)

You can try the Detector yourself by visiting this link:

WordPress Theme Detector

Wappalyzer – Extension For Firefox & Chrome Web Browser

Wappalyzer.com

(Wappalyzer – Web Browser Extension (Firefox / Chrome))

If you use either the Firefox or Google Chrome browser and would like to be able to see if the sites that you are visiting are WP sites, then Wappalyzer is a useful add-on to install on your browser.

Wappalyzer helps you identify what 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.”

It’s also a very easy to install and very easy to use web browser extension.

Wappalyzer.com

Once you have installed the Wappalyzer extension on your browser, icons will display in your browser, in the URL field allowing you to see which software is installed on the sites you are visiting …

Wappalyzer - Browser Extension (Firefox / Chrome)

If you see the WordPress icon displayed on your browser menu (as shown in the screenshot above), then the site has been built with WordPress.

This website is powered by WordPress!

(This is a WordPress site!)

Go here to download and install the Wappalyzer extension:

SpyBar

SpyBar - Browser Addon For WordPress

(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 – 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 – 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

(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 this 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