It used to be that blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell the two apart.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and changed all this. 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.
(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 software 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 keep the site up-to-date, managing web content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of the following options would you choose?
A) An eye-catching, professional-looking website that turns out to be quite expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking website, but at a cost that turns out to be significantly less than the cost of getting site ”A”.
If you went with website “B”, then you need to know more about WordPress, why WordPress can be used to create a beautiful website that will usually turn out to be far less expensive to build than websites which use a website building tool … and how to tell the two types apart!
WordPress is the world’s most popular online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a flexible and powerful content management software that is ideally suited for all businesses and non-technical users.
Whether your reason for having a web site is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a newbie with no knowledge of HTML to use, and offers an array of helpful features that make your web site highly effective in terms of getting your content published and indexed by search engines, promoting visitor engagement, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s capabilities, 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 considering getting one 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 a similar site built for your business to a smaller budget if required?
The Easy Way To Tell If Your Website Was Built Using WordPress
Do you need to know if a website is powered by WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to our site because you’ve heard about WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site was built using the WordPress software, 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 some simple ways to tell if a site is powered by WordPress:
Look At Your 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 telltale footprints that the site was built with WordPress …
(How to view web page source code using the Firefox browser)
Let’s say that you are browsing online and you visit a site that you like, and you would like to know if the site is built with WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
After the source code of the page loads on your screen, search for “wp-content” either by scanning the code visually …
Or using the browser’s “Find” function …
(Use the Firefox web browser ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site was built using WordPress or not.
Note: If you do not locate the words “wp-content” within the source code, it does not mean that it’s not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if a site was built using WordPress, as we will soon be discussing.
As the focus of this post is to help non-technical users, however, below you will find a number of easy ways to check if your web site is powered by WordPress other than looking at the source code.
Ask Your Website Developer
While this may seem like the most logical thing to do, some web developers, for whatever reason, may build clients a website and not tell them it’s been built with WordPress.
If you used the services of a website developer or got somebody else to build your website, just ask your webmaster or whoever built your web site if your site was built with WordPress.
That was easy, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t reach your webmaster, or what if you’ve come across a site that you really like while browsing the net late at night and you really want to know if the site was built using WordPress?
Check Below Footer
If the site uses a WordPress theme and the theme templates have not been customized, you can often see a “Powered by WordPress” notice displayed below the footer area …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress)
If the methods above haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites …
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 …
IsItWP.com – WP Checker
(IsItWP.com)
Is It WP? is a free online tool that can tell you very quickly if a site was built using WordPress or not.
Using this tool is super simple. Just add the address of the website into the search field and click the button.
It will search through the URL and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, which version of WordPress the site is currently using …
If the site does not run on WordPress, you will see 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 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 – Add-On For Firefox & Chrome Browser
(Wappalyzer)
If you browse the net using either Firefox or Chrome and want to be able to see if the sites that you are visiting use WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a useful add-on for your web browser.
Wappalyzer identifies what 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 easy to install and very easy to use.
After installing Wappalyzer, icons will show up in your browser menu, next to the site URL allowing you to see which technologies are installed on the sites you visit …
If you see the WordPress icon displayed on the browser menu (as shown in the screenshot above), then the site uses WordPress.
(This website is built using WordPress!)
Go here to download and install the Wappalyzer browser add-on:
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:
I hope that you have found this the information in this tutorial useful.
***
"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)