Once upon a time and not so long ago, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell blogs and websites apart.
Then WordPress came along and revolutionized web publishing and content management. Now, it’s becoming almost impossible to tell if a site is running on a “blogging” content management system (CMS) like WordPress, or if it’s been developed using a website development tool. Not so much in terms of what the sites are being used for, but in terms of web design and also being able to tell what’s “under the hood”.
(Can You Tell Which Application Is Powering A Website?)
For website owners, understanding the difference between a Content Management System tool 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 are mostly concerned with, like web development costs, ease of use, ability to maintain the website 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 fairly expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking website, but for a fraction of the cost of getting site “A” above.
If you chose option ”B” above, then you need to know more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can be used to create an eye-catching website that will normally turn out to be much less expensive to build than websites built using traditional web editing applications … and how to tell the two apart!
WordPress is the world’s leading online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful content management 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 features that make your web site highly effective when it comes to getting your content published and indexed by search engines, promoting visitor interaction, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s functionality, scalability, etc.
With almost one in every five websites around the world currently 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 considering getting a website built, then wouldn’t it be great to be able 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?
How To Check If A Website Is A WP Site
Do you need to know if your website was built using WordPress? Maybe you’ve come here because you’ve read wonderful things about 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 some simple methods you can use to quickly tell if sites are running on WordPress:
View The 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 a telltale footprint …
(View your web page source code in Firefox)
Let’s say that you are browsing online and you come across a web site that you like, and you’re wondering 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 by visually scanning the code …
Or use your browser’s “Find” function …
(Use Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site was built with WordPress or not.
Note: If you are unable to locate “wp-content” within the page source code, it does not mean that the site you’re looking at is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out 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, below you will find a number of easy ways 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 logical thing to do, many web development companies, for whatever reason, will build their clients a website and not tell them it’s been built with WordPress.
If you have an existing website and you’re not sure what application is driving it, just ask your webmaster or whoever built your website if the web site 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 surfing online and you really want to know if the site was built using WordPress?
Powered By WordPress
If the site uses a WP theme where the template has not been edited, you will typically see a “Proudly powered by WordPress” notice showing in the footer section of the site …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress – footer)
If these simple methods haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of telling whether a site uses WordPress or not …
Online Tools That Can Tell You If A Website Is Built With WordPress
Here are a couple of online applications that will tell you if a website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WordPress?
(IsItWP.com – WP Website Checking Tool)
Is It WP is a free online tool that can check very quickly if a website was built with WordPress or not.
Using this site is very simple. Just type in or paste in the URL of the website into the search field and click the button.
It will go through the URL pages 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 WordPress site, you will get a message similar to the one shown in the screenshot 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 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 – Browser Extension (Firefox / Chrome)
(Wappalyzer – Extension For Firefox & Chrome Browser)
If you use a browser like Firefox or Chrome and would like to be able to see if the sites that you are visiting are powered by WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a very useful extension to install on your browser.
Wappalyzer helps you identify 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 a very easy to install and easy to use web browser extension.
Once you have installed Wappalyzer on your browser, icons will display in your web browser menu, next to the site URL identifying which software is being used by the sites you are visiting …
If you see the WordPress icon on the browser menu (as the above screenshot shows), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(This is a WordPress site!)
To download and install the Wappalyzer add-on, go 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, 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 that you have found this the information in this tutorial useful.
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