Once upon a time and not so long ago, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell the difference between the two.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and changed all this. Now, it’s becoming more difficult to tell the difference between blogs and websites. 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.
(Can You Tell Which Application A Website Has Been Built With?)
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 most about, like web development costs, ease of use, ability to maintain the site up-to-date, managing content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of these options 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 built.
If you chose option “B”, then you need to know more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can provide you with an eye-catching website that could turn out to be much less expensive to build than websites which use website-building software … and how to tell the two apart!
WordPress is the world’s leading online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a flexible and powerful content management tool that is ideally suited 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 knowledge to use and manage, yet it offers a range of helpful tools that make your web presence highly effective when it comes to getting your content published, promoting visitor interaction, 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, yours is also a WordPress site.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are considering getting a website 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 something similarly built for your business to a smaller budget if required?
Is My Website WordPress?
Do you need to know if a 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 runs on 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 a number of ways to tell if a web site is running on WordPress:
View 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 obvious tell-tale footprints …
(Viewing page source code using Firefox)
Let’s say that you are browsing online and you come across a website that you like, and you’re wondering if the site uses 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 your browser’s “Find” function …
(Using Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site was built using WordPress or not.
Note: If you are unable to find “wp-content” within the page source code, it does not mean that the website is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if the site runs on the WordPress software, as we will soon discuss.
As the focus of this post is to try and help non-technical users, however, below you will find a number of easier methods you can use to check if your web site is built using WordPress other than looking at the source code.
Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the most obvious thing to do, a number of web development agencies, for whatever reason, will build their clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you have an existing web site and you can’t tell what application is driving it, just ask your developer or whoever built your site if your website runs on 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 surfing online and want to know if it was built using WordPress?
Check Below Footer
If the site uses a WP theme where the template has not been edited, you can typically find a “Powered by WordPress” notice showing in the footer area …
(Powered by WordPress – footer)
If these simple methods aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of telling whether a website uses WordPress or not …
Sites That Tell You If A Website Has Been Built With WordPress
Here are a couple of sites that will tell you if a particular website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WP
(Is It WP – WP Checking Tool)
IsItWP.com is a free tool that tells you if a website runs on WordPress or not.
Using this tool is really quite simple. Just type in or paste in the URL of the website into the URL field and click the button next to it.
It will go and search through the URL code 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 WP-driven site, you will get a message like the one 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 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 – Extension For Firefox / Chrome Web Browser)
If you browse the net using either the Firefox or Chrome web browsers and want to be able to tell if the sites that you are visiting have been built using WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a great extension for your 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 an easy browser extension to install and use.
Once you have installed the Wappalyzer add-on on your web browser, icons will appear in your web browser menu allowing you to see which software is being used by all the sites you visit …
If you see the WordPress icon displayed on your browser menu (as shown in the screenshot above), then the site uses WordPress.
(This website is built using WordPress!)
Go here to visit the site:
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 you have found this information useful.
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"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)