It used to be that blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell the difference.
Then WordPress came along and changed everything. Now, it’s becoming harder to tell the difference between what tools are being used to build the two. 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 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 many 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 matter to most website owners, 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 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 site “A” above.
If you chose website ”B” above, then you need to learn more about WordPress, why WordPress can be used to create an attractive, professional-looking and fully functional website that could turn out to be far less expensive to build than websites which use web-building software … and how to tell the two types apart!
WordPress is the world’s leading online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful and easy-to-use CMS that is ideally suited for all types of businesses.
Whether your reason for having a digital presence is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a novice with no web design skills to use and manage, yet it offers an array of helpful tools that make your web site extremely effective when it comes to getting your content published and indexed by search engines, promoting visitor engagement, generating business leads and sales, 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, yours is also a WordPress site.
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 something similarly built for your business quite inexpensively?
Is Your Website Built With WordPress?
Do you need to know if a website uses WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to our site because you’ve heard about all of the great benefits of using WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site was built using 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 site is running on WordPress:
Search The Page Source Code
If you know how to bring up 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 web page source code in the Firefox web browser)
Let’s say that you are surfing the web and you visit a site that you like, and you wonder if the site was built using WordPress …
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 by visually scanning the code …
Or use your browser’s “Find” function …
(Using the Firefox browser ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site runs on WordPress or not.
Note: If you cannot locate “wp-content” in the source code, it does not mean that you are not looking at a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if a site runs on the WordPress software, as we will soon see.
As the focus of this post 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 web site is built with WordPress other than viewing the source code.
Simply Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the most logical thing to do, some website developers, for whatever reason, may build clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you employed 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 website runs on WordPress.
That was simple, 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 the net late at night and you need to know if the site was built using WordPress?
Check Below Footer
If the site uses a WP theme and the website them template has not been customized, you can typically find a “Powered by WordPress” message showing at the bottom of the site …
(Powered by WordPress)
If these simple methods haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of telling whether a website runs on WordPress or not …
Online Tools That Can Tell You If A Website Is Built With WordPress
Here are a couple of online applications that can tell you if the website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WP – WordPress Checker
(IsItWP.com)
Is It WP? is a free online tool that can tell you very quickly if a website uses WordPress or not.
Using this tool is very simple. Just add the address of the website into the URL field and click the button.
The tool will then go through the URL pages and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, it will even tell you the version of WordPress the site is currently using …
If the web site has not been built using WordPress, you will get a message similar to the one shown 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.com)
If you browse the net using either Firefox or Chrome and want to be able to know if the sites that you are visiting use WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a great extension to add to your browser.
Wappalyzer identifies 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 easy to install and very easy to use.
Once you have installed Wappalyzer, icons will show up in your browser menu, in the URL field allowing you to see which software is being used by all the sites you are visiting …
If you see the WordPress icon displayed on the browser menu (as shown in the screen shot above), then the site uses WordPress.
(This is a WordPress site!)
To learn more, 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:
We hope that you have found this information 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)