It used to be that blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell them apart.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and everything changed. Now, it’s getting almost impossible to tell if the site was built with “blogging” software like the WP CMS, or if it’s been created using web-building software. 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”.
(It’s Getting Harder To Tell Websites Built With Web Development Tools Vs ‘Blogging’ Software!)
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 matter to most website owners, such as web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep 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 much cheaper cost than the cost of getting option ”A”.
If you picked web site “B”, then you need to learn more about WordPress, why WordPress can be used to create an expensive-looking website that could end up costing you far less to build than websites which are built with a website building application … and how to tell these apart!
WordPress is the world’s most used online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a flexible and powerful CMS application that is ideally suited for local businesses.
Whether your reason for having an online presence is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a novice with no technical knowledge to use, yet it offers many helpful functions that make your website extremely 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 being powered by WordPress, chances are that if you already own a website, your site is also driven by the WordPress 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 something similarly built for your business quite inexpensively?
How Can I Check If A Site Was Built Using WordPress?
Do you need to know if your website uses WordPress? Maybe you’ve come here because you’ve heard about WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site runs on the WordPress software, or some other CMS 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 a website is running on WordPress:
Look At The 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 that the site was built with WordPress …
(Viewing the page source code in Firefox)
Let’s say that you are browsing online and you visit a web site 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 site loads on your screen, search for words like “wp-content” either by visually scanning the code …
Or using the browser’s “Find” function …
(Using Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site runs on WordPress or not.
Note: If you cannot find “wp-content” within the page source code, it does not mean that this is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if the site was built using WordPress, as we will soon be discussing.
As the point of this post is to help non “techies”, however, we have listed below a number of easy ways to check if your site is built with WordPress other than looking through the source code.
Just Ask Your Web Developer
While this may seem like the obvious thing to do, a number of website developers, for whatever reason, will build their clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you hired a website developer or got somebody else to build your website, just ask your developer or whoever built your site if your website has been built with 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 browsing the net late at night and you would like to know if it was built with WordPress?
Powered By WordPress
If the site uses a WP theme where the site theme templates have not been modified, you will typically see a “Proudly powered by WordPress” notice shown below the footer section …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress)
If the simple methods above aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites …
Sites That Tell You If A Website Uses WordPress
Here are a some sites that will tell you if the website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
IsItWP.com – WP Site Checker
(IsItWP.com)
Is It WP? is a free online tool that can tell you if a website runs on WordPress or not.
Using this site is really simple. Just type the URL of the site into the search field and click the button.
The tool will then go through the URL and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, it will even tell you which version of WordPress the site is currently using …
If the web site is not a WordPress-powered 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 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 – Web Browser Add-On (Firefox / Chrome)
(Wappalyzer – Extension For Firefox & Chrome Browser)
If you use a web browser such as Firefox or Google Chrome and would like to be able to tell if the sites that you are visiting are WP sites, then Wappalyzer is a useful extension to install on your browser.
Wappalyzer identifies what 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 browser add-on.
Once you have installed Wappalyzer, icons will display in your web browser allowing you to see which technologies are installed on all the sites you visit …
If the WordPress icon displays on the browser menu (as the above screen shot shows), then the site uses WordPress.
(A WordPress site!)
To learn more and download Wappalyzer 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, go here:
I hope that you have found this information useful.
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