Once upon a time and not so long ago, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell the difference.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and changed everything. Now, it’s getting almost impossible to tell blogs and websites apart. 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 surface.
(Can You Tell Which Application Your Website Is Powered By?)
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, regarding the things that matter to most website owners, like web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep the site up-to-date, managing web 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 website, but at a much cheaper cost than the cost of getting site ”A”.
If you chose website ”B” above, then you need to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can be used to create a beautiful website that could turn out to be much less expensive to build than websites built using a web development application … and how to tell the two apart!
WordPress is the world’s preferred online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful and easy-to-use content management system suitable 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 and manage, yet it offers a range of helpful add-ons that make your web site extremely effective in terms of 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, 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 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 very little cost?
Tell-Tale Signs It’s A WordPress Web Site And WordPress-Checking Tools
Do you need to know if your website is powered by WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to our site because you’ve read about all of the great benefits of using WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site was built using WordPress, or some other CMS.
Here are some simple ways to tell if a web site has been built with 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 an obvious tell-tale footprint …
(Viewing your page source code using the Firefox web browser)
Let’s say that you are browsing online and you visit a web 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.
After the source code of the page loads on your screen, you can search for “wp-content” either by visually scanning the code …
Or use the browser’s “Find” function …
(Using Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site is powered by WordPress or not.
Note: If you cannot locate the words “wp-content” in the page source code, it does not mean that it’s not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if the site runs on the WordPress software, as we will soon be discussing.
As the point of this post is to try and help non-technical users, however, we have listed below a number of easy ways to check if your website is built using WordPress other than searching through the source code.
Just Ask Your Website Developer
While this may seem like the obvious thing to do, many web developers, for whatever reason, may build clients a website and not tell them it’s been built with WordPress.
If you used a website developer or got somebody else to build you a website, just ask your web developer or whoever built your site if the site has been built using WordPress.
That was simple, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t reach your webmaster, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while surfing online and you would like to know if it was built with WordPress?
Powered By WordPress
If the site uses a WordPress theme and the them template has not been customized, you can typically find a “Powered by WordPress” notice shown below the footer section …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress – footer section)
If the methods above haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of telling whether a website was built with WordPress or not …
Online Tools That Tell You If A Website Was Built Using WordPress
Here are a some sites that can tell you if the website uses WordPress or not …
Is It WordPress? – WP Checker
(IsItWP.com – WP Website Checking Tool)
Is It WordPress? is a free tool that can check if a site was built using WordPress or not.
Using this tool is really simple. Just add the URL of the website into the URL 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, which version of WordPress the site is currently using …
If the web site is not powered by WordPress, you will see a message like the one below …
To use this tool, go here: Is It WordPress?
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
(Wappalyzer)
If you use either the Firefox or Google Chrome web browser 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 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 a very easy to install and very easy to use web browser extension.
Once you have installed Wappalyzer, icons will show up in your browser menu identifying which technologies are being used by all the sites you visit …
If the WordPress icon shows up on the browser menu (as the above screen shot shows), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(It’s a WordPress site!)
Visit the Wappalyzer web browser extension website here: Wappalyzer
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:
We hope that you have found the above tutorial useful.
***
"I am beyond impressed with what you have put together. I can tell that you put a ton of hard work into building what you have. You have the absolute best content on WordPress I have ever seen!" - Robert T. Jillie
Disclaimer: WordPress and its related trademarks are registered trademarks of Automattic, Inc. This site is not affiliated with nor sponsored by Automattic, Inc. or the WordPress Open Source project. This site and the products and services offered on this site are not affiliated, associated, sponsored, or endorsed by WordPress, nor have they been certified, tested, or reviewed by WordPress. The owner, contributors and/or advertisers may derive financial benefit from sales of items advertised, linked to, or reviewed on this site.
***
Did you find this tutorial useful? Please feel free to share this post with anyone thinking of starting a business online using the social buttons below.