It used to be that blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell the two apart.
Then WordPress came along and everything changed. Now, it’s becoming more difficult to tell blogs and websites apart. 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’s under the surface.
(It’s Getting Harder To Tell Websites Built With Web Development Tools Vs ‘Blogging’ Software!)
For 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, regarding 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 web content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of the options below would you choose?
A) An eye-catching, professional-looking website that turns out to be quite 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 option ”A” built.
If you went with site “B”, then you need to know more about WordPress, why WordPress can be used to create a stunning website that could end up costing you far less to build than websites built using website-building software … and how to tell these two types apart!
WordPress is the world’s most used online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful and easy-to-use CMS suitable for ”non-techy” website owners.
Whether your reason for having a website or blog is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a newbie with no programming skills to use and manage, yet it offers many helpful tools 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, 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 could probably be powered by WordPress too.
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 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 Website Was Built With WordPress?
Do you need to know if a website is powered by WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to our site because you’ve heard or read about WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site was built using WordPress, 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 ways to tell if sites are running on WordPress:
View Your 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 an obvious telltale footprint that the site was built using WordPress …
(Viewing the page source code in Firefox)
Let’s say that you are surfing the web and you visit a website that you like, and you wonder if the site uses WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
Once the source code of the site loads on your screen, you can 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 tell you if the site was built using WordPress or not.
Note: If you do not see “wp-content” within the source code, it does not necessarily mean that it’s not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if a site runs on the WordPress software, as we will soon see.
As the focus of this article is to help non-technical users, however, we have listed below a number of easy methods you can use to check if your website is built with WordPress other than searching the source code.
Simply Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the logical 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 have an existing web site and you’re not sure what CMS application is driving it, just ask your web developer or whoever built your website if the website runs on WordPress.
That was simple, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t reach the person who built your website, or what if you’ve come across a site that you really like while browsing online and you want to know if it was built using WordPress?
Powered By WordPress
If the site uses a WordPress theme where the website templates have not been modified, you can typically see a “Proudly powered by WordPress” notice shown in the footer section of the site …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress – site footer)
If these simple methods aren’t helpful to 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 Was Built Using WordPress
Here are a some online applications that will tell you if a website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WordPress? – WordPress Checker
(Is It WordPress? – WP Checker)
Is It WordPress? is a free online tool that can tell you if a website runs on WordPress or not.
Using this tool is very easy. Just enter the address of the site into the URL field and click the button next to it.
It will go and search 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-powered web site or blog, you will get a message like the one below …
To use this tool, 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 – Browser Extension (Firefox / Chrome)
(Wappalyzer – Add-On For Firefox / Chrome Web Browser)
If you use either the Firefox or Google Chrome browser and want to be able to instantly tell if the sites that you are visiting are WordPress sites, then Wappalyzer is a great add-on to add to your web browser.
Wappalyzer tells you what type of 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.”
It’s also very easy to install and very easy to use.
Once you have installed Wappalyzer, icons will appear in your web browser menu allowing you to see which software is being used by the sites you are visiting …
If you see the WordPress icon displayed on your browser menu (as the above screen shot shows), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(A WordPress site!)
Visit the Wappalyzer extension website 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 you have found this tutorial useful.
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"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