Once upon a time and not so long ago, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell the difference between the two.
Then WordPress came along and changed everything. Now, it’s getting more difficult to tell if a website is running on a “blogging” CMS tool like WordPress, or if it’s been developed 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”.
(Can You Tell Which Application Websites Are Built With?)
For website owners, understanding the difference between a Content Management System 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 the majority of website owners are deeply concerned with, like web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep the website up-to-date, managing content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of the following options would you choose?
A) An eye-catching, professional-looking website that turns out to be fairly expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking site, but at a tiny fraction of the cost of getting site “A” above.
If you decided to go with web site ”B” above, then you need to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can be used to create a stunning website that could turn out to be much less expensive to build than websites which are built using a web development application … and how to tell these apart!
WordPress is the world’s leading online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a budget-friendly content management tool suitable for most business needs.
Whether your reason for having a web site is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a beginner with no technical knowledge to use, yet it offers a range of helpful functions that make your web presence extremely effective in terms of getting your content published, promoting visitor interaction, 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 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 a similar site built quite inexpensively?
How Can I Check If A Site Was Built Using WordPress?
Do you need to know if a website was built using WordPress? Maybe you’ve come here because you’ve heard or read about WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site runs on WordPress, or some other CMS.
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 sites are built with WordPress:
View The Page 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 a tell-tale footprint …
(Viewing the page source code in Firefox)
Suppose that you are browsing online 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.
In the page’s source code, search for “wp-content” either by visually scanning the code …
Or use your browser’s “Find” function …
(Using Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site runs on WordPress or not.
Note: If you are unable to find “wp-content” in the page source code, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if a site was built using the WordPress software, as we will soon be discussing.
As the focus of this article is to help non “techies”, however, we have listed below a number of easy ways to check if your website is powered by WordPress other than scanning the source code.
Just Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the most logical thing to do, many web developers, for whatever reason, will build their clients a website and not tell them it’s been built with WordPress.
If you used 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 has been built using WordPress.
That was easy, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t reach the person who built your site, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while surfing online and you would like to know if the site was built using WordPress?
Check Below Footer
If the site uses a WP theme where the web theme templates have not been edited, you can typically find a “Proudly powered by WordPress” notice shown in the footer section …
(Powered by WordPress)
If these simple methods haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites …
Tools That Can Tell You If A Website Runs On 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?
(Is It WordPress? – WordPress Website Checker)
Is It WordPress? is a free online tool that can tell you if a site uses WordPress or not.
Using this site is very simple. Just type in or paste in the address of the website into the URL field and click the button.
The tool will search through the URL pages and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, which version of WordPress it is currently using …
If the site does not run on WordPress, you will see a message like 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.com
(Wappalyzer.com)
If you use either the Firefox or Google Chrome web browser and want to be able to tell if the sites that you are visiting are WordPress-driven, then Wappalyzer is a great extension for your web 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.”
Wappalyzer is also a very easy to install and easy to use web browser extension.
After installing Wappalyzer, icons will show up in your web browser menu allowing you to see which technologies are being used by the sites you visit …
If the WordPress icon displays on your browser menu (as shown in the screenshot above), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(It’s a WordPress site!)
Visit the Wappalyzer add-on 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, go here:
I hope that you have found the above 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)