It used to be that blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell the difference between the two.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and revolutionized web publishing. Now, it’s getting more and more difficult to tell if the website is being powered by a “blogging” content management system (CMS) like the WP platform, or if it’s been built using website-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 many website owners, understanding the difference between a Content Management System tool like WordPress and other website-building software is huge, not so much in terms of the technical differences, but more importantly, regarding the things that matter to most website owners, such as web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep the site up-to-date, managing web content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of the following options would you choose?
A) An eye-catching, professional-looking website that is actually expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking site, but at a much cheaper price than the cost of getting option ”A”.
If you went with web site “B”, then you need to know more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can provide you with a stunning website that will usually turn out to be much less expensive to build than websites built using traditional web editing applications … and how to tell these two types apart!
WordPress is the world’s preferred online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful and easy-to-use CMS application suitable for most business needs.
Whether your reason for having an online presence is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a newbie with no technical knowledge to use and manage, and offers many helpful tools that make your web presence extremely effective in terms of getting your content published and indexed by search engines, promoting visitor interaction, generating business leads and sales, 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 WordPress.
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 a similar site built for your business for a much smaller cost?
Is Your Website Built With WordPress?
Do you need to know if your website uses WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to our site because you’ve heard or read wonderful things about all of the great benefits and advantages of using WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site runs on 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 methods you can use to quickly tell if sites are built using WordPress:
Look At Your Page Source Code
If you know how to check 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 …
(View your page source code in Firefox)
Suppose that you are surfing the web and you visit a website that you like, and you wonder if the site runs on WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
In the source code, search for words like “wp-content” either manually …
Or using the browser’s “Find” function …
(Use Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site was built with WordPress or not.
Note: If you are unable to find “wp-content” in the source code, it doesn’t mean that the site you’re looking at is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if a site runs on WordPress, as we will soon see.
As the point of this article is to help non-technical users, however, below you will find a number of easier methods you can use to check if your website is built using WordPress other than viewing the source code.
Simply Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the obvious thing to do, a number of 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 developer or whoever built your site if it runs on WordPress.
That was simple, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t reach your website developer, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while browsing online and need to know if the site was built using WordPress?
Check Below The Footer
If the site uses a WordPress theme where the web them template has not been edited, you will often find a “Proudly powered by WordPress” notice showing at the bottom of the site …
(Powered by WordPress – footer)
If the methods above haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites …
Sites That Can Tell You If A Website Has Been Built With WordPress
Here are a couple of sites that can tell you if your website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WordPress? – WordPress Checker
(IsItWP.com)
Is It WP? is a free online tool that can tell you if a site runs on WordPress or not.
Using this tool is really simple. Just type the URL of the website into the URL field and click the button next to it.
The tool will search through the page code on 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 site was not built using WordPress, you will get a message like the one shown in the screen shot 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)
If you browse the net using either Firefox or Google Chrome and want to be able to tell if the sites that you are visiting are WP sites, then Wappalyzer is a very useful extension to install on your browser.
Wappalyzer tells you 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.
Once you have installed Wappalyzer on your browser, icons will appear in your web browser menu allowing you to see which software is installed on the sites you are visiting …
If the WordPress icon shows up on the browser menu (as shown in the screenshot above), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(This is a WordPress site!)
To visit the website, 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, 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, visit the site below:
I hope you have found the above information useful.
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now