When the “blogging revolution” first began, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell the difference.
Then WordPress came along and changed everything. Now, it’s becoming harder 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.
(It’s Getting Harder To Tell Websites Built With Web Development Tools Vs ‘Blogging’ Software!)
For many website owners, understanding the difference between a CMS tool like WordPress and other website-building software is huge, not so much in terms of the technical differences, but more importantly, in terms of the things that many website owners are concerned with, 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 option ”A” built.
If you decided to go with option “B”, then you need to know more about WordPress, why WordPress can provide you with an expensive-looking website that could turn out to be far less expensive to build than websites which are built using a website development tool … and how to tell these two types apart!
WordPress is the world’s leading online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a budget-friendly CMS platform suitable for small, medium and even large businesses.
Whether your reason for having a website is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a beginner with no knowledge of HTML to use, and offers many helpful features that make your website more effective when it comes to getting your content published and indexed by search engines, promoting visitor engagement, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s capabilities, 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 website is probably 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 be able 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 your business for very little cost?
Was My Website Built Using WordPress? How To Tell
Do you need to know if your website was built using WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to this page because you’ve heard wonderful things about all of the great benefits of using WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site was built using 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 some simple methods you can use to quickly tell if sites are running on WordPress:
Search The Source Code For A TellTale WordPress Footprint
If you know how to bring up 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 telltale footprints that the site was built with WordPress …
(View the page source code in Firefox)
Let’s say that you are surfing the web and you come across a site 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 page’s source code, search for “wp-content” either manually …
Or using your browser’s “Find” function …
(Using the Firefox web browser ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site was built with WordPress or not.
Note: If you do not find “wp-content” within the source code, it doesn’t mean that the website is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if a site was built using WordPress, as we will soon discuss.
As the focus of this post is to try and help non “techies”, however, below you will find a number of easy methods you can use to check if your site is powered by WordPress other than scanning the source code.
Ask Your Website Developer
While this may seem like the obvious thing to do, some website developers, for whatever reason, will build their clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you paid a website developer or got somebody else to build your website, just ask your webmaster or whoever built your website if your website has been built using WordPress.
That was easy, 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 surfing the net and you would like to know if the site was built using WordPress?
Check Below The Footer
If the site uses a WordPress theme and the them template has not been edited, you will typically find a “Powered by WordPress” notice showing at the bottom of the site …
(Powered by WordPress – footer section)
If the simple methods above aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of telling whether a website uses WordPress or not …
Online Tools That Can Tell You If A Website Uses WordPress
Here are a some sites that can tell you if your website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WordPress? – WordPress Website Checking Tool
(Is It WP)
Is It WordPress? is a free tool that can check very quickly if a site was built using WordPress or not.
Using this site is very simple. Just paste the URL of the website into the search field and click the button next to it.
The tool will search through the URL files 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 is not a WordPress web site or blog, you will get a message like the one shown in the screenshot 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 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 – Web Browser Extension (Firefox / Chrome)
(Wappalyzer)
If you browse the net using either Firefox or Chrome and want to be able to know if the sites that you are visiting are WP sites, then Wappalyzer is a great add-on for your web browser.
Wappalyzer helps you identify what type of 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 easy to install.
After installing Wappalyzer on your browser, icons will display in your browser menu, next to the site URL allowing you to see which software is installed on all the sites you are visiting …
If you see the WordPress icon on the browser menu (as the above screenshot shows), then the site uses WordPress.
(This is a WordPress site!)
Go here to visit the website:
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 tutorial useful.
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"Learning WordPress has been a huge stumbling block for me. I've been looking for something that covers absolutely everything but doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Thank you so much ... you have just provided me with what I have been looking for! Truly appreciated!" - Tanya