It used to be that blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell the difference.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and changed everything. Now, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to tell the difference between what tools are being used to build the two. 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 Content Management System application 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, like web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep the website up-to-date, managing content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of these 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 website, but at a much cheaper cost than the cost of getting option “A” above.
If you went with option “B”, then you need to know more about WordPress, why WordPress can give you an eye-catching website that will usually turn out to be far less expensive to build than websites built using a website building tool … 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 budget-friendly CMS suitable for local businesses.
Whether your reason for having a digital presence is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a novice with no programming skills to use, yet it offers a range of helpful add-ons that make your website highly effective in terms of getting your content published and indexed by search engines, promoting visitor engagement, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s functionality, 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, your site is also driven by the WP CMS.
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 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 to a smaller budget if required?
How Can I Tell If My Site Was Built With WordPress?
Do you need to know if your website is powered by WordPress? Maybe you’ve come here because you’ve read about all of the great benefits and advantages of using 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 a number of methods you can use to quickly tell if sites are powered WordPress:
Check Your Page’s Source Code For Obvious Tell-Tale WordPress Footprints
If you know how to search 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 telltale footprint that the site was built with WordPress …
(How to view your web page source code using the Firefox web browser)
Suppose that you are surfing the web and you visit a site that you like, and you’re wondering 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 the words “wp-content” either manually …
Or using your browser’s “Find” function …
(Use the Firefox browser ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site runs on WordPress or not.
Note: If you are unable to locate “wp-content” within the page source code, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the site you’re looking at is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if the site runs on the WordPress software, as we will soon discuss.
As the focus of this article is to help non-technical users, however, we have listed below a number of easier ways to check if your web site is built with WordPress other than scanning the source code.
Just Ask Your Web Developer
While this may seem like the most obvious thing to do, a number of website developers, for whatever reason, will build clients a website and not tell them it’s been built with WordPress.
If you have an existing web site and you can’t tell what CMS application is driving it, just ask your web developer or whoever built your site if your web site has been built with WordPress.
That was easy, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t get in touch with your website developer, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while browsing the net late at night and you really want to know if the site was built with WordPress?
Powered By WordPress
If the site uses a WordPress theme where the site theme templates have not been edited, you can often find a “Proudly powered by WordPress” notice displayed in the footer section …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress)
If these simple methods haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites …
Online Tools That Tell You If A Website Is Built With WordPress
Here are a some tools that can tell you if a website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
IsItWP.com – WP Site Checker
(Is It WP)
Is It WP? is a free tool that can check if a site runs on WordPress or not.
Using this site is really easy. Just paste the address of the site into the URL field and click the button next to it.
The tool will search through the site code and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, it will even tell you the version of WordPress the site is currently using …
If the site is not powered by WordPress, you will get a message similar to the one 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 – Extension For Firefox / Chrome Browser
(Wappalyzer)
If you use a web browser like Firefox or Google Chrome and would like to be able to see if the sites that you are visiting are powered by WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a useful add-on for your web browser.
Wappalyzer helps you identify what type of software is installed on 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 a very easy extension to install.
After installing Wappalyzer on your browser, icons will show up in your web browser, next to the site URL identifying which software is installed on all the sites you visit …
If you see the WordPress icon displayed on your browser menu (as shown in the screen shot above), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(It’s a WordPress site!)
Go here to visit the Wappalyzer web browser extension site:
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 you have found the above the information in this tutorial useful.
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"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum