Once upon a time and not so long ago, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell them apart.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and changed everything. Now, it’s getting almost impossible to tell if the website was built with a “blogging” CMS application like the WordPress platform, or if it’s been created using web-building software. 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 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 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 maintain 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 is significantly less than the cost of getting option ”A”.
If you selected web site ”B” above, then you need to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can be used to create an eye-catching website that could end up costing you far less to build than websites built using website-building software … and how to tell the two apart!
WordPress is the world’s most used online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a flexible and powerful CMS platform that is ideally suited for local businesses.
Whether your reason for having a web site is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a novice with no knowledge of HTML to use and manage, and offers a range of helpful add-ons that make your web presence more effective when it comes to getting your content published, promoting visitor engagement, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s capabilities, 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 WordPress CMS.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are thinking of getting one 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 for your business quite inexpensively?
How Can I Tell If My Website Was Built With WordPress?
Do you need to know if your website is powered by 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 WordPress, or some other CMS 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 a number of methods you can use to quickly tell if a website is powered by WordPress:
Look At Your 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 tell-tale footprints that the site was built using WordPress …
(Viewing your page source code using Firefox)
Let’s say that you are browsing online and you visit a web 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, you can search for the words “wp-content” either by visually scanning the code …
Or using the browser’s “Find” function …
(Using Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site is powered by WordPress or not.
Note: If you do not see the words “wp-content” in the page source code, it doesn’t mean that this is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if the site runs on the WordPress software, as we will soon see.
As the focus of this article is to help non “techies”, however, we have listed below a number of easier ways to check if your website is built using WordPress other than looking at the source code.
Simply Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the logical thing to do, a number of website development companies, for whatever reason, will build their clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you used a website developer or got somebody else to build your website, just ask your web developer or whoever built your web site if your site was built with WordPress.
That was easy, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t reach your webmaster, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while surfing the net late at night and you want to know if the site was built with WordPress?
Check Below The Footer
If the site uses a WordPress theme and the site templates have not been modified, you will typically see a “Powered by WordPress” message shown at the bottom of the site …
(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 Has Been Built With WordPress
Here are a some online applications that will tell you if the website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
IsItWP.com
(Is It WP)
Is It WordPress? is a free tool that can check if a site uses WordPress or not.
Using this site is super easy. Just type in or paste in the URL of the site into the URL field and click the button.
The tool will then go and search through the URL files and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, which version of WordPress it is currently using …
If the site is not a WP web site or blog, you will see a message similar to the one shown 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 – Extension For Firefox & Chrome Web Browser
(Wappalyzer.com)
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 powered by WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a great add-on to install on your web browser.
Wappalyzer helps you identify what 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.”
Wappalyzer is also very easy to install.
Once you have installed Wappalyzer, icons will show up in your browser menu identifying which technologies are installed on all the sites you are visiting …
If the WordPress icon shows up on the browser menu (as shown in the screenshot above), then the site uses WordPress.
(This is a WordPress site!)
To learn more, 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, go here:
I hope that you have found the above tutorial useful.
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