When the “blogging revolution” first began, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell the difference.
Then WordPress came along and everything changed. Now, it’s becoming more difficult to tell if the website was built with a “blogging” CMS application like WordPress, or if it’s been created using a web editor tool. 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.
(Can You Tell Which Application A Website Has Been Built With?)
For many website owners, understanding the difference between a CMS application like WordPress and other website-building tools is huge, not so much in terms of the technical differences, but more importantly, regarding the things that the majority of website owners care most about, 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 fairly expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking website, but for a tiny fraction of the cost of getting option ”A” above built.
If you chose 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 will usually cost far less to build than websites built using website-building software … and how to tell the two types apart!
WordPress is the world’s most used online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a budget-friendly content management application that is ideally suited for most types of business applications.
Whether your reason for having a web site is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a novice with no web design skills to use and manage, yet it offers a range of helpful tools 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 site is also driven by WordPress.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are considering getting one 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 quite inexpensively?
How Can I Tell If A Website Was Built With WordPress?
Do you need to know if your website uses WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to this page because you’ve heard about WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site was built using the WordPress software, 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 some simple methods you can use to quickly tell if a web site is running on WordPress:
View The 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 web page source code using the Firefox web browser)
Let’s say that you are browsing online and you visit a site that you like, and you would like to know if the site uses WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
Once the source code of the page loads on your screen, you can search for words like “wp-content” either by scanning the code with your eyes …
Or use your browser’s “Find” function …
(Using Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site is powered by WordPress or not.
Note: If you do not find “wp-content” in the source code, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the website is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if the site runs on WordPress, as we will soon see.
As the point of this post is to help non “techies”, however, below you will find a number of easy methods you can use to check if your web site is built with WordPress other than viewing the source code.
Just Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the most 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 employed the services of a website developer or got somebody else to build your website, just ask your developer or whoever built your website if it runs on WordPress.
That was easy, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t get in touch with the person who looks after your website, 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 The Footer
If the site uses a WordPress theme where the theme templates have not been customized, you can often find a “Powered by WordPress” message displayed in the footer section …
(Powered by WordPress)
If these simple methods aren’t helpful to 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 sites that can tell you if the website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WP – WordPress Site Checker
(IsItWP.com)
Is It WP? is a free online tool that lets you easily check if a website was built with WordPress or not.
Using this site is really simple. Just type the address of the website into the search field and click the button.
The tool will search through the URL 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 web site has not been built using WordPress, you will get a message similar to 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 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)
If you use a web browser such as Firefox or Chrome and want to be able to see if the sites that you are visiting have been built using WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a great add-on to install on your web browser.
Wappalyzer tells you what type of software is installed in 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 a very easy to install and very easy to use web browser add-on.
After installing the Wappalyzer add-on on your browser, icons will display in your web browser allowing you to see which software is being used by the sites you visit …
If the WordPress icon displays on the browser menu (as the above screen shot shows), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(This website has been built with WordPress!)
Visit the Wappalyzer extension site 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:
We hope that you have found this information 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