Once upon a time and not so long ago, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell the difference between the two.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and everything changed. Now, it’s getting harder to tell if a website is running on a “blogging” content management system (CMS) like the WP CMS, or if it’s been built using a website building software application. 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 type of web application is actually powering the site.
(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 the majority of website owners care about, like 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 is expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking website, but at a fraction of the cost of getting option ”A”.
If you decided to go with web site “B”, then you need to know more about WordPress, why WordPress can give you a beautiful website that could turn out to be far less expensive to build than websites built using other website editing applications … and how to tell these apart!
WordPress is the world’s leading online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful and easy-to-use content management system that is ideally suited for all types of 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 programming skills to use, and offers a range of helpful extensions that make your website highly effective in terms of getting your content published, promoting visitor interaction, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s capabilities, etc.
With almost one in every five websites around the world being powered by WordPress, chances are that if you already own a website, yours is also a WordPress site.
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 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 very little cost?
Does My Web Site Run On WordPress?
Do you need to know if a website uses WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to our site because you’ve read wonderful things 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 ways to tell if sites are built with WordPress:
Look At Your Source Code
If you know how to view 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 …
(View your web page source code in 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 was built 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 use the browser’s “Find” function …
(Using the Firefox browser ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site is powered by WordPress or not.
Note: If you do not find “wp-content” within the page source code, it does not necessarily mean that the website is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if a site was built using the WordPress software, as we will soon be discussing.
As the focus of this post is to help non-technical users, 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 looking through the source code.
Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the most obvious thing to do, many website development agencies, for whatever reason, will build clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you used the services of a website developer or got somebody else to build you a website, just ask your web developer or whoever built your web site if your website was built using WordPress.
That was simple, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t get in touch with your website developer, or what if you’ve come across a site that you really like while surfing the net late at night and you want to know if the site was built using WordPress?
Check Below Footer
If the site uses a WordPress theme where the website templates have not been edited, you can often find a “Powered by WordPress” message showing at the bottom of the site …
(Powered by WordPress)
If these simple methods aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites …
Online Tools 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 …
IsItWP.com
(Is It WordPress? – WP Checking Tool)
Is It WP is a free online tool that lets you quickly check if a website was built using WordPress or not.
Using this site is really quite simple. Just enter the URL of the site into the search field and click the button.
The tool will then go and search through the URL code and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, it will even tell you which version of WordPress it is currently using …
If the site is not powered by WordPress, you will get a message like 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 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 – Browser Extension (Firefox / Chrome)
(Wappalyzer – Extension For Firefox / Chrome Web Browser)
If you use either the Firefox or Chrome web browser and would like to be able to instantly tell if the sites that you are visiting have been built using WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a great add-on for your web browser.
Wappalyzer tells you 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 and easy to use.
After installing Wappalyzer, icons will appear in your browser menu identifying which technologies are being used by all the sites you are visiting …
If you see the WordPress icon showing on your browser menu (as the above screenshot shows), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(This is a WordPress site!)
Go here to download and install Wappalyzer:
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 you have found this information useful.
***
"I was absolutely amazed at the scope and breadth of these tutorials! The most in-depth training I have ever received on any subject!" - Myke O'Neill, DailyGreenPost.com