Once upon a time and not so long ago, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell the difference.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and revolutionized web publishing. Now, it’s becoming harder to tell if the site is running on a “blogging” content management system (CMS) like WordPress, or if it’s been developed using a web development software tooltool. 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 hood”.
(Can You Tell Which Application Websites Are Built With?)
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, in terms of the things that many website owners are mostly concerned with, such as 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 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” built.
If you chose website “B”, then you need to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can provide you with an eye-catching website that could turn out to be far less expensive to build than websites built using traditional 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 flexible and powerful CMS 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 newbie with no knowledge of web coding to use and manage, and offers an array of helpful add-ons that make your web site more effective when it comes to getting your content published, promoting visitor interaction, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s functionality, scalability, 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 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 to a smaller budget if required?
Is Your Website Built With WordPress?
Do you need to know if a website was built using WordPress? Maybe you’ve come here because you’ve read about all of the great benefits of using WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site runs on 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 running on WordPress:
Search The Page’s Source Code For TellTale 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 an obvious telltale footprint …
(Viewing your web page source code in Firefox)
Let’s say that you are browsing online and you come across a site that you like, and you would like to know if the site runs on WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
After the source code of the site loads on your screen, search for the words “wp-content” either by visually scanning the code …
Or using the browser’s “Find” function …
(Use Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site is powered by WordPress or not.
Note: If you do not locate “wp-content” within the page source code, it does not mean that it’s not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if the site runs on the WordPress software, as we will soon be discussing.
As the point of this post is to try and help non-technical users, however, we have listed below a number of easy methods you can use to check if your web site is built using WordPress other than searching through the source code.
Ask Your Web Developer
While this may seem like the logical thing to do, many web development companies, for whatever reason, will build their 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 was used to build it, just ask your developer or whoever built your web site if the web site runs on 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 want to know if it was built using WordPress?
Check Below The Footer
If the site uses a WP theme and the web them template has not been customized, you will typically find a “Powered by WordPress” notice showing at the bottom of the site …
(Powered by WordPress – site footer section)
If these simple methods aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of telling whether a website uses WordPress or not …
Tools That Tell You If A Website Was Built Using WordPress
Here are a some tools that will tell you if a particular website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
IsItWP.com
(Is It WordPress?)
Is It WP is a free online tool that lets you quickly check if a site runs on WordPress or not.
Using this site is super easy. Just add the URL of the site into the URL field and click the button next to it.
It will search through the URL and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, which version of WordPress the site is currently using …
If the web site is not a WP-powered site, you will see 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 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
(Wappalyzer.com)
If you use a browser such as Firefox or Chrome and want to be able to instantly tell if the sites that you are visiting are WordPress sites, then Wappalyzer is a useful add-on to add to your web browser.
Wappalyzer helps you identify what 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.”
Wappalyzer is also a very easy to install and very easy to use web browser add-on.
After installing the Wappalyzer extension on your browser, icons will appear in your browser identifying which technologies are being used by the sites you visit …
If you see the WordPress icon displayed on the browser menu (as the above screenshot shows), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(It’s a WordPress site!)
Visit the Wappalyzer extension website 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 information useful.
***
"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