It used to be that blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell them apart.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and everything changed. Now, it’s becoming increasingly harder to tell if the website is being powered by a “blogging” CMS software application like the WordPress CMS, or if it’s been built 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”.
(Can You Tell Which Application Websites Are Built With?)
For website owners, understanding the difference between a CMS application like WordPress and other website-building software is huge, not so much in terms of the technical differences, but more importantly, regarding the areas that matter to most website owners, like web development costs, ease of use, ability to maintain the site up-to-date, managing web content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of the following 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 site, but at a cost that is significantly less than the cost of getting option ”A” built.
If you chose website ”B” above, then you need to know more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can give you a stunning website that will probably end up costing you far less to build than websites built using a website development application … and how to tell the two apart!
WordPress is the world’s preferred online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful content management software that is ideally suited for most business needs.
Whether your reason for having a website or blog is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a beginner with no programming skills to use and manage, and offers an array of helpful functions that make your web presence extremely effective in terms of getting your content published, 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 currently 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 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?
Is My Web Site WordPress?
Do you need to know if your website uses WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to this page because you’ve heard or read about all of the great benefits and advantages of using 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 running on WordPress:
Check Your Page’s Source Code For Obvious TellTale A WordPress Footprint
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 an obvious tell-tale footprint …
(How to view your page source code using the Firefox browser)
Suppose that you are browsing online and you visit a web site that you like, and you would like to know if the site was built with WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
Once the source code of the site loads on your screen, search for the words “wp-content” either by visually scanning the code …
Or use 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 do not find “wp-content” within the source code, it does not mean that you are not looking at a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if a site was built using the WordPress software, as we will soon see.
As the point of this post is to try and help non “techies”, however, below you will find a number of easier methods you can use to check if your website is built using WordPress other than looking at the source code.
Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the most logical thing to do, some website developers, for whatever reason, will build 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 site if your website runs on WordPress.
That was easy, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t get in touch with the person who looks after your site, or what if you’ve come across a site that you really like while surfing online and you need to know if it was built with WordPress?
Powered By WordPress
If the site uses a WP theme and the template has not been edited, you can typically find a “Powered by WordPress” notice showing in the footer section …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress)
If the simple methods above haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites …
Online Tools That Tell You If A Website Was Built Using 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 …
Is It WP – WordPress Checker
(Is It WordPress?)
IsItWP.com is a free tool that can check very quickly if a site was built using WordPress or not.
Using this site is really quite simple. Just type in or paste in the URL of the website into the search field and click the button next to it.
The tool will go and search through the URL 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 does not run on 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 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 – Extension For Firefox / Chrome Browser)
If you use a web browser such as Firefox or Chrome and would like to be able to see if the sites that you are visiting are WordPress-powered, then Wappalyzer is a useful add-on to install on your web browser.
Wappalyzer identifies what type of software is installed in 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 an easy to install and very easy to use browser extension.
Once you have installed Wappalyzer on your web browser, icons will display in your web browser, in the URL field allowing you to see which software is installed on the sites you are visiting …
If you see the WordPress icon on the browser menu (as the above screen shot shows), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(This is a WordPress site!)
Go here to learn more 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 that you have found the above information useful.
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"I am beyond impressed with what you have put together. I can tell that you put a ton of hard work into building what you have. You have the absolute best content on WordPress I have ever seen!" - Robert T. Jillie