It used to be that blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell the difference between the two.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and changed everything. Now, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to tell if the website is being powered by a “blogging” CMS application like the WP CMS, or if it’s been developed using a traditional web editing 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’s under the surface.
(It’s Getting Harder To Tell Websites Built With Web Development Tools Vs ‘Blogging’ Software!)
For 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 matter to most website owners, like web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep 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 actually expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking website, but at a much cheaper price than the cost of getting site ”A” above built.
If you went with website “B”, then you need to know more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can provide you with an eye-catching website that will usually cost far less to build than websites built using website-building software … and how to tell these two types apart!
WordPress is the world’s most popular online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a flexible and powerful content management tool suitable for most types of business applications.
Whether your reason for having a website is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a beginner with no knowledge of coding to use and manage, yet it offers a range of helpful features that make your web presence extremely effective in terms of getting your content published and indexed by search engines, promoting visitor engagement, generating business leads and sales, 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 the WordPress CMS.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are thinking of getting a website built, then wouldn’t it be great 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 something similarly built for your business quite inexpensively?
Is It A WordPress Website?
Do you need to know if a website uses WordPress? Maybe you’ve come here because you’ve heard about all of the great benefits and advantages of using WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site was built using WordPress, or some other CMS.
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 website has been built with WordPress:
Search The Page 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 tell-tale footprints …
(View your page source code using Firefox)
Suppose that you are surfing the web and you visit a web site that you like, and you wonder 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, you can search for words like “wp-content” either by scanning the code …
Or use the browser’s “Find” function …
(Using the Firefox web browser ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site runs on WordPress or not.
Note: If you do not find the words “wp-content” in the source code, it doesn’t mean that this is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if a site runs on the WordPress software, as we will soon be discussing.
As the point of this article is to help non-technical users, however, below you will find a number of easier methods you can use to check if your site is built with WordPress other than scanning the source code.
Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the most logical thing to do, a number of website developers, for whatever reason, may 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 your website, just ask your webmaster or whoever built your site if your website was built using 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 and need to know if the site was built with WordPress?
Check Below The Footer
If the site uses a WordPress theme where the website theme templates have not been edited, you will often find a “Proudly powered by WordPress” notice displayed below the footer area …
(Powered by WordPress)
If the simple methods above aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of telling whether a website runs on WordPress or not …
Sites That Can Tell You If A Website Has Been Built With WordPress
Here are a some tools that will tell you if the website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WordPress? – WP Website Checking Tool
(Is It WP – WP Checker)
Is It WordPress? is a free tool that can check if a website was built with WordPress or not.
Using this site is super simple. Just type the URL of the site into the search field and click the button next to it.
It will go and search through the URL code and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, which version of WordPress the site is currently using …
If the site is not a WordPress-driven site, you will see a message like the one 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.com
(Wappalyzer – Extension For Firefox & Chrome 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 use WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a very useful add-on to add to your browser.
Wappalyzer identifies what software is installed on 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 very easy to install and easy to use.
After installing Wappalyzer on your browser, icons will appear in your browser, next to the site URL allowing you to see 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 screen shot shows), then the site uses WordPress.
(A WordPress site!)
Go here to install the Wappalyzer extension:
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:
I hope that you have found this 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