Once upon a time and not so long ago, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell the difference.
Then WordPress came along and changed everything. Now, it’s becoming more difficult to tell if the site was built with a “blogging” CMS application like the WP publishing platform, or if it’s been developed using a traditional web editor tool. 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”.
(It’s Getting Harder To Tell Websites Built With Web Development Tools Vs ‘Blogging’ Software!)
For many 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 things that the majority of website owners are 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 these options 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 site, but for a tiny fraction of the cost of getting option ”A”.
If you went with web site “B”, then you need to learn more about WordPress, why WordPress can give you an eye-catching website that will usually cost far less to build than websites which are built using a web building application … and how to tell the two apart!
WordPress is the world’s leading online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a flexible and powerful CMS suitable 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 newbie with no web design skills to use, yet it offers a range of helpful features that make your web site extremely 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, 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 one 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 for very little cost?
How Can I Check If My Site Was Built Using WordPress?
Do you need to know if a website was built using WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to our site because you’ve read wonderful things about all of the great advantages of using WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site runs on the WordPress software, or some other content management system.
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 a number of methods you can use to quickly tell if a website has been built using WordPress:
Check The Page 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 telltale footprints that the site was built using WordPress …
(Viewing web page source code in Firefox)
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.
In the page’s source code, you can search for “wp-content” either by visually scanning the code …
Or using your browser’s “Find” function …
(Use Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site was built using WordPress or not.
Note: If you are unable to locate “wp-content” within the source code, it doesn’t mean that you are not looking at a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if the site runs on WordPress, as we will soon discuss.
As the point of this article is to try and help non “techies”, however, we have listed below a number of easier ways to check if your site is powered by WordPress other than searching through the source code.
Simply Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the most logical thing to do, a number of website developers, for whatever reason, may build their 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 developer or whoever built your web site if your web site has been built using WordPress.
That was easy, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t reach your webmaster, or what if you’ve come across a site that you really like while browsing online and you want to know if it was built using WordPress?
Check Below The Footer
If the site uses a WP theme and the templates have not been edited, you can typically find a “Proudly powered by WordPress” notice displayed in the footer section …
(Powered by WordPress)
If these simple methods haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of telling whether a site was built with WordPress or not …
Sites That Can Tell You If A Website Was Built Using WordPress
Here are a couple of online applications that can tell you if a website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WP – WP Checking Tool
(IsItWP.com – WordPress Checking Tool)
Is It WordPress? is a free online tool that can tell you very quickly if a website runs on WordPress or not.
Using this tool is super easy. Just add the URL of the website into the URL field and click the button.
It will 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 website, 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 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
(Wappalyzer – Browser Extension (Firefox / Chrome))
If you use a browser like Firefox or Chrome and want to be able to know if the sites that you are visiting have been built using WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a useful extension to add to your browser.
Wappalyzer identifies what type of 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.”
It’s also a very easy to install and easy to use browser extension.
After installing Wappalyzer on your web browser, icons will appear in your browser menu, next to the site URL allowing you to see which software is being used by the sites you visit …
If you see the WordPress icon showing on your browser menu (as the above screenshot shows), then the site uses WordPress.
(A WordPress site!)
To install Wappalyzer go 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, go here:
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 tutorial useful.
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now