When the “blogging revolution” first began, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell the difference between the two.
Then WordPress came along and everything changed. Now, it’s getting harder to tell the difference between blogs and websites. 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 website owners, understanding the difference between a Content Management System application 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 matter to most website owners, such as web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep the site up-to-date, managing content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of the following options would you choose?
A) An eye-catching, professional-looking website that turns out to be quite expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking website, but at a much cheaper cost than the cost of getting site ”A”.
If you selected web site “B”, then you need to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can provide you with an eye-catching website that will normally turn out to be much less expensive to build than websites built using website-building software … 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 and easy-to-use content management application suitable for businesses on a budget.
Whether your reason for having a website is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a beginner with no programming skills to use and manage, and offers a range of helpful features that make your website 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 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 also driven by WordPress.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are thinking of 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 something similarly built for a much smaller cost?
Is It A WordPress Web Site?
Do you need to know if your website was built using WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to this page because you’ve read about WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site runs on WordPress, or some other website 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 methods you can use to quickly tell if a site is running on WordPress:
View Your 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 an obvious telltale footprint …
(How to view page source code using the Firefox browser)
Suppose that you are browsing online and you visit a website that you like, and you wonder 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, search for the words “wp-content” either by scanning the code visually …
Or use your browser’s “Find” function …
(Using Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site is powered by WordPress or not.
Note: If you do not see “wp-content” within the page source code, it does not mean that the website is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if a site runs on the WordPress software, as we will soon discuss.
As the point of this post is to try and help non-technical users, however, we have listed below a number of easier methods you can use to check if your web site is built using WordPress other than scanning the source code.
Ask Your Web Developer
While this may seem like the logical thing to do, many web 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 web developer or whoever built your website if it has been built using WordPress.
That was simple, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t reach your website developer, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while surfing the net late at night and you want to know if it was built using WordPress?
Powered By WordPress
If the site uses a WP theme and the template has not been modified, you will often see a “Proudly powered by WordPress” message showing below the footer section …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress – footer section)
If the methods above aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of telling whether a site uses WordPress or not …
Tools That Tell You If A Website Runs On WordPress
Here are a couple of tools that will tell you if a website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WordPress?
(Is It WP)
Is It WP? is a free online tool that can check very quickly if a website uses WordPress or not.
Using this site is super simple. Just add the address of the website into the search field and click the button next to it.
It will go and 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 was not built using WordPress, you will get 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 – Web Browser Add-On (Firefox / Chrome)
(Wappalyzer.com)
If you browse the net using either the Firefox or Google Chrome web browsers and would like to be able to tell if the sites that you are visiting are powered by WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a very useful add-on for your web browser.
Wappalyzer tells you 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.”
It’s also very easy to install.
Once you have installed the Wappalyzer add-on on your web browser, icons will display in your web browser identifying which technologies are installed on 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 has been built with WordPress.
(It’s a WordPress site!)
Go here to visit the site:
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:
We hope you have found the above the information in 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