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 revolutionized web publishing and content management. Now, it’s becoming almost impossible to tell if the website is running on “blogging” applications like the WP publishing platform, or if it’s been created using some other website 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 type of web application is actually powering the site.
(Can You Tell Which Application Websites Are Built With?)
For website owners, understanding the difference between a CMS tool 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 the majority of website owners are concerned with, such as 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 expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking website, but for a tiny fraction of the cost of getting site “A” above.
If you chose option “B”, then you need to learn more about WordPress, why WordPress can be used to create an eye-catching website that could turn out to be far less expensive to build than websites which use a web building tool … and how to tell these apart!
WordPress is the world’s leading online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a budget-friendly content management system suitable for all types of businesses.
Whether your reason for having an online presence is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a newbie with no web design skills to use, yet it offers many helpful add-ons that make your web site more effective when it comes to getting your content published, promoting visitor engagement, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s functionality, 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 website could also be powered by WordPress.
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 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 Website Built With WordPress? Tell-Tale Signs & WP-Checking Tools
Do you need to know if your website was built using WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to this page because you’ve heard or read about all of the great advantages of using WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site runs on WordPress, 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 methods you can use to quickly tell if sites are running on WordPress:
Look At The Source Code
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 telltale footprints that the site was built using WordPress …
(View the page source code in Firefox)
Suppose that you are browsing online and you come across a web site that you like, and you’re wondering if the site uses WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
Once the source code of the page loads on your screen, you can search for words like “wp-content” either by visually scanning the code …
Or using the 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 are unable to find “wp-content” within the page source code, it does not mean that this 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 focus 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 with WordPress other than searching through the source code.
Simply Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the obvious thing to do, many website developers, for whatever reason, will build clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you have an existing web site and you can’t tell what CMS application is driving it, just ask your webmaster or whoever built your site if your site runs on WordPress.
That was easy, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t reach the person who looks after your website, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while surfing online and would like to know if the site was built with WordPress?
Powered By WordPress
If the site uses a WordPress theme where the templates have not been customized, you can typically find a “Proudly powered by WordPress” message shown in the footer area …
(Powered by WordPress – site footer section)
If the methods above haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of telling whether a website was built using WordPress or not …
Tools That Can Tell You If A Website Runs On WordPress
Here are a some online applications that will tell you if your website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WP – WP Site Checking Tool
(IsItWP.com – WP Checker)
Is It WP is a free online tool that can tell you if a website runs on WordPress or not.
Using this site is very simple. Just paste the address of the site into the search field and click the button.
The tool will go through the URL code and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, which version of WordPress it is currently using …
If the site is not a WP web site or blog, you will see a message like 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 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.com
(Wappalyzer – Browser Extension (Firefox / Chrome))
If you browse the net using either Firefox or Chrome and would like to be able to see if the sites that you are visiting are powered by WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a very useful add-on to install on your web browser.
Wappalyzer helps you identify what 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.”
Wappalyzer is also easy to install.
Once you have installed Wappalyzer, icons will appear in your web browser allowing you to see which technologies are being used by all the sites you are visiting …
If the WordPress icon shows up on the browser menu (as the above screen shot shows), then the site uses WordPress.
(A WordPress site!)
Visit the site 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, go here:
We hope you have found this tutorial useful.
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