It used to be that blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell the difference.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and changed all this. Now, it’s getting increasingly harder to tell blogs and websites apart. 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 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 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 areas that matter to most website owners, such as web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep the website up-to-date, managing content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of the options below 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 for a tiny fraction of the cost of getting option “A” above.
If you picked web site “B”, then you need to learn more about WordPress, why WordPress can provide you with a beautiful website that will usually turn out to be much less expensive to build than websites built using traditional web editor tools … and how to tell these apart!
WordPress is the world’s most popular online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a budget-friendly content management application suitable for local businesses.
Whether your reason for having a website or blog is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a newbie with no knowledge of coding to use, yet it offers a range of helpful tools that make your web site highly 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, 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 WordPress.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are considering 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 To Tell If A Website Is A WP Site
Do you need to know if your website was built using WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to our site because you’ve heard about all of the great benefits and advantages of using WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site runs on WordPress, 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 some simple methods you can use to quickly tell if a web site is powered by WordPress:
Look At 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 a telltale footprint that the site was built with WordPress …
(View the web 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 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, search for words like “wp-content” either by visually scanning the code …
Or using your browser’s “Find” function …
(Using the Firefox browser ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site runs on WordPress or not.
Note: If you cannot locate “wp-content” in the page source code, it does not mean that the website is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if the 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, we have listed below a number of easy methods you can use to check if your web site is built with WordPress other than viewing the source code.
Simply Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the obvious thing to do, many web developers, for whatever reason, may build clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you paid a website developer or got somebody else to build your website, just ask your webmaster or whoever built your web site if the site was built using WordPress.
That was easy, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t get in touch with the person who looks after your website, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while surfing online and you really need to know if it was built using WordPress?
Check Below The Footer
If the site uses a WordPress theme where the site them template has not been modified, you will often find a “Proudly powered by WordPress” notice displayed in the footer area …
(Powered by WordPress – footer area)
If these simple methods haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites …
Tools That Tell You If A Website Has Been Built With WordPress
Here are a some tools that can tell you if your website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WordPress? – WP Checker
(Is It WordPress? – WP Site Checker)
Is It WP is a free tool that can check if a website uses WordPress or not.
Using this tool is super simple. Just enter the URL of the site into the search field and click the button.
It will go through the URL files 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 WP-powered web site or blog, you will see a message similar to 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 – Web Browser Extension (Firefox / Chrome)
(Wappalyzer.com)
If you browse the net using either Firefox or Google Chrome and would like to be able to see if the sites that you are visiting were built using WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a very useful extension to install on your browser.
Wappalyzer tells you 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 very easy to install and easy to use.
Once you have installed Wappalyzer, icons will appear in your web browser menu, in the URL field allowing you to see which software is installed on the sites you visit …
If the WordPress icon shows up on your browser menu (as the above screen shot shows), then the site uses WordPress.
(It’s a WordPress site!)
Visit the website 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:
I 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