It used to be that blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell the two apart.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and changed everything. Now, it’s becoming almost impossible to tell the difference between what applications are being used to build the two. 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 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 software is huge, not so much in terms of the technical differences, but more importantly, in terms of the things that many website owners are concerned with, like web development costs, ease of use, ability to maintain 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 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”.
If you selected option ”B” above, then you need to know more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can be used to create a stunning website that could turn out to be much less expensive to build than websites built using a web building tool … and how to tell these apart!
WordPress is the world’s most used online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a budget-friendly content management application suitable for businesses on a budget.
Whether your reason for having a web site is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a novice with no knowledge of coding to use and manage, yet it offers many helpful add-ons that make your website more 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 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 a similar site built for a much smaller cost?
Is My Blog WordPress?
Do you need to know if your website was built using WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to our site because you’ve read about 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 ways to tell if a website is running on WordPress:
Check The Page’s Source Code For Tell-Tale WordPress Footprints
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 a telltale footprint …
(Viewing web page source code in Firefox)
Suppose that you are browsing online and you visit a site that you like, and you would like to know if the site runs on WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
After the source code of the site loads on your screen, search for words like “wp-content” either by visually scanning the code …
Or use the browser’s “Find” function …
(Use Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site is powered by WordPress or not.
Note: If you cannot locate “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 the site runs on the WordPress software, as we will soon be discussing.
As the focus of this article is to help non “techies”, however, below you will find a number of easier ways to check if your site is built using 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 their clients a website and not tell them it’s been built with WordPress.
If you used a website developer or got somebody else to build your website, just ask your developer or whoever built your website if your website runs on WordPress.
That was simple, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t get in touch with your website developer, or what if you’ve come across a site that you really like while surfing the net and you really want to know if it was built with WordPress?
Check Below The Footer
If the site uses a WP theme where the theme templates have not been customized, you will typically see a “Proudly powered by WordPress” message showing below the footer area …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress)
If the methods above aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of telling whether a site was built with WordPress or not …
Sites That Tell You If A Website Runs On WordPress
Here are a some sites that will tell you if a website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WordPress? – WordPress Checking Tool
(Is It WP – WP Site Checking Tool)
Is It WP? is a free tool that can tell you very quickly if a site was built using WordPress or not.
Using this tool is really easy. Just add the URL of the website into the URL field and click the button next to it.
The tool will then go and search through the URL pages 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-powered site, you will get 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 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 Web Browser)
If you use a web browser such as Firefox or Google Chrome and want to be able to instantly tell if the sites that you are visiting were built using WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a useful add-on for your browser.
Wappalyzer tells you 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 very easy to install and very easy to use.
After installing Wappalyzer, icons will appear in your web browser, next to the site URL allowing you to see which software is being used by all the sites you visit …
If the WordPress icon shows up on your browser menu (as the above screenshot shows), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(A WordPress site!)
To visit the website, 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, go here:
We hope that you have found the above information useful.
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"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum