It used to be that blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell the difference.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and changed everything. Now, it’s becoming more difficult 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.
(Can You Tell Which Application Is Powering Your Website?)
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 areas that the majority of website owners are concerned with, like web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep the site 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 fairly expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking website, but at a cost that turns out to be significantly less than the cost of getting option “A” above.
If you decided to go with option “B”, then you need to know more about WordPress, why WordPress can give you an eye-catching website that will probably cost far less to build than websites built with a web building tool … and how to tell the two types apart!
WordPress is the world’s most popular online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a budget-friendly content management tool that is ideally suited for ”non-techy” website owners.
Whether your reason for having a website is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a novice with no knowledge of HTML to use and manage, and offers a range of helpful extensions that make your website highly effective in terms of getting your content published, promoting visitor interaction, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s functionality, 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 website is also powered 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 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 your business for a much smaller cost?
Tell-Tale Signs It’s A WordPress Web Site And WP-Checking Tools
Do you need to know if a website uses WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to this page because you’ve heard about all of the great advantages of using WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site was built using the WordPress software, 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 a number of ways to tell if sites are built using WordPress:
Check Your Source Code For WordPress Footprints
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 with WordPress …
(View your page source code using Firefox)
Suppose that you are surfing the web and you come across a web 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.
In the source code, you can search for words like “wp-content” either by visually scanning the code …
Or use the browser’s “Find” function …
(Using Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site was built using WordPress or not.
Note: If you cannot locate the words “wp-content” within the source code, it doesn’t mean that the website is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if a site was built using WordPress, as we will soon see.
As the focus 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 built with WordPress other than searching the source code.
Ask Your Website Developer
While this may seem like the logical thing to do, a number of web developers, for whatever reason, will build clients a website and not tell them it’s been built with WordPress.
If you hired a website developer or got somebody else to build your website, just ask your webmaster or whoever built your web site if the website was built using WordPress.
That was simple, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t reach your webmaster, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while browsing the net late at night and you want to know if the site was built with WordPress?
Powered By WordPress
If the site uses a WordPress theme and the templates have not been customized, you can often see a “Proudly powered by WordPress” message showing below the footer section of the site …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress – site footer area)
If these simple methods haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites …
Sites That Can Tell You If A Website Was Built Using 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 …
IsItWP.com – WP Website Checker
(Is It WP)
IsItWP.com is a free online tool that can tell you very quickly if a site was built using WordPress or not.
Using this site is really easy. Just enter the address of the website into the URL field and click the button.
It will then search through the site code and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, it will even tell you the version of WordPress it is currently using …
If the web site has not been built using WordPress, you will see a message similar to 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 – Browser Add-On (Firefox / Chrome)
(Wappalyzer.com)
If you use a web browser like Firefox or Google Chrome and would like to be able to know if the sites that you are visiting are powered by WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a useful add-on to install on your browser.
Wappalyzer identifies what software is installed on 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.”
Wappalyzer is also a very easy add-on to install and use.
After installing Wappalyzer, icons will appear in your browser identifying which software is being used by the sites you visit …
If the WordPress icon shows up on your browser menu (as shown in the screenshot above), then the site uses WordPress.
(This is a WordPress site!)
To visit the Wappalyzer web browser extension 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, visit the site below:
I hope you have found the above information useful.
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"Learning WordPress has been a huge stumbling block for me. I've been looking for something that covers absolutely everything but doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Thank you so much ... you have just provided me with what I have been looking for! Truly appreciated!" - Tanya
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