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 getting increasingly more difficult 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 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 many website owners, understanding the difference between a CMS tool like WordPress and other website-building tools 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 maintain the site 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 is actually expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking site, but at a cost that turns out to be significantly less than the cost of getting option “A” above.
If you picked web site ”B” above, then you need to know more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can be used to create an eye-catching website that could cost far less to build than websites which use web-building software … and how to tell these two types apart!
WordPress is the world’s most popular online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful and easy-to-use CMS application that is ideally suited 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 and manage, yet it offers a range of helpful functions that make your website more effective in terms of getting your content published, promoting visitor interaction, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s capabilities, 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 the WordPress CMS.
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 something similarly built to a smaller budget if required?
How Can I Check If A Site Was Built With WordPress?
Do you need to know if your website is powered by WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to our site because you’ve heard about all of the great advantages of using WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site runs on 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 some simple ways to tell if a web site is running on WordPress:
Search Your Page 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 obvious tell-tale footprints that the site was built using WordPress …
(Viewing the web 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 was built using 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 manually …
Or using the browser’s “Find” function …
(Use Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site runs on WordPress or not.
Note: If you do not locate “wp-content” within the source code, it doesn’t mean that the site you’re looking at is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if the site runs on WordPress, as we will soon be discussing.
As the point of this article is to try and help non-technical users, however, we have listed below a number of easier ways to check if your site is powered by WordPress other than looking through the source code.
Simply Ask Your Web Developer
While this may seem like the obvious thing to do, a number of web development companies, for whatever reason, will build their clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you have an existing web site and you’re not sure what application is driving it, just ask your web developer or whoever built your website if it was built using WordPress.
That was simple, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t reach the person who built your website, or what if you’ve come across a site that you really like while browsing the net late at night and you really want to know if it was built using WordPress?
Check Below The Footer
If the site uses a WP theme where the theme templates have not been edited, you can typically find a “Powered by WordPress” message shown below the footer section of the site …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress)
If the simple methods above aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites …
Online Tools That Can Tell You If A Website Was Built Using WordPress
Here are a couple of online applications that will tell you if a website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WP – WP Checker
(IsItWP.com)
Is It WP? is a free online tool that can check if a website runs on WordPress or not.
Using this tool is really simple. Just type in or paste in the address of the site into the search field and click the button.
The tool will then go through the URL files and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, it will even tell you which version of WordPress it is currently using …
If the web site is not a WordPress-driven web site or blog, you will get 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.com)
If you use either the Firefox or Google Chrome browser and would like to be able to instantly tell if the sites that you are visiting are WP-driven, then Wappalyzer is a great extension to install on your browser.
Wappalyzer identifies what type of 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 browser extension to install.
After installing Wappalyzer, icons will display in your web browser identifying which software is installed on the sites you visit …
If you see the WordPress icon displayed on your browser menu (as shown in the screen shot above), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(It’s 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:
I hope that you have found the above information useful.
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"I am beyond impressed with what you have put together. I can tell that you put a ton of hard work into building what you have. You have the absolute best content on WordPress I have ever seen!" - Robert T. Jillie
