When the “blogging revolution” first began, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell the difference.
Then WordPress came along and changed everything. Now, it’s becoming more and more difficult to tell if the website was built with “blogging” tools like WordPress, or if it’s been built using website-building software. 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’s under the surface.
(It’s Getting Harder To Tell Websites Built With Web Development Tools Vs ‘Blogging’ Software!)
For many website owners, understanding the difference between a Content Management System tool like WordPress and other website-building software is huge, not so much in terms of the technical differences, but more importantly, regarding the areas that many website owners are deeply concerned with, such as web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep the site up-to-date, managing content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of these options 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 site ”A” built.
If you picked website ”B” above, then you need to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can provide you with an eye-catching website that will usually end up costing you far less to build than websites built using web-building software … and how to tell these two types apart!
WordPress is the world’s most used online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful CMS platform suitable for most types of business applications.
Whether your reason for having a website or blog is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a novice with no web design skills to use, yet it offers many helpful features that make your web site extremely effective when it comes to getting your content published and indexed by search engines, promoting visitor engagement, generating business leads and sales, 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 thinking of getting one 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 something similarly built for very little cost?
The Easy Way To Tell If Your Web Site Was Built Using The WP CMS Platform
Do you need to know if a website was built using WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to this page because you’ve heard or read wonderful things about 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 powered WordPress:
Search Your Source Code For Tell-Tale A Tell-Tale WordPress Footprint
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 an obvious tell-tale footprint …
(Viewing page source code using Firefox)
Let’s say that you are surfing the web and you visit a web site that you like, and you would like to know if the site is built with WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
Once the source code of the site loads on your screen, you can search for words like “wp-content” either by scanning the code visually …
Or use your browser’s “Find” function …
(Use the Firefox web browser ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site runs on WordPress or not.
Note: If you cannot find “wp-content” in the page source code, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are not looking at a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if the 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 using WordPress other than scanning the source code.
Just Ask Your Web Developer
While this may seem like the logical thing to do, some web development agencies, for whatever reason, will build their clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you used a website developer or got somebody else to build your website, just ask your developer or whoever built your web site if the website was built with WordPress.
That was easy, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t get in touch with your webmaster, or what if you’ve come across a site that you really like while browsing the net and you want to know if the site was built with WordPress?
Powered By WordPress
If the site uses a WordPress theme and the them template has not been edited, you will often see a “Proudly powered by WordPress” notice shown at the bottom of the site …
(Powered by WordPress – site footer area)
If these simple methods aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of telling whether a website uses WordPress or not …
Tools That Can Tell You If A Website Is Built With WordPress
Here are a some sites that can tell you if your website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
IsItWP.com – WP Site Checking Tool
(Is It WordPress?)
Is It WP? is a free tool that lets you check if a site uses WordPress or not.
Using this site is very easy. Just add the URL of the site into the search field and click the button.
It will then search 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 web site or blog, you will see a message like 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 – Extension For Firefox & Chrome Web Browser
(Wappalyzer)
If you use either the Firefox or Google Chrome browser and want to be able to know if the sites that you are visiting are WordPress sites, then Wappalyzer is a great extension to install on your web browser.
Wappalyzer helps you identify what type of 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.”
It’s also an easy extension to install.
After installing Wappalyzer, icons will appear in your web browser menu identifying which software is being used by the sites you visit …
If the WordPress icon displays on your browser menu (as shown in the screen shot above), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(This is a WordPress site!)
Go here to learn more about Wappalyzer:
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, visit the site below:
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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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum