It used to be that blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell the difference between the two.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and everything changed. Now, it’s becoming more and 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 web design and also being able to tell what’s under the surface.
(Can You Tell Which Application A Website Has Been Built With?)
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 care about, like web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep the site up-to-date, managing content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of the following options would you choose?
A) An eye-catching, professional-looking website that is expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking site, but at a tiny fraction of the cost of getting site ”A” above built.
If you chose website ”B” above, then you need to know more about WordPress, why WordPress can give you an eye-catching website that will normally turn out to be much less expensive to build than websites built using website-building software … and how to tell these apart!
WordPress is the world’s most used online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful CMS that is ideally suited for ”non-techy” website owners.
Whether your reason for having a digital presence is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a newbie with no web design skills to use and manage, yet it offers a range of helpful features that make your web site more effective when it comes to 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 WP CMS.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are considering 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 quite inexpensively?
How To Check If A Site Was Built With WordPress
Do you need to know if your website uses WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to our site because you’ve heard or read about all of the great benefits and advantages of using WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site was built using 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 methods you can use to quickly tell if a site is running on WordPress:
Check The 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 …
(How to view web page source code in Firefox)
Let’s say that you are browsing online and you visit 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 page’s source code, you can search for the words “wp-content” either manually …
Or use the browser’s “Find” function …
(Using Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site runs on WordPress or not.
Note: If you are unable to see “wp-content” within the source code, it does not necessarily mean that it’s 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 article is to help non-technical users, however, we have listed below a number of easy ways to check if your site is built with WordPress other than searching through the source code.
Simply Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the most logical thing to do, some web development agencies, for whatever reason, may build clients a website and not tell them it’s been built with WordPress.
If you have an existing web site and you’re not sure what application was used to build it, just ask your web developer or whoever built your website if it has been built using WordPress.
That was easy, 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 late at night and you really want to know if the site was built using WordPress?
Check Below The Footer
If the site uses a WP theme and the site templates have not been customized, you can often see a “Powered by WordPress” notice displayed below the footer area …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress)
If these simple methods aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of telling whether a site runs on WordPress or not …
Tools That Can Tell You If A Website Uses WordPress
Here are a couple of tools that will tell you if the website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WP – WP Checker
(IsItWP.com – WordPress Site Checking Tool)
IsItWP.com is a free tool that can check very quickly if a website was built with WordPress or not.
Using this site is really simple. Just enter the address 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 was not built using WordPress, you will see a message similar to the one shown 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 – Add-On For Firefox & Chrome Browser
(Wappalyzer – Extension For Firefox / Chrome Web Browser)
If you use a web browser such as Firefox or Chrome and want to be able to see if the sites that you are visiting are powered by WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a useful add-on to install on your web 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.”
It’s also a very easy web browser extension to install and use.
Once you have installed the Wappalyzer extension on your browser, icons will show up in your browser menu, in the URL field identifying which technologies are being used by the sites you visit …
If you see the WordPress icon displayed on the browser menu (as the above screenshot shows), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(It’s a WordPress site!)
Visit the Wappalyzer web browser extension 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, visit the site below:
We hope that you have found the above the information in this tutorial useful.
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)