It used to be that blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell them apart.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and everything changed. Now, it’s becoming more difficult to tell if a website was built using a “blogging” content management system (CMS) like the WordPress CMS, or if it’s been created using a web development software tooltool. 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 hood”.
(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 areas that matter to most website owners, like 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 expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking website, but at a cost that is significantly less than the cost of getting option ”A” built.
If you picked website ”B” above, then you need to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can be used to create an eye-catching website that could end up costing you far less to build than websites built using a web building tool … and how to tell the two apart!
WordPress is the world’s preferred online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a budget-friendly CMS application that is ideally suited for local businesses.
Whether your reason for having a digital presence is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a novice with no technical knowledge to use and manage, and offers an array of helpful add-ons that make your web presence highly effective when it comes to getting your content published, promoting visitor engagement, generating business leads and sales, 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, yours is also a WordPress site.
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 website 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 your business to a smaller budget if required?
Is It A WP Blog?
Do you need to know if a website was built using WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to our site because you’ve read about all of the great benefits 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 a number of methods you can use to quickly tell if a website has been built with WordPress:
Look At The Source Code
If you know how to check 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 telltale footprints …
(Viewing page source code using Firefox)
Suppose that you are surfing the web and you come across a website that you like, and you’re wondering if the site uses WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
After the source code of the page loads on your screen, you can search for “wp-content” either by visually scanning the code …
Or using your browser’s “Find” function …
(Using Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site runs on WordPress or not.
Note: If you cannot locate “wp-content” in the source code, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if the site runs on the WordPress software, as we will soon see.
As the point of this post is to try and help non-technical users, however, below you will find a number of easy ways to check if your website is powered by WordPress other than scanning the source code.
Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the logical thing to do, some website development agencies, for whatever reason, will build their clients a website and not tell them it’s been built with WordPress.
If you have an existing website and you can’t tell what CMS application is driving it, just ask your webmaster or whoever built your site if it runs on WordPress.
That was simple, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t reach the person who looks after your site, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while surfing the net late at night and want to know if it was built using WordPress?
Powered By WordPress
If the site uses a WordPress theme where the templates have not been modified, you will typically find a “Proudly powered by WordPress” notice showing below the footer area …
(Powered by WordPress)
If the methods above aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites …
Online Tools That Tell You If A Website Runs On 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 WordPress? – WP Checking Tool
(IsItWP.com)
IsItWP.com is a free tool that can tell you if a site runs on WordPress or not.
Using this site is really quite simple. Just enter the URL of the website into the URL field and click the button next to it.
The tool will go 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 web site does not run on WordPress, you will see a message similar to the one shown in the screenshot 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 – Browser Add-On (Firefox / Chrome)
(Wappalyzer – Browser Add-On (Firefox / Chrome))
If you browse the net using either the Firefox or Chrome web browsers and want to be able to know if the sites that you are visiting were built using WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a great extension to add to your browser.
Wappalyzer helps you identify what type of software is installed on 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 a very easy to install and easy to use browser extension.
Once you have installed Wappalyzer on your web browser, icons will display in your web browser allowing you to see which software is installed on the sites you are visiting …
If the WordPress icon displays on the browser menu (as shown in the screenshot above), then the site uses WordPress.
(It’s a WordPress site!)
Go here to learn more:
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 that you have found this tutorial 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