Once upon a time and not so long ago, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell the difference between the two.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and changed all this. Now, it’s getting more difficult to tell if a website is running on “blogging” tools like the WP CMS, or if it’s been created using web-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 website owners, understanding the difference between a CMS application like WordPress and other website-building software is huge, not so much in terms of the technical differences, but more importantly, regarding the things that matter to most website owners, like web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep the website 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 fraction of the cost of getting site “A” above.
If you selected website ”B” above, then you need to learn more about WordPress, why WordPress can provide you with an eye-catching website that could cost far less to build than websites built using other web editing applications … 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 content management system suitable for most types of business applications.
Whether your reason for having a digital presence is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a newbie with no programming skills to use and manage, yet it offers a range of helpful tools that make your website more effective in terms of getting your content published, promoting visitor interaction, 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, your site could also be powered by WordPress.
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 to a smaller budget if required?
Is Your Website Built With WordPress?
Do you need to know if your website uses WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to this page because you’ve read or heard wonderful things about WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site runs on the WordPress software, or some other content management system.
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 is powered by WordPress:
Check Your Source Code For WordPress Footprints
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 tell-tale footprint …
(How to view your web page source code in Firefox)
Let’s say that you are surfing the web and you visit a web site that you like, and you wonder if the site runs on WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
Once the source code of the page loads on your screen, you can search for words like “wp-content” either by visually scanning the code …
Or use your browser’s “Find” function …
(Using Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site runs on WordPress or not.
Note: If you cannot see “wp-content” within the source code, it does not necessarily mean that the website is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if a site runs on the WordPress software, as we will soon be discussing.
As the focus 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 site is built using WordPress other than searching the source code.
Just Ask Your Website Developer
While this may seem like the logical thing to do, a number of website development agencies, for whatever reason, may build clients a website and not tell them it’s been built with WordPress.
If you paid a website developer or got somebody else to build your website, just ask your webmaster or whoever built your web site if the web site runs on WordPress.
That was easy, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t reach your webmaster, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while surfing the net late at night and you want to know if the site was built with WordPress?
Check Below The Footer
If the site uses a WP theme where the template has not been modified, you will typically see a “Powered by WordPress” notice showing in the footer area …
(Powered by WordPress – footer)
If these simple methods haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of telling whether a website runs on WordPress or not …
Sites That Tell You If A Website Has Been Built With WordPress
Here are a some tools that will tell you if a particular website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WP
(IsItWP.com)
Is It WP is a free tool that can tell you very quickly if a site runs on WordPress or not.
Using this tool is very simple. Just add the URL of the website into the URL field and click the button.
It will search through the URL code 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 has not been built with WordPress, you will see a message like 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.com
(Wappalyzer – Extension For Firefox & Chrome Browser)
If you browse the net using either Firefox or Google Chrome and would like to be able to tell if the sites that you are visiting have been built using WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a very useful extension for your browser.
Wappalyzer tells you what 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 easy to install and easy to use.
After installing the Wappalyzer extension on your web browser, icons will display in your web browser identifying which software is installed on all the sites you are visiting …
If the WordPress icon displays on your browser menu (as shown in the screenshot above), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(This site uses WordPress!)
To install Wappalyzer 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, 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, visit the site below:
I hope you have found this information useful.
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