Once upon a time and not so long ago, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell the difference.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and everything changed. Now, it’s getting 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 website design and also being able to tell what kind of web application is actually powering the site.
(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 application 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 the majority of website owners are mostly concerned with, like web development costs, ease of use, ability to maintain the website 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 website, but at a much cheaper cost than the cost of getting site ”A”.
If you selected site “B”, then you need to know more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can provide you with a professional-looking website that will usually end up costing you far less to build than websites built using a web development tool … and how to tell these two types apart!
WordPress is the world’s leading online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful and easy-to-use CMS application suitable 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 novice with no technical knowledge to use, and offers many helpful functions that make your website highly effective when it comes to getting your content published and indexed by search engines, promoting visitor interaction, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s functionality, 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 probably be powered by WordPress too.
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 for a much smaller cost?
Is Your Website Built With WordPress?
Do you need to know if a website was built using WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to our site because you’ve heard about all of the great benefits and advantages of using WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site runs on the WordPress software, or some other CMS.
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 site has been built using WordPress:
Check The 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 obvious telltale footprints that the site was built with WordPress …
(How to view page source code using the Firefox browser)
Let’s say that you are surfing the web and you come across a website that you like, and you would like to know 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 site loads on your screen, you can search for words like “wp-content” either by visually scanning the code …
Or use the browser’s “Find” function …
(Using Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site was built using WordPress or not.
Note: If you are unable to see “wp-content” in the source code, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the site you’re looking at is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if a site was built using the WordPress software, as we will soon see.
As the focus of this article is to help non-technical users, however, below you will find a number of easier ways to check if your website is powered by WordPress other than looking at the source code.
Simply Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the most logical thing to do, a number of website developers, for whatever reason, will build clients a website and not tell them it’s been built with WordPress.
If you have an existing website and you’re not sure what CMS application is driving it, just ask your developer or whoever built your website if your site was built using WordPress.
That was simple, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t get in touch with your webmaster, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while browsing the net and you really would like to know if the site was built with WordPress?
Powered By WordPress
If the site uses a WordPress theme and the theme templates have not been edited, you can typically find a “Powered by WordPress” message shown below the footer section …
(Powered by WordPress – footer)
If the methods above aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites …
Tools That Can Tell You If A Website Runs On WordPress
Here are a some tools that can tell you if your website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WP – WordPress Checker
(Is It WordPress? – WP Checking Tool)
Is It WP is a free online tool that can check if a site uses WordPress or not.
Using this tool is really quite easy. Just add the URL of the site into the URL field and click the button next to it.
The tool will then go and search through the URL files and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, it will even tell you the version of WordPress it is currently using …
If the site is not a WordPress-driven site, you will see a message like the one shown 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
(Wappalyzer.com)
If you browse the net using either the Firefox or Google Chrome web browsers and want to be able to see if the sites that you are visiting are WordPress sites, then Wappalyzer is a useful add-on for your web browser.
Wappalyzer identifies 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 web browser extension.
After installing Wappalyzer on your web browser, icons will show up in your browser menu, next to the site URL identifying which technologies are installed on all the sites you visit …
If you see the WordPress icon on the browser menu (as the above screenshot shows), then the site uses WordPress.
(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 you have found this information useful.
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