It used to be that blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell blogs and websites apart.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and changed all this. Now, it’s getting more and more difficult to tell if a site is being powered by “blogging” tools like WordPress, or if it’s been built using some other web editor tool. 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 Content Management System application like WordPress and other website-building tools is huge, not so much in terms of the technical differences, but more importantly, regarding the areas that matter to most website owners, such as 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 turns out to be quite expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking website, but at a cost that turns out to be significantly less than the cost of getting option ”A”.
If you picked option “B”, then you need to know more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can be used to create an eye-catching website that will typically end up costing you far less to build than websites built using a web building application … and how to tell the two apart!
WordPress is the world’s most popular online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful and easy-to-use content management system suitable for ”non-techy” website owners.
Whether your reason for having a website or blog is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a beginner with no technical skills to use, and offers an array of helpful tools that make your web presence more effective when it comes to getting your content published and indexed by search engines, promoting visitor engagement, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s capabilities, 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 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 your business for a much smaller cost?
Does My Blog Run On WordPress?
Do you need to know if your website uses WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to this page because you’ve read 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 some simple methods you can use to quickly tell if sites are built using WordPress:
Look At Your Page Source Code
If you know how to view 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 …
(Viewing the web page source code using the Firefox browser)
Suppose that you are browsing online and you come across a web site that you like, and you’re wondering 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 site loads on your screen, you can search for the words “wp-content” either manually …
Or using the browser’s “Find” function …
(Use Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site is powered by WordPress or not.
Note: If you do not find the words “wp-content” in the source code, it doesn’t mean that this is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell 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 easy methods you can use to check if your web site is built using WordPress other than looking through the source code.
Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the obvious thing to do, some web developers, for whatever reason, will build their clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you have an existing web site and you can’t tell what CMS application is driving it, just ask your web developer or whoever built your site if it was built using WordPress.
That was easy, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t reach your website developer, or what if you’ve come across a site that you really like while browsing the net late at night and would like to know if the site was built using WordPress?
Check Below Footer
If the site uses a WP theme where the web them template has not been edited, you will often find a “Proudly powered by WordPress” notice displayed at the bottom of the site …
(Powered by WordPress)
If these simple methods haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of telling whether a website was built with WordPress or not …
Tools That Can Tell You If A Website Is Built With WordPress
Here are a some tools that can tell you if a particular website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WordPress?
(Is It WP)
Is It WP is a free tool that lets you quickly check if a site was built using WordPress or not.
Using this tool is really simple. Just type in or paste in the address of the site into the URL field and click the button.
The tool will then search through the URL and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, it will even tell you which version of WordPress the site is currently using …
If the site has not been built with WordPress, you will get 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 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 – Add-On For Firefox & Chrome Web Browser
(Wappalyzer – Web Browser Add-On (Firefox / Chrome))
If you use a web browser like Firefox or Google Chrome and want to be able to know if the sites that you are visiting are WP sites, then Wappalyzer is a very useful add-on to install on your web browser.
Wappalyzer identifies what 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 easy to install and easy to use.
Once you have installed Wappalyzer, icons will appear in your browser menu allowing you to see which software is being used by the sites you are visiting …
If the WordPress icon shows up on your browser menu (as shown in the screen shot above), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(It’s a WordPress site!)
Visit the site 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 that you have found this information 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