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 WordPress came along and everything changed. Now, it’s becoming more difficult to tell the difference between blogs and websites. 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 tool 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 many website owners care most about, such as web development costs, ease of use, ability to maintain the site up-to-date, managing 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 turns out to be significantly less than the cost of getting site ”A”.
If you picked site ”B” above, then you need to know more about WordPress, why WordPress can be used to create an attractive, professional-looking and fully functional website that could end up costing you far less to build than websites built using a website development application … and how to tell the two types apart!
WordPress is the world’s preferred online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a budget-friendly content management software suitable for all types of businesses.
Whether your reason for having a web site is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a novice with no knowledge of HTML to use and manage, yet it offers many helpful features that make your web site extremely effective in terms of getting your content published and indexed by search engines, promoting visitor interaction, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s capabilities, scalability, etc.
With almost one in every five websites around the world 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 considering getting a website built, then wouldn’t it be great 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 very little cost?
Is My Website Built Using WordPress? How To Tell
Do you need to know if a website uses WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to our site because you’ve heard 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 sites are running on WordPress:
Check The Source Code For Tell-Tale A Tell-Tale WordPress Footprint
If you know how to search 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 an obvious tell-tale footprint that the site was built with WordPress …
(Viewing the web page source code using the Firefox browser)
Suppose that you are surfing the web 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.
After the source code of the page loads on your screen, you can search for the words “wp-content” either by scanning the code with your eyes …
Or use the browser’s “Find” function …
(Use the Firefox web browser ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site was built with WordPress or not.
Note: If you are unable to find “wp-content” within the source code, it does not necessarily mean that the site you’re looking at 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 article is to help non “techies”, however, we have listed below a number of easier methods you can use to check if your website is built with WordPress other than viewing the source code.
Just Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the most obvious thing to do, some web development companies, for whatever reason, will 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 webmaster or whoever built your site if your website was built with WordPress.
That was easy, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t reach your website developer, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while surfing the net and you really need to know if the site was built using WordPress?
Check Below Footer
If the site uses a WordPress theme and the web them template has not been edited, you can often find a “Proudly powered by WordPress” message displayed in the footer area …
(Powered by WordPress – site footer)
If the simple methods above aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of telling whether a site was built with WordPress or not …
Tools That Tell You If A Website Uses 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 WP – WP Site Checker
(Is It WP – WordPress Site Checker)
Is It WordPress? is a free online tool that can check if a website runs on WordPress or not.
Using this site is really simple. Just enter the URL of the website into the search field and click the button.
It will then search through the page code on the URL and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, it will even tell you the version of WordPress the site is currently using …
If the web site is not a WP-driven website, you will see a message like the one 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 – Web Browser Extension (Firefox / Chrome)
(Wappalyzer)
If you use either the Firefox or Chrome web browser and would like to be able to see if the sites that you are visiting have been built using WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a very useful extension to add to your browser.
Wappalyzer helps you identify what type of 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 an easy add-on to install and use.
Once you have installed Wappalyzer, icons will display in your web browser menu allowing you to see which technologies are being used by all the sites you visit …
If you see the WordPress icon on the browser menu (as the above screen shot shows), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(This website has been built with WordPress!)
To learn more, 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, 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, go here:
We hope you have found the above tutorial useful.
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now