When the “blogging revolution” first began, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell them apart.
Then WordPress came along and revolutionized web publishing and web content management. Now, it’s becoming more difficult to tell if the website was built with a “blogging” content management system (CMS) like the WP publishing platform, or if it’s been developed using a traditional web development software application. 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’s “under the hood”.
(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 areas that many website owners care about, such as web development costs, ease of use, ability to maintain the website up-to-date, managing web content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of the following options 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 for a fraction of the cost of getting site “A” above.
If you selected option ”B” above, then you need to know more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can be used to create an eye-catching website that could cost far less to build than websites built with a website development tool … 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 CMS application that is ideally suited for all businesses and non-technical users.
Whether your reason for having a digital presence is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a newbie with no knowledge of coding to use and manage, yet it offers a range of helpful extensions that make your web site more effective in terms of getting your content published, 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 is also driven by the WordPress CMS.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are thinking of 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 quite inexpensively?
Was My Website Built With WordPress? How To Tell
Do you need to know if your website uses WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to our site because you’ve heard about all of the great advantages of using WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site was built using WordPress, or some other CMS 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 ways to tell if sites are built with WordPress:
View The Page 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 telltale footprints …
(Viewing the page source code in Firefox)
Suppose that you are surfing the web and you come across a website that you like, and you wonder if the site uses WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
In the source code, search for the words “wp-content” either by scanning the code …
Or use the browser’s “Find” function …
(Use the Firefox browser ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site runs on WordPress or not.
Note: If you cannot locate “wp-content” within the page source code, it does not mean that you are not looking at a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if a site runs on WordPress, as we will soon see.
As the focus of this article is to try and help non-technical users, however, we have listed below a number of easier methods you can use 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 obvious thing to do, some website development agencies, for whatever reason, will build their clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you have an existing website and you’re not sure what CMS application is driving it, just ask your web developer or whoever built your website if your web site runs on WordPress.
That was easy, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t get in touch with the person who looks after your site, or what if you’ve come across a site that you really like while surfing the net late at night and you really would like to know if the site was built with WordPress?
Check Below Footer
If the site uses a WordPress theme where the templates have not been edited, you can typically find a “Powered by WordPress” notice shown in the footer section …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress)
If the methods above haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of telling whether a website runs on WordPress or not …
Tools That Can Tell You If A Website Uses WordPress
Here are a couple of online applications that can tell you if a website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
IsItWP.com – WordPress Site Checker
(Is It WP – WP Site Checker)
Is It WordPress? is a free tool that can tell you very quickly if a website uses WordPress or not.
Using this tool is very easy. Just type the URL of the site into the URL field and click the button.
It will then go through the URL pages 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 site does not run on WordPress, you will get 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 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 Add-On (Firefox / Chrome)
(Wappalyzer.com)
If you browse the net using either Firefox or Google Chrome and would like to be able to know if the sites that you are visiting use WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a very useful add-on to install on your browser.
Wappalyzer tells you 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.”
Wappalyzer is also a very easy to install and very easy to use browser extension.
After installing Wappalyzer on your web browser, icons will show up in your web browser menu, in the URL field identifying which software is installed on the sites you are visiting …
If you see the WordPress icon on the browser menu (as shown in the screen shot above), then the site uses WordPress.
(This is a WordPress site!)
Go here to visit the Wappalyzer extension website:
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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"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum