It used to be that blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell them apart.
Then WordPress came along and everything changed. Now, it’s becoming almost impossible to tell blogs and websites apart. 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 hood”.
(Can You Tell Which Application Websites Are Built With?)
For many 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, in terms of the things that many website owners are concerned with, such as web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep the site 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 actually 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” above built.
If you decided to go with website “B”, 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 a web development tool … 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 and easy-to-use content management system that is ideally suited for businesses on a budget.
Whether your reason for having a web site is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a beginner with no knowledge of HTML to use and manage, yet it offers an array of helpful features 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, yours is also a WordPress site.
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 a similar site built for a much smaller cost?
The Easy Way To Tell If Your Web Site Was Built Using The WP CMS Platform
Do you need to know if a website uses WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to our site because you’ve read or heard wonderful things about WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site runs on WordPress, 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 ways to tell if a web site has been built with WordPress:
Check Your Page Source Code
If you know how to bring up 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 that the site was built using WordPress …
(Viewing web page source code using Firefox)
Suppose that you are browsing online and you visit a site 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.
Once the source code of the page loads on your screen, search for “wp-content” either manually …
Or using your browser’s “Find” function …
(Use the Firefox web browser ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site was built using WordPress or not.
Note: If you are unable to locate “wp-content” in the source code, it doesn’t necessarily mean that this is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if a site was built using WordPress, as we will soon be discussing.
As the point of this post is to help non “techies”, however, below you will find a number of easy ways to check if your web site is built with WordPress other than viewing the source code.
Ask Your Webmaster
While this may seem like the most logical thing to do, a number of website development companies, for whatever reason, will build clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you have an existing web site and you’re not sure what CMS application is driving it, just ask your webmaster or whoever built your website if it has been 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 site that you really like while surfing the net late at night and you need to know if the site was built using WordPress?
Check Below The Footer
If the site uses a WordPress theme and the theme templates have not been modified, you will typically see a “Powered by WordPress” notice displayed at the bottom of the site …
(Powered by WordPress)
If the methods above haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites …
Sites That Tell You If A Website Is Built With WordPress
Here are a some sites that can tell you if your website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WordPress? – WP Site Checker
(Is It WordPress? – WordPress Website Checking Tool)
Is It WP? is a free online tool that lets you quickly check if a website uses WordPress or not.
Using this site is really easy. Just enter the address of the site into the URL field and click the button.
It will go 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 the site is currently using …
If the site is not a WordPress site, you will get a message like the one shown in the screenshot 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 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 – Extension For Firefox / Chrome Web Browser
(Wappalyzer)
If you use a browser like Firefox or Chrome and want to be able to see if the sites that you are visiting have been built using WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a great add-on to add to your browser.
Wappalyzer helps you identify 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 very easy to install and easy to use.
Once you have installed the Wappalyzer add-on on your browser, icons will show up in your browser, in the URL field allowing you to see which technologies are being used by the sites you visit …
If you see the WordPress icon on the browser menu (as shown in the screen shot above), then the site uses WordPress.
(This site is built using WordPress!)
Visit the Wappalyzer browser extension 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, 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 that you have found this the information in this tutorial useful.
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"Learning WordPress has been a huge stumbling block for me. I've been looking for something that covers absolutely everything but doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Thank you so much ... you have just provided me with what I have been looking for! Truly appreciated!" - Tanya