In this tutorial, I am going to teach you how to tell if a website is WordPress.
It used to be that blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell the difference between the two.
Then WordPress came along and changed all this. Now, it’s getting more and 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.
For website owners, understanding the difference between a CMS tool 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, like web development costs, ease of use, ability to maintain the website up-to-date, managing web content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of the options below would you choose?
A) An eye-catching, professional-looking website that turns out to be fairly expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking site, but at a cost that is significantly less than the cost of getting option “A” built.
If you picked website “B” above, then you need to learn more about WordPress, why WordPress can give you an attractive, professional-looking and fully functional website that could turn out to be far less expensive to build than websites which are built using web-building software … and how to tell these two types apart!
WordPress is the world’s preferred online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful and easy-to-use content management tool suitable for local businesses.
Whether your reason for having a website is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a beginner with no technical skills to use and manage, yet it offers a range of helpful functions that make your website extremely 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 one built, then wouldn’t it be great 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 a similar site built for your business for a much smaller cost?
Wealthy Affiliate teaches you how to build a website with WordPress and you can build one for free!
How to Tell if a Website is WordPress
Do you need to know if a website uses WordPress? Maybe you’ve come here because you’ve heard wonderful things about WordPress, and you’re now wondering if a site was built using WordPress, or some other CMS application.
Here are some simple methods you can use to quickly tell if a website has been built using WordPress:
Look At the 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 an obvious telltale footprint that the site was built with WordPress …
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.
After the source code of the page loads on your screen, you can search for “wp-content” either by visually scanning the code …
Or use your browser’s “Find” function …
This will tell you if the site runs on WordPress or not.
Note: If you are unable to find “wp-content” within the page 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 the WordPress software, as we will soon see.
As the point of this post is to try and help non “techies”, however, below you will find a number of easier methods you can use to check if your site is built using WordPress other than scanning the source code.
Check Below Footer
If the site uses a WordPress theme and the website template has not been edited, you can typically find a “Proudly powered by WordPress” message shown in the footer section …
If these simple methods haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of telling whether a site was built with WordPress or not …
Online Tools That Can Tell You If A Website Uses WordPress
Here are a couple of sites that will tell you if a particular website uses WordPress or not …
IsItWP.com – WordPress Checker
Is It WP is a free tool that tells you if a site runs on WordPress or not.
Using this tool is very easy. Just paste the URL of the website into the URL field and click the button next to it.
It will then search through the URL and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, which version of WordPress the site is currently using …
If the web site does not run on WordPress, you will get a message like the one below …
To use this tool, go here: Is It WordPress? – WP Checking Tool
What WordPress Theme Is That?
What WP Theme Is That? is another free WP theme-checking tool that lets you easily detect what WP theme a site is using (including parent and child themes).
This is another useful site for telling you if a site was built with WordPress or not.
Entering the website’s URL into the field and clicking the icon will not only confirm if the site is a WordPress site, but it will also list the WordPress theme (web design template) being used by the site and any plugins it detects.
Tip: You can use this tool for competitive analysis to see if your competitors are also using WordPress, and if so, see which plugins they are using …
Note: If the site was not built with WordPress, you will get a message like the one shown below …
Go here to use this tool: WhatWPThemeIsThat.com
Wappalyzer.com
If you use either the Firefox or Chrome browser and want to be able to tell if the sites that you are visiting are WP-powered, then Wappalyzer is a very useful extension for your 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 an easy to install and very easy to use web browser extension.
After installing Wappalyzer on your browser, icons will show up in your web browser menu allowing you to see which technologies are installed on the sites you are visiting …
If the WordPress icon displays on your browser menu (as the above screen shot shows), then the site has been built with WordPress.
Go here to learn more: Wappalyzer – Web Browser Extension (Firefox / Chrome)
We hope you have found this information on how to tell if a website is WordPress useful.
Can we help you become a better WordPress user? Feel free to tell us what you think below or take a moment to share this article with your friends.
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