Your website is down. Here's how to find out why, and who can fix it.
Your site won't load, or shows an error you've never seen. Most outages come down to a handful of causes: the domain, the hosting, an update that broke something, or a hack. The message on your screen usually tells you which one, and so who to call. Start by checking it isn't just you.
Check this first. It takes two minutes.
A site can look down to you and be fine for everyone else, because of your Wi-Fi, your office network or your browser. Before you call anyone:
- Open it on mobile data. Turn Wi-Fi off on your phone and load your site. If it works there, the problem is likely on your side, not the website.
- Ask someone elsewhere to try. A customer, a friend, or a colleague at home. Ask them what they see, word for word.
- Check your host's status page. If the company that runs your site is having an outage, it usually says so here: Hostinger, GoDaddy, Squarespace, Wix, Shopify, Cloudflare.
If it's down for everyone, the next question is the one most owners get stuck on: is it the domain, the host, an update or a hack? One owner put it this way: "I know it's not a programming error, how do I know if it's a hosting issue or domain issue" (r/webdev). The error on the screen is your best clue.
What you see tells you what broke.
Find the message closest to what's on your screen. Copy it down exactly, with the time you first saw it. Whoever fixes it will ask for both.
| What you see | What it usually means | Who fixes it | Read next |
|---|---|---|---|
| "There has been a critical error on this website", or a blank white page (WordPress) | Something is stopping WordPress from running, often a plugin or theme. WordPress emails the site admin address a link to a recovery mode where the broken plugin or theme is paused. | You, with the recovery email. Otherwise your developer or host. | The first hour |
| "Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance" | An update didn't finish, and WordPress didn't remove its .maintenance file. | Anyone with access to the site's files: your developer or host support. | Questions |
| "Error establishing a database connection" | Usually the database details in the site's wp-config.php file are wrong. If they're right, the problem is likely at your host. | Your developer, then your host. | The first hour |
| A Cloudflare page with error 521, 522, 523, 524, 525 or 526 | Cloudflare names the cause: 521 "web server is down", 522 "connection timed out", 523 "origin is unreachable", 524 "a timeout occurred", 525 "SSL handshake failed", 526 "invalid SSL certificate". The problem is at the server behind Cloudflare, not Cloudflare itself. | Your host, or whoever set up Cloudflare and your SSL certificate. | Hosting expired |
| "This site can't be reached" | Your browser couldn't connect to your site at all. Check the domain first, then the hosting. | Your registrar or your host. | Domain expired |
| A parking page with ads, or a registrar page saying the domain has expired | The domain name has lapsed. Your email has likely stopped too. | The registrar you bought the domain from. | Domain expired |
| A red "Deceptive site ahead" warning | Google has flagged your site as unsafe, which often follows a hack. | You or your developer clean the site, then ask Google to review it. | Deceptive site ahead |
Know the cause? Go straight to it.
Each of these has its own page with the steps, so you don't have to read about problems you don't have.
The domain lapsed
A parking page, "can't be reached", and your email bounces too. How long you have depends on your registrar.
The hosting wasn't paid
The domain is fine, but your host suspended or closed the account, often after a failed card payment.
It was hacked
Strange pages, redirects to other sites, or files and users you didn't add.
Google shows a red warning
Visitors see "Deceptive site ahead" before your site loads.
It broke after an update
It went down right after a plugin, theme, WordPress or PHP update, or your host changed the PHP version.
You can't log in, or the developer vanished
You can't get into the host, registrar or site admin, and the person who set it up isn't answering.
Four things to do before anything else.
These help whatever the cause, and they stop a small problem turning into a bigger one.
Check the admin email
If your site runs on WordPress, look in the inbox of the site's admin email address, including spam. WordPress sends a secret link to recovery mode, where you can log in and pause the plugin or theme that broke.
Stop re-running updates
If it broke during an update, don't run the update again or keep clicking buttons in the dashboard. Each try can make it harder to see what changed.
Contact your host with the details
Send them the exact error text, the time it started, and what changed just before. A precise message gets a faster, better answer than "my site is down".
Restore a backup if you have one
A backup from before the problem is often the quickest way back. Ask your host what backups they keep. Website backups explains what a good one looks like.
Will Google drop me?
Not because of a short outage. Here's what Google says happens:
- When your pages return server errors, Google slows down how often it visits your site.
- Pages that keep returning server errors are removed from Google's results.
- Once your pages load normally again, Google gradually visits more often again.
- If you take a site down on purpose, Google says to keep it to a very short time, a few days at most.
So the thing that matters is getting back up fast, not how it looked for an hour.
Stop it happening again
- Get told when it goes down, by a monitor that checks your site and alerts you, so you don't hear it from a customer. See website monitoring.
- Keep backups you can actually restore, stored away from the site itself. See website backups.
- Test updates before they go live, one at a time, with a backup taken first. See website updates.
- Keep renewals on a card that won't expire, for both the domain and the hosting, with reminders going to an inbox someone reads.
If you'd rather someone else watched your site and fixed it when it breaks, we look after small business websites in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Your first fix is free. Then from $100 a month. Start a chat or message us on WhatsApp +92 326 2326191.
Is my website down, or is it just me?
Turn off Wi-Fi on your phone and open the site on mobile data. If it loads, the problem is likely your own network or browser. If it doesn't, check your host's status page, then match the error you see to the table on this page.
Why would a website suddenly stop working?
The usual causes are an expired domain, unpaid or suspended hosting, a plugin, theme or PHP update that broke something, a problem at the host, or a hack. The error text on the screen usually tells you which one, and so who can fix it.
How do I fix "There has been a critical error on this website"?
Something is stopping WordPress from running, often a plugin or theme. Check the site admin email inbox first: WordPress sends a secret link to recovery mode, where you can log in and pause the broken plugin or theme. If no email came, ask your developer or host to turn on debug mode and find the cause.
My WordPress site went down after a plugin update. What do I do?
Don't run the update again. Look for the recovery mode email from WordPress and use it to pause the plugin that broke. If you can't get in, contact your host with the exact error text and the time it started, or restore the backup from before the update.
Why does my site say "briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance"?
WordPress shows this while an update runs. If it stays after the update, the update didn't finish and left a .maintenance file behind. Deleting that file from the site's main folder brings the site back. Your developer or host can remove it for you.
Will my website drop out of Google if it's down?
Not after a short outage. When your site returns server errors, Google slows down how often it visits. If the errors go on, Google removes those pages from its results. Once the pages load normally again, Google gradually visits more often again. Getting back up fast is what matters.