Website Down or Not Opening? What to Check and Do, Step by Step

On this page

1. Step 1: Is it really down?
2. Step 2: Read the error
3. Step 3: Check the domain
4. Step 4: Check the hosting account
5. Step 5: Think about recent changes
6. Step 6: Contact your host
7. Step 7: Restore from backup if needed
8. Keep customers informed
9. Prevent the next outage

Your website isn't opening, and customers are calling to say so. Don't panic. Most outages come from a handful of causes, and working through them in order usually finds the problem quickly.

Step 1: Is it really down?

• Try another device and network, such as your phone on mobile data instead of office Wi-Fi
• Use an online "is it down" checker to test from outside your network
• Try a private or incognito browser window to rule out cached problems

If it works elsewhere, the issue may be your local network, DNS cache or browser.

Step 2: Read the error

What you see	Likely cause
"This site can't be reached" / DNS error	Domain expired, DNS changed or nameservers wrong
500 Internal Server Error	Plugin, theme or server configuration problem
503 Service Unavailable	Server overloaded, or maintenance mode stuck
"There has been a critical error"	A PHP error, often from a plugin or theme update
"Error establishing a database connection"	Database server down or wrong credentials
Security or certificate warning	SSL certificate expired or misconfigured
"Account suspended" page	Hosting unpaid or suspended for resource use or malware
"Deceptive site ahead" warning	Google flagged the site, often after a hack

See common WordPress errors and fixes and SSL errors.

Step 3: Check the domain

Log in to your domain registrar and check the expiry date. An expired domain takes down both your website and email. See what to do when your domain expires.

Step 4: Check the hosting account

• Are hosting bills paid?
• Any emails from your host about suspension, resource limits or malware?
• Does the host's status page report an outage?

Suspended for malware? See what to do when your hosting is suspended.

Step 5: Think about recent changes

Did anyone update plugins, change themes, edit code, move hosting or change DNS in the last day or two? The most recent change is the most likely cause, and undoing it is often the fix.

Step 6: Contact your host

Hosting support can see server logs and tell you whether the server is up, what errors are occurring and whether your account hit limits. Give them the exact error, the time it started and any recent changes.

Step 7: Restore from backup if needed

If you can't find the cause quickly, restoring a recent working backup gets you back online while the problem is investigated; see backup and restore guide.

Keep customers informed

While fixing it, post an update on your Google Business Profile and social media, and make sure your phone and WhatsApp still work so enquiries aren't lost.

An outage is far easier to handle when roles, contacts and backups are sorted out in advance; see how to write a simple website disaster recovery plan.

Prevent the next outage

• Uptime monitoring so you know before customers do; see uptime monitoring
• Auto-renewal for domain and hosting
• Automatic off-site backups
• Test updates on staging first

Or let a maintenance service watch it for you.