Website not reachable? Here’s how to find the cause and get your site back online

Suddenly your website is not reachable. You may get “This site can’t be reached”, a white screen, a 500 error, or the page keeps loading endlessly. For an entrepreneur, that immediately feels urgent: customers can’t use your site, forms don’t work, and an online store can’t process orders.

An unreachable website is not automatically hacked, and it is not automatically lost either. The error can be local, with the domain or DNS, with the hosting, or in WordPress. That’s why the fastest approach is usually: rule things out first, and only then make changes.

Does the website work for others, but not for you? Then the problem is probably in your own network, browser, DNS cache, or an IP block. If the site is unreachable for everyone, then keep looking on the domain, DNS, hosting, WordPress, or server configuration side.

1. Check whether the problem only affects you

Do not start in WordPress before you know whether the site is truly offline for everyone. Try the website in a private window, on another phone, and via mobile data. If the site does open via 4G but not via your fixed network, the website itself is probably still online.

• Hard refresh the page and, if needed, test a private or incognito window.
• Temporarily turn off Wi‑Fi and test via 4G/5G.
• Have someone outside your network open the same URL.
• Check whether your IP address has been blocked by a firewall or hosting security after multiple failed login attempts.

Only when the site is also unreachable via other connections does it make sense to dig deeper.

2. Is there an outage at your hosting provider?

A server outage can affect multiple websites at once. Therefore, check your host’s official status page before disabling plugins, changing DNS records, or restoring backups. If there is an incident listed, waiting or contacting support is usually wiser than making changes yourself.

Also check your hosting account. A package can be temporarily suspended due to an outstanding invoice, exceeded limits, an abuse report, or an administrative issue. That sounds simple, but it is exactly the kind of cause you want to rule out quickly.

3. Check whether your domain name is still active

An expired domain name makes a website unreachable, even when all WordPress files are still perfectly on the server. Check with your registrar whether the domain is active and whether automatic renewal or payment has gone through correctly.

Have you just transferred or registered the domain? Then an incorrect connection or DNS that hasn’t yet updated everywhere can cause visitors to see different results. In that case, don’t make new DNS changes every few minutes; that only makes diagnosing harder.

4. Are the DNS and nameservers still correct?

DNS translates your domain name to the server where your website is hosted. If an A record, CNAME, or nameserver is incorrect, the browser can’t find the website at the right location. This can happen, for example, after a hosting migration, a change to Cloudflare, or a mistake when editing DNS records.

Do you see a message like DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN? Then DNS is one of the first things to check. Compare the current records with the details from your hosting provider and only change what you understand, or have your host/webmaster review it.

Don’t do this Don’t randomly delete or replace DNS records. One wrong change can affect not only your website, but also email and other services on the same domain.

5. Is HTTPS or the SSL certificate causing problems?

An SSL issue can cause visitors to see a security warning or prevent HTTPS from opening correctly. Check whether the certificate is valid, was issued for the correct domain name, and can renew automatically. Also check that both www and the non-www version are set up correctly.

Note: an SSL warning is not the same as a server being completely offline. The exact browser message therefore helps determine whether you truly have an availability issue or mainly a certificate/HTTPS issue.

6. Did the site break after a WordPress update?

If the outage started right after an update, that timing is important information. A plugin, theme, WordPress core, or PHP version can cause a compatibility issue. The site may then show a critical error, stay white/blank, or return a 500 error.

WordPress also has a built-in Recovery Mode for certain fatal PHP errors. Therefore also check the site’s admin email address: WordPress may send a recovery email there that lets you log in temporarily and investigate the problem.

Can you still access the dashboard? If so, first deactivate the most recently updated or installed plugin and test again. If you can no longer log in, an experienced administrator can temporarily disable plugins via hosting/file management. Only do this if you know what you are changing and make sure a recent backup is available.

Official WordPress documentation: Common WordPress Errors and Recovery Mode.

7. Plugin or theme conflict

A plugin doesn’t have to be “bad” to take a site down. Two plugins can get in each other’s way, a theme can use functions that no longer match the PHP version, or an update can unexpectedly clash with custom code.

The safe order is: find out what changed most recently, have a backup or staging environment available, rule out one variable at a time, and test again after every step. If you change five things at once, you won’t know afterward what the real cause was.

8. PHP error, memory limit, or incompatible PHP version

A 500 error or “critical error” can come from PHP. Possible causes are a code error, a plugin conflict, a memory limit that’s too low, or software that isn’t compatible with the active PHP version. Therefore, check your hosting environment’s error logs; they usually provide more information than the white screen itself.

For technical diagnosis, WordPress has WP_DEBUG and WP_DEBUG_LOG. WordPress recommends having a staging environment or suitable backup before making changes and not showing debug messages publicly on a live site.

More background: Debugging in WordPress.

9. Is the database connection not working?

The “Error establishing a database connection” message is quite specific: WordPress can’t reach the database with the configured credentials. This can happen after a database password change, a problem with the database server, a corrupted configuration, or a hosting outage.

Don’t immediately change values in wp-config.php if you’re not sure which details are correct. First check in your hosting panel whether the database is active and whether anything was recently changed regarding database users or passwords.

10. Are you stuck in a redirect loop?

In a redirect loop, URL A redirects to URL B, after which B redirects back to A – or a similar loop arises between HTTP/HTTPS, www/non-www, or rules in a plugin and the server configuration. Browsers then often show a message such as “too many redirects”.

• Check recent redirect or HTTPS changes.
• See whether WordPress, an SEO plugin, Cloudflare/CDN, and the server aren’t simultaneously enforcing conflicting redirects.
• Only then clear the relevant cache and test again.

11. Have hosting limits, disk space, or server resources been reached?

A website can also go down because the hosting environment hits a limit. Think of a full disk, too little memory, process limits, a heavy cron job, lots of bot traffic, or a sudden spike in visitors. A message such as 503 or a resource-limit error may fit, but the logs and the hosting panel must confirm the cause.

Don’t blindly clean up files or databases to make room. First check what is using the space and what can be safely removed. Old backups on the same server, log files, and cache can take up a lot of storage, but important data can also be large.

12. Has the website been hacked or blocked by the host?

A hack is one possible cause of an unreachable website, but not the first conclusion you should jump to. Hosting providers may temporarily isolate an infected site to stop spam, phishing, or malware distribution. Malicious code can also cause errors, redirects, or overload.

Do you see unknown administrators, strange files, spam content, redirects, or a security warning from your host? Then treat this as a security incident. Don’t just start removing plugins or restoring a random backup before you know what happened.

Do you see signs of a hack? Do you see unknown administrators, strange files, spam content, or malicious redirects? Then continue with Website hacked? What now? That’s a different problem than regular downtime and requires a separate recovery sequence.

What do common error messages mean?

Message / code	What it usually means	First check
This site can’t be reached	The browser can’t establish a usable connection to the site	Test another connection, check DNS/hosting
DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN	The domain name can’t be resolved correctly via DNS	Domain status, DNS records, and nameservers
ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS	Redirects send the browser into a loop	HTTP/HTTPS, www, plugin/CDN/server redirects
403 Forbidden	Server refuses access	Permissions, security rules, firewall
404 Not Found	The requested URL/page doesn’t exist there	URL, permalink, redirects; the site may still be online otherwise
500 Internal Server Error	General server/application error	Error logs, recent changes, PHP/WordPress
502 Bad Gateway	Gateway/proxy didn’t receive a valid upstream response	Hosting, proxy/CDN, server status
503 Service Unavailable	Server temporarily unavailable, e.g., maintenance or overload	Status, resources, maintenance mode
504 Gateway Timeout	Gateway/proxy waited too long for upstream server	Server load, backend, hosting
Error establishing a database connection	WordPress cannot reach the database	Database credentials and database server

HTTP codes are summarized based on the standard meanings as described in MDN/RFC 9110. A code indicates where the error category lies, but not always the exact underlying cause.

What should you definitely not do when your website is unreachable?

Under stress, the temptation is great to change all kinds of things at once. That often makes an outage harder to fix. Avoid these actions in particular:

• Removing or replacing DNS records without knowing what they do.
• Restoring an old backup before you know whether the current data needs to be preserved and what caused the outage.
• Changing multiple plugins, themes, and PHP settings at the same time.
• Leaving debug messages with technical paths or sensitive information publicly visible on a live site.
• Assuming every outage is a hack and therefore deleting files unnecessarily.
• Continuing to tinker while your hosting provider is already dealing with a server incident.

When should you involve a webmaster or hosting provider?

Some checks you can safely do yourself. But stop as soon as you need to work on database credentials, DNS, server configuration, error logs, or recovery actions that you do not properly understand. Especially for an online store or a website that generates leads, prolonged experimenting can be more expensive than having the outage analyzed in a targeted way.

Seek professional help sooner if: the website is offline for everyone, you no longer have access to hosting or WordPress, an update has broken the site, the database won’t connect, you see security signals, or the cause is still unclear after the initial checks.

Moonbeetle can investigate the technical cause via webmaster services, so you don’t have to change DNS, WordPress, or server settings on a hunch.

Does an offline website affect SEO?

A brief outage does not automatically mean your rankings disappear. But if search engines cannot reach your pages repeatedly or for a prolonged period, they cannot crawl and evaluate content normally. With planned short downtime, the server should therefore communicate a temporary status correctly instead of returning a normal page with an error message.

For temporary technical interruptions, Google provides guidelines on using HTTP statuses and temporarily pausing a site. For a regular business owner, the practical message is simple: restore accessibility as quickly as possible and have an administrator check the correct server response if the site needs to be intentionally taken offline temporarily.

More background: Google Search Central – Temporarily pause or disable a website.

Is your website reachable but mainly slow? Then the search intent is different. For that, read Moonbeetle’s guide Speed up WordPress.

How do you reduce the chance that your website unexpectedly goes down?

This page is about diagnosis, not a complete maintenance plan. Still, you can make many outages less likely by automatically renewing your domain and hosting, testing backups, updating WordPress and plugins in a controlled way, monitoring uptime, and testing changes on staging first when the site is business-critical.

The most important thing is that you know who is responsible when something goes wrong and where access to hosting, the domain, backups, and technical logs is. That significantly shortens recovery time.

Frequently asked questions about a website that is not reachable

Why is my website not reachable while other websites do work?

If other websites do open, the problem may lie with your own website, hosting, DNS, or domain. First test via a different connection and have someone outside your network open the site. If the site works there, a local network or IP issue is more likely.

What does “This site can’t be reached” mean?

The browser can’t establish a normal connection to the website. The exact cause can vary: local connection, DNS, server, firewall, or hosting. Therefore, always look at the exact error code or any additional message.

Can an expired domain name take my website offline?

Yes. If the domain is no longer active, visitors can’t reach the website normally via the domain name. Check the registrar and renewal status before you start making changes to WordPress.

Can a WordPress plugin make my entire website unreachable?

Yes. A fatal PHP error or conflict can cause WordPress to stop loading normally. Look at recent changes, Recovery Mode and error logs, and deactivate only what you suspect, in a targeted way.

What do I do with a 500 error?

A 500 Internal Server Error is a general server/application error. Check the error logs and recent changes. With WordPress, plugins, themes, PHP, memory limits, or corrupted configuration are possible causes.

Is my website hacked if it’s offline?

Not necessarily. An outage, expired domain, DNS error, update issue, database error, or server limit can cause the same symptoms. Security signals such as strange files, unknown accounts, malware alerts, or redirects make a hack more likely.

When should I call my hosting provider?

Get in touch if the status page reports an outage, your hosting account appears to be suspended, DNS/server problems are suspected, or you can’t access logs and server settings. Provide the exact error message, start time, and any recent changes.

When do I need a webmaster?

If the initial safe checks don’t reveal anything, or you need to work on WordPress files, the database, DNS, PHP, or server configuration that you’re not comfortable with, a webmaster is the quickest and safest next step.