Step 1: Confirm it's actually down, not just your device
Before anything else, check whether the site is genuinely unreachable or just not loading on your specific device and network. Try it on mobile data instead of WiFi, try a different device entirely, or ask someone in a different location to check. If it loads fine for them, the problem is local, your WiFi, your device's DNS cache, or a browser issue, not your website.
Step 2: Rule out a browser or DNS caching issue
Try loading the site in a private or incognito browser window, which skips your browser's cache entirely. If it loads correctly there, clearing your regular browser's cache, or simply waiting a few minutes for a DNS change to propagate if you recently made one, usually resolves it.
Step 3: Check whether it's actually a domain problem
This one catches people out more often than you'd expect. A surprisingly common cause of a site that "just stopped working" is a domain registration that quietly expired because a renewal email got missed or filtered into spam, rather than anything actually breaking on the hosting side. Check your domain's expiry date directly with your registrar before assuming it's a hosting fault.
Step 4: Think about what changed recently
Did a plugin or theme update recently? Did anyone edit code, install something new, or change a setting shortly before the site went down? A blank white screen with no error message on a WordPress site is a classic sign of a plugin or theme conflict, often immediately following an update. If you have file access, temporarily renaming the plugins folder often brings the site straight back and confirms the cause.
A specific error message, even a cryptic one, is far more useful for diagnosis than "it's just broken." Screenshot it before doing anything else.
Step 5: Contact support with the right information
Once you've worked through the steps above, contacting support with specifics gets you a fix far faster than a bare "my site is down" message. Have ready:
- Roughly when it started
- Whether anyone made changes just before it happened
- The exact error message or a screenshot, if there is one
- Whether it's down for everyone, or only for you specifically
This lets a support engineer start diagnosing the actual problem immediately, instead of spending the first few minutes asking you these same questions.
Why how your host recovers matters more than whether downtime happens
No hosting setup, anywhere, is completely immune to something occasionally going wrong. What actually separates a good host from a bad one is how fast and how completely they can recover when it does. That's the entire point of proper replication and backup architecture, covered in more detail in our guide to how that works, rather than a promise that nothing will ever break.
Site down right now?
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Frequently asked questions
How do I check if my website is down for everyone or just me?
Try loading it on a different device using mobile data instead of your normal WiFi, or ask someone in a different location to check. If it loads for them but not you, the problem is local to your device or network, not the website itself.
Why would my website suddenly stop working with no changes made?
A surprisingly common cause is a domain that quietly expired because a renewal reminder was missed, rather than anything actually breaking on the hosting side. It's worth checking your domain's expiry date before assuming it's a hosting or code problem.
What should I have ready when I contact hosting support about downtime?
Roughly when it started, whether you or anyone else made any changes just before, a screenshot or exact wording of any error message, and whether it's down for everyone or just certain visitors. This lets support start diagnosing immediately instead of asking you the same questions first.
What's a white screen with no error message usually caused by on WordPress?
This is commonly caused by a plugin or theme conflict, often right after an update. If you have file access, temporarily renaming the plugins folder, or the specific plugin folder you suspect, often restores the site immediately and confirms the cause.