Critical error / white screen
A PHP fatal error or theme/plugin conflict causes WordPress to crash and show a blank page.
Learn more →Site down
When your site shows a critical error, 500 error, blank page, or won’t load after updates, changes, or hosting issues.
Not a guarantee. Best-effort incident response.
A "site down" incident usually means WordPress cannot complete a request: PHP fatal errors, database connection failures, exhausted memory, misconfigured caching, plugin or theme conflicts, or server-side rules blocking normal traffic.
The priority is safe recovery: identify the root cause, stabilise the site, and confirm critical pages load correctly before making wider changes.
All site-down incidents are handled through our WordPress Rescue process (controlled diagnosis, safe stabilisation, verification).
Common site down problems
500 Internal Server Error
Server-level failures triggered by PHP limits, .htaccess rules, permissions, or misconfigured caching.
Learn more →Error establishing a database connection
Database credentials, server availability, corrupted tables, or connection limits stop WordPress loading.
Learn more →Site breaks after update
WordPress, plugin, or theme updates introduce incompatibilities or trigger fatal errors.
Learn more →Redirect loop / too many redirects
SSL or URL settings, Cloudflare rules, or caching causes endless redirects and blocks access.
Learn more →WAF / security blocks the site
Firewall rules or bot protection blocks legitimate traffic or admin access after changes.
Learn more →Memory exhausted / timeout
PHP memory limits or long-running requests cause timeouts, partial loads, or admin lockouts.
Learn more →Caching misconfiguration breaks pages
Full-page cache, object cache, or CDN rules serve broken responses or block logged-in flows.
Learn more →Rescue approach
Root-cause first
Check error logs, recent changes, server responses, and plugin/theme conflicts to identify the true failure point.
Minimum safe change
Stabilise access with the smallest reliable fix (safe rollback, disable conflict, correct config) to reduce risk.
Business-critical checks
Confirm key pages load, admin access is restored, and core flows behave normally before closing the incident.
Clear explanation
You get a short summary of what failed, what changed, and what to watch to prevent repeat downtime.
What this does not include
- Redesigns, replatforming, or feature development (unless separately agreed)
- Ongoing maintenance or SLA agreements (unless separately agreed)
- Long-term performance optimisation (focus is on recovery and stability)
- Security remediation or malware clean-up beyond restoring access (unless separately agreed)
Site down right now?
Describe what you see (error message, when it started, what changed) and I'll tell you the fastest safe route to restore the site.
ContactResponse within 2 hours during business hours (UK time). Initial diagnosis provided before any work begins.