How to know when your website is down
Most business owners find out their website is down from a customer. Here is why sites go down, how to check yours right now, what to do first, and how to hear about it within minutes.
A customer rings to say the booking form isn't working, or a friend mentions the site "looked broken" yesterday. By then the site may have been down for hours, and every visitor in that time has gone somewhere else.
Why websites go down
It's rarely dramatic. The common causes are ordinary:
- The hosting account lapsed because a renewal card expired.
- The domain name expired, so the address no longer points anywhere.
- An update broke something, often a WordPress plugin or theme update.
- The host had an outage, or the server ran out of memory during a busy period.
- The security certificate expired, so browsers show a full-page warning instead of your site.
- The site was hacked and the host suspended it.
How to check your website right now
Open your website on your phone using mobile data, not your office Wi-Fi. If it loads there, it's up for the world. If it only fails on your own network, the problem is likely your internet connection, not the site. Also try a private browser window, which skips anything your browser has saved.
What to do first if it's down
- Check your email for anything from your hosting company or domain registrar about payments, renewals or suspensions.
- Log in to your hosting account and look for a status or outage notice.
- Think about what changed recently. If a plugin or theme was updated in the last day, that's the first suspect.
- If you have a developer, tell them exactly what you see: a blank page, an error number, or a security warning.
How to hear about it first
The fix for finding out late is a monitoring service that checks your site around the clock and emails you when it stops answering. A good one waits for two failed checks in a row, so a passing blip doesn't set off an alarm, and tells you again when the site is back.
Common questions
Will a short outage hurt my Google ranking?
A few minutes is very unlikely to make a difference. Outages that last a long time, or happen again and again, can lead Google to show your pages less, which is why it pays to know quickly.
How often should a website be checked?
Every few minutes is the standard for business websites. That way you hear within minutes, not hours.
My website works for me but customers say it is down. Why?
Your browser may be showing a saved copy. Check on your phone using mobile data, or in a private window, to see what customers see.