Having a beautiful WordPress website for your business or personal needs is great. But the problem happens when your website does not load and you don't even know what to do.

A WordPress website may not be loading for several reasons. It can happen for internal server error, your domain & hosting problem as well as technical reasons.

But whichever reason it might not be loading, it would surely be very harmful to your website. So you have to find out those issues and solve them properly as soon as possible.

But, how?

Today you’ll get to know some of the most common reasons regarding for WordPress sites not loading. Also, we'll be discussing how to fix them preciously.

Let's get started.

Backup Your WordPress Website First

WordPress Database Backup while working on WordPress site not loading issue — Source: WP Hive

Before diving into the article, make sure that your WordPress website is backed up well. It is very important to always keep a full backup of your website before any technical procedure.

Your website has a lot of necessary data and you can't afford to lose them at all.

In WordPress, one can easily back up their own website by adding a Backup Plugin. You may use any of those WordPress Backup Plugins below for copying your entire website.

UpdraftPlus – WordPress Backup Plugin
BackWPup – WordPress Backup Plugin
Duplicator – WordPress Migration Plugin

Above all of these Backup Plugins are free, so you don’t need to pay. Just make a full backup of your site then solve the site loading problem.

10 Common Reasons for Your WordPress Website Not Loading with Easy Solution

Fix Common WordPress Errors and solve wordpress website is not loading issue — Source: WP Hive

In this guide, we have discussed 10 common reasons regarding the WordPress website not loading. And we will also show you how can you solve them and run an error-free website.

Things we have covered:

Connection Error
Check .htaccess
Domain Expiration
Hosting Problem
Permalink Setting
Broken Code
WordPress Version Outdated
Outdated Themes & Plugins
PHP Memory Limit
Maximum Execution Time

Let's dive into details.

1. Connection Error

A faultless database connection is always vital to your website. Therefore, you must connect your database correctly otherwise your WordPress website will not load perfectly.

To fix or recheck your database connection, first, you need to go cPanel >File Manager >public.html >wp-config.php. Here, you’ll find all of your database information and have to check them properly.

Connection Error for WordPress website not loading

If you see any error or difference, you need to fix it ASAP. Then reload your site on the browser and check them again. Is your site is working well now? Then you don’t need to do anything. If not please keep following the below section.

2. Internal Server Error

Your .htaccess file contains a lot of necessary information on your server as well as your website. If it has any discrepancy, it’ll prevent the loading of your website. So let’s solve the issue.

First, you should visit cPanel > File Manager >public.html >.htaccess. If you cannot see the file here, you need to go to settings and check the option Show Hidden Files. Second, download your main .htaccess file then rename your old .htaccess file.

After that, you have to check the permalink in your WordPress Dashboard Setting >Permalink and click the Save Changes button. We hope it’ll solve your internal server error.

Finally, upload the main .htaccess file that you downloaded before and delete the current renamed .htaccess file.

3. Domain & Hosting Problem

Domain and hosting can be the reason of WordPress website not displaying correctly

More often than not, we don't pay attention to our domain expiration date. That’s why sometimes the website fails to load. So it’s essential to check our domain and hosting time limit gradually.

It’s not fair that the issue is always only created by you but also by others. Like, the domain expiration date, you may have faced some other error such as a server down while displaying your site.

But this time it’s done by your hosting provider. If you see those problems, quickly contact your hosting provider to fix this.

4. WordPress Syntax Error

Your WordPress site not loading properly because of the syntax error. When creating your WordPress website, you may need to change or add some codes on the WordPress file in function.php.

In fact, the problem creates when you fail to do this perfectly. Because it's a very sensitive file and you cannot allow any error in it.

Next, you'll have to add some code snippets in the WordPress function.php file. I suggest you use a plugin for this. You can easily find many in the WordPress Plugins directory to do this.

However, we suggest My Custom Functions, as it is one of the best Plugins to add code to your function.php file.

5. Permalink Setting

By using the wrong permalink structure, your WordPress website may not be displaying correctly. Because permalink is called the destination of your site. You can also call it slug or URL.

If your site is not working well, it might also be the reason for using the wrong permalink structure.

How to fix this issue? First, log in to your WordPress admin panel then go to Setting >Permalink. After that, select the Post name option and click on the Save Changes button to save your settings.

6. PHP Memory Limit

Like the PHP version, PHP Memory Limit may also be the reason for this problem. The good thing is that you can easily increase the PHP memory limit on your website. To do that, you have to simply navigate to this path cPanel >File Manager >public.html >wp-config.

After that, just copy and add this piece of code to the wp-config file.

define( ‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', ‘256M' );

Did it help? If not, below we have more tips for you to recover from this issue.

7. Maximum Execution Time

One of the most common reasons for WordPress sites not loading is the Max Execution Time.

You should increase your execution time limit after appropriately setting up or installing WordPress on your site. Without increasing, you'll most likely interrupt loading your website properly.

To do this, first, again login to your cPanel and visit File Manager >public.html >wp-config. Then add this code here to raise your maximum execution time.

set_time_limit(300);

8. Broken Code

Broken code is always harmful and creates a bad effect on every website. It also impacts your site to not load. Broken code can be found on your site because of using low-quality themes or plugins.

To prevent or solve this major problem, you can do a couple of things. First, you have to deactivate your current theme and activate the default WordPress theme.

Secondly, you also have to deactivate all of your Plugins. Then check if it solves the problem. If yes, then you’ll have to reactivate your plugins one by one to find out which one is the reason behind the issue.

9. WordPress Version Outdated

WordPress version outdated can be the reason of website not loading Issues

Another difficulty in loading your website perfectly is because of the old or outdated version of WordPress. Generally, WordPress frequently updates from one version to another.

Besides, it is very necessary to always use the current updated version of WordPress. In addition, you should update your core WordPress files to protect your website.

10. Outdated Themes & Plugins

Okay, you do or check all the above problems but still, your site is not working and performing well? What's the cause? Remember, like WordPress, your themes and the Plugins that you used to build your website also need to update day-to-day.

Because everyday technology is changing it is always important to cope with the new technology. You can take help with WordPress's automated update itself to update your Themes and Plugins without losing your website data or design.

If you want to know more about common WordPress errors, check out this awesome list.

Bonus Point: What Should You Consider to Avoid or Minimize Loading Issues?

Negative Impacts of A Slow Website and How to Make It Faster

Great job, now you clearly understand why websites are not loading generally and learn how to solve the issue. This time, we’ll try to cover a bonus point that will help to avoid or minimize your loading issue.

Minimizing website loading time is a very key part of your site. It impacts your website ranking as well as search engine optimization (SEO). Therefore, it also influences users' minds while visiting your website.

According to Google, users can stay with your site for only 3/5 seconds. During this time, if you fail to load your website, he/she will jump to another website.

How can you minimize your website loading time? You may follow the solution below.

Find out the actual reason for slow loading
Upgrade your hosting plan
Optimize your website images
Using the WordPress cache plugin

We hope this list will help you to reduce your loading time. Besides, you can check out this amazing article where you'll know how to minimize your website loading and make it faster.

Conclusion on WordPress Website Not Loading

Awesome, you have come to the final part of this article. We hope it’s been a great journey and you have been able to solve the issue.

Whenever you’ll fail to load your site, you can go through this step-by-step guide and solve the problem easily.

Similarly, we hope this article also helps you know about the importance of fast-loading websites as well. So we hope will take adequate measures to improve your website loading speed.

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How to Solve WordPress Website Not Loading Issues