Quick answer
Test your site on mobile data instead of your Wi-Fi, and with an online status checker. If it is down for everyone, check that the domain has not expired, that DNS records have not changed, and that hosting is active. Most outages come from expired domains, DNS changes or hosting resource limits.
This guide is for website owners whose site will not load. It is part of our website help centre. Work through it in order: the first two steps take two minutes and rule out half the possible causes.
Check these first
- Turn off Wi-Fi on your phone and load the site on mobile data. If it works there, the problem is your office network, router or computer, not the website.
- Use an online checker such as downforeveryoneorjustme.com or isitdownrightnow.com. They test from outside your network.
- Read the exact error. A browser error (like "This site can't be reached") points to the domain or DNS. A numbered error page (like 500 or 503) means the server answered but something failed. Note the wording before you refresh.
- Check your email for renewal notices about the domain or hosting, including the spam folder.
- Ask what changed. A plugin update, a DNS edit, a new email provider or a hosting move in the last 48 hours is the most likely cause.
What each error means
| What you see | What it means | How to fix it | How long it takes |
|---|---|---|---|
"This site can't be reached" or DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN | The domain name does not resolve: expired domain, deleted DNS records or wrong nameservers | Check domain status with your registrar, then check nameservers and the A record | Minutes to fix, up to 48 hours to spread |
ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED or ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT | DNS works but the server is not answering, or a firewall is blocking you | Check hosting status; ask the host whether your IP address is blocked | Minutes to hours |
| 403 Forbidden | The server refuses access: wrong file permissions, a security rule or an IP block | Check recent .htaccess or security plugin changes and folder permissions | 15 to 60 minutes |
| 404 Not Found on the home page | The server is up but cannot find the site files | Check the files are in the right folder and the domain points to the right account | 15 to 60 minutes |
| 500 Internal Server Error | Code on the site failed, often after a plugin, theme or PHP update | Check the error log; on WordPress, see our critical error guide | 30 minutes to a few hours |
| 502 Bad Gateway or 504 Gateway Timeout | A proxy or CDN (such as Cloudflare) could not get a good answer from your server in time | Check the origin server is up and not overloaded; contact the host | Minutes to hours |
| 503 Service Unavailable or 508 | Server overloaded, in maintenance, or the account hit its resource limits | Check resource usage in cPanel; find the cause of the load | Minutes to a day |
| Hosting provider's "account suspended" page | Unpaid invoice, resource abuse, or malware found on the account | Contact the host with your account details | Hours to days |
Expired domain or hosting
This is the most common cause we see for a site that simply vanishes. The domain renewal card expired, or the renewal notices went to a former staff member or old developer.
For .com.au and other .au domains, the public auDA WHOIS will not show you the expiry date. auDA's WHOIS policy keeps creation, renewal and expiry dates off the public lookup. Log in to your registrar (the company you pay for the domain) to see it. If you do not know who that is, the WHOIS at whois.auda.org.au shows the registrar and the domain's status. For .com domains, a public WHOIS lookup usually shows the expiry date.
If the domain is in someone else's name, or you do not have the login, see our guide to getting website access from a previous developer.
DNS changes and propagation
DNS is the address book that sends your domain to your web server and email provider. Sites often go down when someone edits DNS for another reason: setting up Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, connecting a booking system, or changing nameservers to Cloudflare.
- Check the nameservers on the domain. They decide which DNS zone is used. Editing records at the registrar does nothing if the nameservers point to Cloudflare or your host.
- Check the A record for the root domain and the www record. They should point at your current host.
- After a fix, updates spread at different speeds. Each record has a TTL (time to live) that tells networks how long to cache it. Most changes show within a few hours, but allow up to 48 hours.
Google's own advice before a planned hosting move is to lower the TTL in advance and keep the old hosting running until traffic to it stops.
Hosting resource limits
On shared cPanel hosting, each account has limits on CPU, memory and simultaneous processes. When a site hits them, visitors see 503 or 508 errors, often in bursts. Common triggers are a traffic spike, a bot crawling thousands of pages, a broken plugin running heavy queries, or a hacked site sending spam.
If your host uses CloudLinux, open cPanel and look for Resource Usage under Metrics. It shows whether and when you hit limits. If faults line up with the outages, either reduce the load (caching, blocking bad bots, removing heavy plugins) or move to a larger plan.
When to call your host
Contact your host if the domain and DNS are fine but the server will not respond, if you see 502, 503 or 504 errors you cannot explain, or if the account shows as suspended. Give them the exact error, the time it started (with your time zone, AEST or AEDT), and any changes you made. Many budget hosts offer support from overseas time zones, so check their hours before you need them.
Set up uptime monitoring
Most owners find out their site is down from a customer. A free uptime monitor (UptimeRobot, Better Stack and similar) checks your home page every few minutes and emails or texts you when it fails. Add a second check for your contact page, because a site can be partly broken while the home page still loads. Also set renewal reminders for the domain in your own calendar, separate from the registrar's emails.
When to get help
A specialist will check the domain record, DNS zone, server logs and resource usage together, which usually pins down the cause in under an hour. If the site shows a certificate warning rather than an error, see our not secure guide. If WordPress shows "There has been a critical error", follow our critical error repair guide.
Talk to us about reliable hosting
About this guide
Written by Amann Jhamb, Director of AR Digital Solutions, 17 years in web design, SEO and paid ads. Last checked: 3 November 2026 against MDN: HTTP response status codes and the auDA WHOIS Policy. Change note: first published 3 November 2026. Part of our website help centre.