Website Down? The First 15 Minutes Checklist for Owners

Your site is down, a customer has just told you, and your stomach drops. The next 15 minutes matter, but not because you need to fix everything. They matter because most outages come from a short list of causes, and you can rule most of them in or out in a few minutes without any technical background.

This checklist is written for small-business owners. You do not need a server login for the first ten steps. Work down the list in order, write down what you see, and stop when you find the cause. If you reach the end without an answer, you will have exactly the information your host or developer needs.

Minutes 0 to 3: Confirm it is really down

1. Try it on a different network. Turn off Wi-Fi on your phone and load the site over mobile data. If it works there, the problem may be your office network, your computer, or a cached copy. Our guide is it down for everyone or just me covers this in more depth.
2. Run an outside check. Paste your address into the वेबसाइट हेल्थ चेक. It tests the site from our servers, not your computer, and shows the response code, how long it took, and whether DNS and SSL look healthy.
3. Note the exact symptom. "Down" can mean very different things. Write down which one you see:
4. A browser error such as "This site can't be reached" (often a DNS or connection problem)
5. A security warning about the certificate (an SSL problem)
6. A page that says 500, 502, 503 or 504 (a server problem)
7. A blank white page (often an application error)
8. A page that loads but looks broken or shows another site (a DNS, hosting or hacking issue)
9. An endless loading spinner (a timeout)

That one note decides which of the next steps to do first.

Minutes 3 to 6: Read the response code

1. Open the HTTP स्टेटस चेकर and enter your address. The number it returns narrows things down quickly:
2. 200 means the server answered normally. The problem may be on one page, in the browser, or in a region. Move to step 6.
3. 301 or 302 is a redirect. A loop here can produce "too many redirects"; see the redirect guide.
4. 403 or 404 means the server is up but refusing or not finding the page. Check if someone changed permissions, deleted files, or changed a permalink setting.
5. 500 is a generic server-side failure; see fix 500 Internal Server Error.
6. 502 or 504 means a front server could not get a good or timely answer from the one behind it; see fix 502 और fix 504.
7. 503 means unavailable, often overload or maintenance; see fix 503.
8. No response at all means the check could not connect. That points to DNS, the server being off, or a firewall.
9. If the check from our servers works but your own browser fails, ask whether the problem is regional. The Down From Where tool tests from several locations so you can tell whether everyone is affected.

Minutes 6 to 10: Check the three things that expire

Three renewals cause a surprising share of "sudden" outages because they fail silently on a date nobody remembered.

1. Domain registration. Look up your domain in the WHOIS लुकअप and read the expiry date and status. If the date has passed, your registrar may have switched your domain to a parking page. Renew it right away, and read domain expiry grace and redemption if the date is more than a few days old. A full walkthrough is in how to check domain expiry and owner.
2. SSL certificate. Enter your domain into the SSL Checker. An expired certificate makes browsers show a full-page warning that most visitors will not click through. See how to check an SSL certificate's expiry date.
3. Hosting account. Log in to your hosting control panel or billing area. Look for a suspension notice, an unpaid invoice, or a message about exceeding a resource limit. Also check the email address on the hosting account, including spam, for notices from the host.

Minutes 10 to 13: Check DNS and recent changes

1. Use the DNS चेकर to look up your domain's A record (the address of your server). Compare it to the IP address your host says your site should use. If the record is missing or points somewhere unexpected, someone changed your DNS, your nameservers changed, or the domain expired. DNS explained for website owners explains the records in plain language.
2. Ask yourself and anyone with access: what changed in the last day? Common culprits are a plugin or theme update, a new plugin, a hosting plan change, a website migration, a new CDN or firewall setting, a DNS edit, or a developer "just fixing something." If the site broke right after a change, undoing that change is almost always the fastest fix. For WordPress sites, see WordPress white screen of death और plugin conflict troubleshooting.

Minutes 13 to 15: Check your host, then escalate

1. Look at your host's status page. Most hosts publish one, and a shared-server problem will usually be listed there. Also check their social accounts or support chat.
2. Contact support with specifics. Open a ticket or chat and include the information below. A good report gets a faster, better answer than "my site is down."

Domain: example.com
First noticed: 2026-10-08 10:42 UTC (about 15 minutes ago)
Symptom: HTTP 502 Bad Gateway on every page, including /wp-login.php
Checked from: outside network, results attached (screenshot)
Recent changes: updated 3 plugins at 10:30 UTC
Domain expiry and SSL: both valid

1. Tell your customers. Do this in parallel, not last. A short honest note reduces support messages. Use our guide to tell customers your website is down.

What to do after the site is back

Once the site loads again, do three small things while it is fresh:

• Write down the cause, the time it started, the time it ended, and what fixed it. That record is useful the next time, and a longer version is in the postmortem template.
• Set up outside monitoring so you hear about the next outage before customers do. Our free uptime monitor includes 3 monitors with 5-minute checks and email, webhook, Slack and Discord alerts. The step-by-step is in set up free uptime alerts.
• Add a calendar reminder for your domain and SSL renewal dates, or set up expiry alerts, so those are never the cause again.

When to call your host or developer

You can usually do the checks above alone, but you should hand over quickly in these cases:

• The status code is 500, 502, 503 or 504 and it has not cleared after five to ten minutes. These are server-side, and you cannot fix them from a browser.
• Your hosting panel shows a suspension, a resource limit, or a full disk.
• DNS records or nameservers changed and you did not change them.
• You see pages or links you did not create. That may be a hack; see WordPress site hacked recovery if you use WordPress.
• You have no recent backup, or you are unsure about restoring one. Do not guess, because restoring over a working database can lose orders or posts.
• The same outage returns repeatedly. A recurring fault needs root-cause work rather than another restart.

If the site is how you earn money, ask your host or developer for a restore from the most recent good backup early. A restore is often quicker than a long diagnosis.

अगले कदम

• Why is my website down? for a deeper cause-by-cause guide
• वेबसाइट हेल्थ चेक to run a full outside test now
• Set up free uptime alerts so you find out first
• Website owner monthly health checklist to prevent repeat outages
• Uptime monitoring for small business

सामान्य प्रश्न

How long should I wait before assuming my site is really down?

Check from a second network and an outside tool right away; that takes under two minutes. If the outside check also fails, treat it as a real outage. Brief blips of a few seconds can be transient, which is why monitors usually confirm a failure before alerting.

Should I restart my server first?

Only if you manage the server and you know what it runs. A restart can clear a stuck process but also hides the evidence of why it stuck. On shared hosting you cannot restart it anyway, so contact support.

What if my site works for me but customers say it is down?

Your browser may be showing a cached copy, or the problem may be regional or limited to one network. Test with the Down From Where tool and try a private window or a phone on mobile data.

Can my website go down because my domain expired?

Yes. When a domain expires, the registrar often points it to a parking page or stops DNS, and the site vanishes even though your hosting is fine. Check the expiry date in a WHOIS lookup.

Is it worth monitoring if my site is small?

Yes, because small sites often have no one watching them. A free monitor that emails you within minutes of a failure costs nothing and turns a customer complaint into an alert you saw first.

यह पेज सामान्य जानकारी है, जिसे हमारी संपादकीय टीम ने लिखा है और दस्तावेज़ीकरण बदलने पर अपडेट किया जाता है। सर्वर और प्रदाता अलग-अलग होते हैं, इसलिए बदलाव पहले सुरक्षित तरीके से जाँचें। देखें: संपादकीय नीति और अस्वीकरण.