Do you have a common WordPress error on your site? Do you want to attempt to resolve these WordPress errors on your own? The majority of these errors are easily resolved by following simple troubleshooting steps. In this beginner’s guide, we’ll walk you through the process of troubleshooting WordPress errors one step at a time
1. Make a full backup of your WordPress site.
The first thing you should do is make a full backup of your WordPress site. If you’re already using a WordPress backup plugin, make sure you have a recent backup saved somewhere safe.
If you were not previously using a backup plugin, you should do so right away. However, if you do not have access to your WordPress site’s admin area, you will need to manually backup your database and files.
Backups allow you to easily restore your WordPress site if something goes wrong. They are your primary line of defense against security threats, hacking, and data loss.
2. Delete the Browser Cache
Many times, your browser will not recognize that a WordPress page or post has changed and will continue to load it from the browser cache. You will be taken to an older version of that page or post as a result of doing so.
To ensure that you are viewing the most recent version of a page, you may need to clear your browser cache.
3. Delete the WordPress Cache
If you have a WP Rocket, you may be seeing a cached version of your website. Bluehost and Siteground, use their own caching to improve performance.
To ensure that your website is not serving a cached version, clear your WordPress cache.
4. Deactivate all plugins on your website.
Most errors are caused by plugins that are incompatible with one another, your theme, or the WordPress core. Deactivating all WordPress plugins on your site should resolve the issue. Then, by activating plugins one by one on your site, you can determine which plugin was causing the problem.
Simply navigate to the plugins page if you have access to the admin area of your WordPress site.
To begin, select all plugins and then choose ‘Deactivate’ from the ‘Bulk Actions’ drop down menu. To deactivate all selected plugins, click the Apply button.
If you do not have access to the admin area, you must deactivate all plugins via FTP or phpMyAdmin.
Simply use an FTP client to connect to your website. If you’ve never used FTP before, you might want to check out our guide on how to use FTP to upload files to WordPress.
Move to its wp-content/plugins file as well as rename the plugins folder with “plugin.deactivate.”
5. Use the Default WordPress Theme
Your WordPress theme can occasionally cause problems with your site. Switching to a default WordPress theme, such as Twenty Nineteen or Twenty Twenty, will quickly reveal whether your theme is causing a problem.
Navigate to the Appearance » Themes page and click the Activate button next to a default theme.
However, if you do not have access to your WordPress site’s admin area, you will need to use FTP to switch themes.
Connect to your website via FTP and then navigate to the /wp-content/themes/ folder. Download your current active theme to your desktop as a backup.
Following that, you must delete all themes except a default WordPress theme such as TwentySixteen. Because your active theme will no longer be available, WordPress will now use the default theme available.
If your theme was the source of the problem, you should now be able to access your WordPress site.
6. Permalinks should be refreshed every six months.
Without changing anything on your WordPress site, you can easily refresh permalinks. Without making any changes, go to Settings » Permalinks and click the ‘Save Changes’ button.
7. Create a backup of the.htaccess file and delete it.
The internal server error is frequently caused by a corrupt.htaccess file
To begin, use an FTP client to connect to your website. The.htaccess file is located in the root directory of your website.
You may need to force your FTP client to show hidden files because it is a hidden file.
You must save the.htaccess file to your computer as a backup before deleting it from your web server.
You can now log in to your WordPress site and navigate to the Settings » Permalinks page. To refresh your permalinks and regenerate a new.htaccess file for your site, click the Save Changes button.
8. Update the WordPress Site URL
Incorrect WordPress URL and Site URL settings can also result in common issues.
WordPress URL and Site URL options can be modified from the admin area by going to Settings » General.
Make certain that both URLs are identical.
If you do not have access to your WordPress site’s admin area, you can change these URLs via FTP. There are two ways to accomplish this with FTP:
In the wp-config.php file, update the WordPress URL and Site URL settings.
Locate the wp-config.php file after connecting to your website with an FTP client. You must now edit this file in a text editor such as Notepad.
Go to the line that says /* That’s it, no more editing! */, and just before it, add the following code:
1\s2\sdefine(‘WP HOME’,’http://example.com’);
\sdefine(‘WP SITEURL’,’http://example.com’);
Please replace example.com with your own domain name. Save your changes and then re-upload the file to your server.
Using the functions.php file, update the URLs.
Navigate to the /wp-content/themes/ folder using your FTP client. Locate the functions.php file in the current active theme’s folder. You must now edit the functions.php file in a text editor such as Notepad.
Simply add the following lines to the end of the functions file:
1 update option(‘siteurl,’ ‘http://example.com’ );
2 update option(‘home,’ ‘http://example.com’ );
After you login to your site, don’t forget to change the WordPress URLs from the settings page. Once you’ve added them to the settings page, you must remove them from your theme’s functions file.
9. Examine the Reading Options
This is the first thing you should do if your newly created WordPress site is not yet indexed by search engines.
Log in to your WordPress site and navigate to the Reading page under Settings. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and uncheck the box next to ‘Search Engine Visibility.’
This option allows you to prevent search engines from displaying your website in search results. Webmasters use it when they are working on a website that is not yet ready to go live. You may inadvertently check this setting and then forget about it.
When your website is ready to go live, make sure this option is unchecked.
10. Troubleshooting Email Problems
Many WordPress hosting providers do not have properly configured mail settings. This prevents you and your users from receiving WordPress emails.
If you use a contact form plugin, you will not be able to receive those emails. In addition, you will not receive any WordPress notifications.
11. Malware and Backdoors Scanning
If you suspect that your WordPress site is infected with malware, you should run a Sucuri scan on it. It is the most effective website security monitoring service for WordPress website owners.
Obtaining Better Assistance
Following the troubleshooting steps outlined above, you should be able to resolve many of the most common WordPress errors. However, if the problem persists, you can seek additional assistance.
Because WordPress is a community software, you can seek assistance from the community by posting in the WordPress support forums. Here’s how to create a more effective support request:
- Be courteous and pleasant. Do not use harsh language, no matter how upset or frustrated you are.
- Briefly describe your issue.
- Describe your troubleshooting steps so far.
- Upload screenshots to a cloud image sharing service, then include links to them in your support thread.
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