Short answer
First check whether the site fails for everyone, or only on your phone and your network. Then match the words on the screen to the usual cause, and contact the person who can fix that cause. This page is general information. It is not a guarantee that a step will bring the site back.
Do this before you call anyone. Chrome help says a connection or loading error can come from the device, from firewall or antivirus software, from the network, from the browser, or from the website, including server downtime or maintenance. If many websites fail, Chrome says to check the internet connection. If other sites open normally and one site crashes, Chrome says that site might be the cause. Open your address on a phone with Wi-Fi turned off, so the phone uses cellular data instead of the shop or home network. Open the same address in a second browser. Then use a free public page that tries the address from its own network. Type only the public address. You do not need a paid monitoring product to answer this one question. If the phone on cellular data and the public check both open the site, the problem is on your side. Chrome help starts by checking the address, and it lists firewall or antivirus software, cookies, and extensions among the causes. If the phone and the public check both fail the same way, treat the site as down for everyone. Write down the exact words on the screen. A photo helps. The free website checker on this site reads one public URL and reports the response status when it can reach the page. It logs the website address and the score, not personal data. It does not log in, and it does not fix the site. A plumber in Medina and a landscaper in Brunswick can run the same three checks on a phone they already have.
Source: Fix connection and loading errors (Google Chrome Help); Common error messages in Chrome (Google Chrome Help)
On this site: Free website checker
The screen "There has been a critical error on this website. Please check your site admin email inbox for instructions." is a WordPress message. WordPress.org says it means something on the site caused a critical error that prevents WordPress from running as expected. The same page lists plugin conflicts, a theme compatibility problem, an incompatible PHP version, hitting the memory limit, and corrupted WordPress files among the common causes. The WordPress.org note on fatal error recovery mode says that when a fatal error occurs, WordPress emails the admin email address. The email includes a link to recovery mode. Opening that link pauses the plugins and themes that are causing the fatal error, for the browser that opened the link, so an administrator can sign in and see which one failed. The pause does not repair the plugin or the theme. Other visitors still see the error until it is fixed or turned off. Check the admin email inbox, including spam. If that inbox is not yours, ask the person who set the site up. If the email arrived, open the link, sign in, and read which plugin or theme WordPress paused. Turn that one off, or ask your web person to do it. If no email arrives, contact the host or the person who edits the site. Leave file edits to them if you are not sure which file is involved. A critical error is not, by itself, proof of a hack. If you also see spam pages, an administrator you do not know, or a Google warning, use the guide on a hacked site showing spam.
Source: Common WordPress errors (WordPress.org); Fatal error recovery mode in WordPress 5.2 (WordPress.org)
On this site: My website was hacked and is showing spam
MDN says a 500 Internal Server Error means the server hit an unexpected condition and could not finish the request. It is a generic code, used when the server does not have a more specific server error to send. MDN says the cause can be server configuration, the server running out of memory, an error the software did not handle, file permissions, or something else, and that a visitor needs the server owner or an administrator to investigate. Google crawling docs say a 500 is a server error. Google slows crawling when URLs return server errors, and for Google Search it removes URLs that persistently return a server error from the index. On a WordPress site, WordPress.org says an internal server error can come from a corrupted .htaccess file, a plugin, or a theme. If you do not edit server files, call the person who looks after the site, or the host. Give them the exact words and the address that failed. A 500 is a different screen from the WordPress critical error message. A plugin can be involved in either one.
Source: 500 Internal Server Error (MDN); How HTTP status codes affect Google crawlers (Google Search Central); Common WordPress errors (WordPress.org)
MDN says a 404 Not Found means the server cannot find the requested page. The code does not say whether the page is gone for a minute or gone for good. MDN lists a mistyped address, and a page that was moved or deleted without a redirect, as common causes. Open the homepage, not only the inner page. If the homepage loads and one old page does not, the site is up and that address is missing. A bookmark, a card, or an old link can still point at it. The person who edits the site can put the page back or redirect the old address to the new one. If the homepage is a 404 as well, the main address is not returning your page. That is a job for the host or the person who edits the site, not a typo on one link. Google crawling docs say Google does not index a URL that returns a 404, and a URL that was indexed and now returns a 404 is removed from the index. Putting the page back gives Google a real page to fetch on a later crawl. This page does not promise a place in Google. If the homepage loads and a menu item does not, the broken links guide is the longer check.
Source: 404 Not Found (MDN); How HTTP status codes affect Google crawlers (Google Search Central)
On this site: Broken links on my small business website
Chrome help lists "A site can't be reached" among connection problems, and it points those problems at the same connection troubleshooting. Under that message, Chrome defines codes you may see. ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED means the web address does not exist or now has a different IP address. ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT means the page took too long to connect, which can be a slow connection or a busy page. ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED means the page did not let Chrome connect, or the page is blocked. ERR_EMPTY_RESPONSE means the page sent no data and might be down. ERR_INTERNET_DISCONNECTED means the device is not on the internet. Check the spelling of the address. Chrome connection help starts there. If other websites open, this name or this server is the suspect. The ICANN Expired Registration Recovery Policy says that, in the cases the policy names, the registrar must interrupt the DNS path the holder had set. During the redemption grace period, the registry must turn DNS resolution off. An expired or deleted name can fail in the browser for that reason. Look the name up before you assume the host is broken. The records that point the name at a server are the DNS settings. Do not change those settings while you are guessing. A rushed change can stop the site and the email. The guide on getting the website back explains the lookup, and it says to write down the mail host before anyone changes DNS.
Source: Common error messages in Chrome (Google Chrome Help); Fix connection and loading errors (Google Chrome Help); Expired Registration Recovery Policy (ICANN)
On this site: How to get your website back from a web designer
Look the name up at lookup.icann.org. ICANN describes this lookup as a free public service for publicly available contact and other information related to a domain name. The results can show the registrar, the dates, and the status. The registrar is the company you contact about a renewal. The ICANN Expired Registration Recovery Policy says the registrar must notify the holder at least twice before a name expires, about one month before and about one week before. If the name is not renewed and the registrar has not deleted it, the registrar must send another notice, with renewal instructions, within five days after expiration. Those notes can sit in an old inbox. Check spam. The same policy says a registrar may delete the name at any time after it expires, so the time you still have to renew it is not one number for every registrar. If the registrar points the name at a web page while you can still renew it, that page must clearly say the registration is expired and must give renewal instructions. If you see a parked page instead of the business, read it for that notice. After the registrar deletes the name, the policy says registries must offer 30 days to redeem it, except for sponsored top-level domains. During those 30 days the registry must turn DNS resolution off, and the holder redeems the name through the registrar that deleted it. The registrar sets the renewal fee and any restore fee, and ICANN requires those fees to be shown by the registrar. This page does not print them. If the lookup shows a designer, another company, or a privacy service, the registrar may not treat you as the holder who can renew. The guide on getting the website back covers that case. This page is not legal advice.
Source: Registration data lookup (ICANN); Registration data lookup FAQ (ICANN); Expired Registration Recovery Policy (ICANN)
On this site: How to get your website back from a web designer
MDN says HTTPS is HTTP secured with TLS, and that the site uses a certificate to bind its keys to the domain name so the browser can check it is talking to that name. Chrome help says you can see "Your connection is not private," a certificate error such as NET::ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID or ERR_CERT_COMMON_NAME_INVALID, or an "SSL certificate error" when Chrome will not accept the certificate. The same page says "Your clock is behind," "Your clock is ahead," or NET::ERR_CERT_DATE_INVALID can appear when the device date and time are wrong. Open the device clock, set the date and time, and reload. RFC 5280 says a certificate has a validity period, from its start date through its end date, and that a proper check of the certificate must confirm that period includes the current time. A wrong clock fails that check on a certificate that is still in date. If the clock is already right and other sites open, the certificate on this site is outside its dates or otherwise not accepted. Chrome says to contact the website owner if the error remains. The host, or the person who manages the site, is who puts a current certificate in place. Do not type a password or a card number into a page that is showing the warning. The free website checker reports whether the address loaded over HTTPS. It does not replace the certificate.
Source: Transport Layer Security (MDN); Common error messages in Chrome (Google Chrome Help); Internet X.509 certificate profile, RFC 5280
On this site: Free website checker
Read the words on the page. If they name a hosting company and say the account is suspended, disabled, or past due, that page is the host's notice, not your homepage. Contact the host from a login or a phone number on a bill you already have, not from a link in an email you did not expect. Ask what they need in order to turn the account back on. A past due notice is the host telling you the bill is the issue. A suspension that does not say past due can be something else, and only the host can say which. This page does not list their fees. WordPress.org, on the database connection error, says the host can be the cause, including a server that is down or a database shut down because it hit its quota, and that the next step is to contact the hosting provider.
WordPress.org documents one maintenance screen in particular. After an update, the site can say "Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance. Please check back in a minute." WordPress places a .maintenance file in the site root for the update and removes it when the update finishes. If the file stays, the message stays. The fix WordPress.org gives is to delete that file. If you do not use the host's file manager, ask the person who ran the update, or the host. A page that says Coming Soon, Under Construction, or Maintenance, and that is not that WordPress sentence, is a page the site is serving. The site is answering. The login that edits the site is what removes it. If you cannot log in, ask the person who can. The guide on getting the website back is for a login you do not have. This is different from a site that fails to load. Customers can still land on a coming soon page until it is taken down. Google says that when a URL returns a success code but the content is an error message or an empty page, Search Console can report a soft 404. A coming soon page can be that kind of page. The guide on a site that still says coming soon is the longer check, including a 10 minute pass and the usual fixes on WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy, and Duda.
Source: Common WordPress errors (WordPress.org); How HTTP status codes affect Google crawlers (Google Search Central)
On this site: How to get your website back from a web designer; My website says coming soon or under construction
Read this list before you call, and write down what you have. The exact words on the screen, and a photo if you can take one. The full address, including https and the path that failed. Whether the homepage fails, one inner page fails, or both. Whether a phone on cellular data, with Wi-Fi off, shows the same screen. The registrar and the dates from lookup.icann.org. The host's name, and whether you can log in to the hosting account and to the editor. Any email from WordPress, the registrar, or the host about the error, a renewal, or a bill. Whose name is on the domain and on the hosting, and when each was last paid. When the site last worked, if you know.
Source: Registration data lookup (ICANN)
Keep the domain and the hosting in accounts you can open, in your name or the business name. Renewal mail should come to an inbox you read. The guide on getting the website back lists the other accounts to keep in your name. If the registrar offers automatic renewal, turn it on, and still read the mail. The ICANN policy requires the expiration notices described above. Automatic renewal is a setting at the registrar. The policy does not say every registrar must turn it on for you. Ask the host whether they email you when the site stops answering. If they do not, open the homepage yourself on a day you will remember, such as the first Monday of the month. You do not need a paid product to notice a site that a customer can already see is down. Ask where backups are kept, how often a new copy is made, and whether you can download one. A backup is the copy you put back if an update or a host problem damages the page. WordPress.org lists plugin and theme conflicts among the causes of a critical error. Take a backup before you update a plugin or a theme. The guide on website maintenance cost covers what to ask a monthly plan to include, and what you can do yourself.
Source: Expired Registration Recovery Policy (ICANN); Common WordPress errors (WordPress.org)
On this site: How to get your website back from a web designer; What website maintenance costs a small business
If the site loads at all, start with the free website checker. It reads one public page and reports HTTPS and the response status. It logs the website address and the score, not personal data. Website Quick Diagnostic is $19, paid once. An automated PDF within about 1 hour with your speed and mobile scores, the top 5 issues ranked, and a plain fix for each. The $19 is credited toward the $99 Checkup within 30 days. Website Checkup is $99, paid once: a ranked report of what to fix on your website first, covering speed, SEO, mobile, and AI search visibility, delivered within 2 business days. No login is needed. The report goes only to you. If the site is down and there is nothing to check, you get a refund. Those checks describe a page they can fetch. They do not repair a plugin, renew a domain, or replace a certificate. If the page loads and only feels slow, especially on a phone, that is a different job from an error screen. The speed guide covers a free test and the usual causes. If you want a new site, or you cannot get back into the one you have, ask on the start page.
On this site: Free website checker; Website Quick Diagnostic; Website Checkup; Start a site quote; Why your small business website is slow
The free website checker reads one public URL. It reports HTTPS, a mobile viewport tag, and whether GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, and Google-Extended are blocked. It logs the website address and the score, not personal data.
The AI search readiness check is the free look for AI search. It reports whether OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, and PerplexityBot are blocked, and whether the words are in the server HTML. It logs the website address and the score, not personal data.
Website Checkup is $99, paid once. A ranked report of what to fix on your website first, covering speed, SEO, mobile, and AI search visibility, delivered within 2 business days. No login is needed. The report goes only to you.
Open it on a phone using cellular data, with Wi-Fi off, and in a second browser. Then use a free public check that tries the address from another network. Chrome help says a connection error can be your device, your network, or the website. If the phone and the public check fail the same way, treat it as down for everyone.
WordPress.org says the message means something on the site caused a critical error that stops WordPress from running as expected. Plugin conflicts and theme problems are among the causes it lists. WordPress emails the admin address a recovery mode link so an administrator can sign in and see which plugin or theme was paused.
MDN says the server hit an unexpected condition and could not finish the request. It is a generic code. The person who manages the server, or your web person, has to read the error detail. Google says a site that keeps returning server errors can have those URLs removed from the Google index.
Look it up at lookup.icann.org and contact the registrar the lookup names. ICANN says how long the name can still be renewed is up to the registrar, because the registrar may delete it at any time after it expires. After deletion, registries this policy covers must offer 30 days to redeem the name, except for sponsored top-level domains, and DNS stays off during those 30 days.
Not always. The site may be answering with a certificate Chrome will not accept. Check the device date and time first. Chrome says a wrong clock can cause NET::ERR_CERT_DATE_INVALID. If the clock is right, contact the website owner or the host. Do not enter a password on that warning.
No. The free checker reports what it can fetch, and it logs the website address and the score, not personal data. Website Quick Diagnostic is $19, paid once. Website Checkup is $99, paid once. If the site is down and there is nothing to check, you get a refund. A new site is a separate ask on the start page. Those checks do not repair a plugin, renew a domain, or replace a certificate.
A business can be missing from Google because the page is not in the index, because the words you searched are not the words a customer uses, or because the page is blocked. A page can also be in the index and still sit far down the results. The free check on this site reads the public page, and it does not look up a rank.
You can check a public page for free. The checker on this site reads one URL, reports what it found, and logs the website address and the score, not personal data. If you want a report that ranks what to fix first, Website Checkup is $99, paid once, and it is delivered within 2 business days.
If you build it yourself, published US prices checked for this page start at $4 a month on WordPress.com when billed annually, $17.77 a month on Wix Light for a yearly plan, or $19 a month on Squarespace Basic billed annually ($228 for the year). If you hire an agency, Clutch says web design agencies typically charge $2,000 to $100,000, and that most reviewed projects cost less than $10,000. If Telep IO builds it, the founding offer is $500 to set up, then $50 a month. Limited to the first 3 Ohio businesses. The start page splits that setup into two payments and makes the first upkeep month free, which comes to $1,050 in the first year, then $50 a month.
Website maintenance is the work that keeps a live site reachable and current: hosting, domain renewal, SSL, backups, software and plugin updates, security, small content edits, uptime checks, and keeping a Google Business Profile matched to the site. You do not always need a monthly plan. You need one when you will not do that work, or when a fee is the only way the site stays hosted and edited. Other providers set their own prices. This page does not print those prices. The only prices stated here are the ones Telep IO publishes.
Before you hire, ask who owns the domain and the site, what hosting costs, who edits it later, whether the page works on a phone, whether they will help with a Google Business Profile, and when you will see a first look. Walk away if you will not own the domain, if the contract locks you in, if there is no portfolio you can open, or if the monthly fee does not say what it covers. Other people set their own prices. Ranges vary. The only build price stated here is the one Telep IO publishes.
Start with the domain. The registrar is the company that holds the registration. The registrant is the person or business the record lists as the holder. ICANN's free lookup shows the registrar and the contact data that registrar publishes. A hidden name, or a privacy service, is not proof that you own the name. If a former designer, a relative, or an agency stopped answering, write down the lookup, then ask that registrar about the account or a transfer. If the designer refuses, talk to a lawyer. This page is not legal advice.
Redo the site when it no longer matches the business, you cannot edit it, or a customer on a phone cannot read it and call. Many of the usual problems can be fixed without a full rebuild. Old hours, a missing call link, a page that is hard to read on a phone, and an address that is not on HTTPS are often edits. A new look does not, by itself, put the business on Google or on Maps.
A visitor can miss you when the phone number is wrong, the hours are wrong, the form does not send, the page does not fit a phone, or the browser warns about the connection. An old year in the footer is a reminder to check those facts. Google says content is rated by quality, regardless of age, and that a trivial change to look fresh has no additional value. This page is general information. It is not a guarantee that fixing the page will rank higher or bring more calls.
A DIY builder can be the right call when you will finish the page, you will own the domain, and a customer on a phone can tap to call, see the towns you serve, and open your Google Business Profile. Hire when you will not keep the page current, when the number cannot be tapped, or when the domain and the site would sit in an account you do not control. Wix, Squarespace, and the GoDaddy website builder are typical monthly subscription plans. This page does not print their prices. Other designers set their own prices. The founding offer is $500 to set up and $50 a month, limited to the first 3 Ohio businesses. Hosting and ordinary upkeep are included. You see a demo of your own site before you pay.
Open the site on a phone you already own and try to call the business from the page. If you have to pinch and zoom, or you cannot find the number, the page is hard to use on a phone. A viewport tag tells the browser to use the screen width. It is a setup signal, not a grade of the layout.
A page feels slow when the main photo or the headline takes too long to appear, when a tap does nothing for a moment, or when the page jumps while it loads. You can test that for free with PageSpeed Insights. It runs a lab test called Lighthouse, and it can show real Chrome visits from the last 28 days when enough people have used the page. This page is general information. It is not a guarantee that a faster page will rank higher or bring more calls.
Send one test from a phone, then look in the inbox, in spam, and in the list of messages the form saved. A missing lead can be the message sitting in spam, going to an old address, or never leaving the page. This page is general information. It is not a guarantee that every message will arrive, or that a fix will bring more calls.
A menu item that opens a page not found screen does not show the jobs, the towns, or the phone number on that page. A customer can leave before they call. MDN calls that screen a 404 when the server cannot find the page. Google says a 404 will not, in general, hurt search performance when the address should not exist. A link you still show in the menu is worth fixing because a person taps it. This page is general information. It is not a guarantee that fixing the link will rank higher or bring more calls.
A customer who opens the address and sees coming soon, under construction, a parked page, or a builder message that the site was not found does not see the jobs, the towns, or a phone number to tap. Someone who found the business on a Google listing, or who heard the name from a neighbor, can leave before they call. Google says a success code does not guarantee indexing. A placeholder with little content about the business can look like a page Google excludes from Search when Google treats it as a soft 404. A private or unpublished builder site can also stay out of search results. The builder help page says which setting does that. This page is general information. It is not a guarantee that publishing the real page will rank higher or bring more calls.
A plumber, a roofer, a landscaper, or a contractor can open the site and find pages about gambling, pills, or a language the business does not use. Google results can show a spam title, or the words "This site may be hacked." The browser can say "Deceptive site ahead." The address can send people to another site. WordPress can show "There has been a critical error on this website." A warning scares the person who was about to call. Google says hacked content is placed on a site without permission, and that it tries to keep that content out of search results. Google also says sites that violate its spam policies may rank lower or not appear in results at all. Hacked content is one of those policies. This page is general information. It is not a guarantee that cleaning the site will remove a warning, rank higher, or bring more calls. Treat it as general guidance. If you are not sure which files are the real site, hire help or ask the host.
An AI tool can mention your business when it has public information to use, or when a person typed the facts in. A robots.txt file can ask specific crawlers to stay off the site. That file is a request, not a record of what a tool has already saved. Blocking one crawler does not block every AI product.
A Facebook page is not a website you control. Google's guidelines say the website on a Business Profile should represent the business, and they say not to use a page created on a social media site as that website. A site you control can name the work, the towns, and a phone number a person can tap.
A local site should say what you do, name the towns you actually serve, and put a phone number a person can tap. It should also load on a phone. That is not a promise of a ranking or a set number of calls.
Map results come from a Google Business Profile, which is separate from the website. Google says that when you add and verify a Business Profile, customers can find the business on Search and Maps, and that only verified businesses can show their info there. A website does not create the profile. This page does not create it for you.
Ask a real customer after the job is done, and give them a direct review link from your Google Business Profile. Google lets you share that link, or a QR code, in a text or email, on a receipt, and at the counter. Do not pay for a review, do not offer a discount for one, and do not ask only the people who already said they are happy.
A website does not promise a set number of calls. For an HVAC company, a plumber, or a landscaper, the page can make the call easy: the number is tappable, the jobs are named, and the towns are the ones you drive. If those facts are buried, the person on the phone has to hunt.
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