Site Down? Diagnose Why

Figure out if it’s traffic, an attack, or something else—and fix it fast.

Your site is slow or completely unreachable. Customers are emailing, your phone is buzzing, and you need answers. Is this a good problem (viral traffic spike) or a bad one (attack or server failure)?

This guide covers: How to diagnose why your site is down and what to do for each scenario.

Quick Diagnosis: What Kind of Problem?

Site outages have three common causes. Here’s how to tell which you’re dealing with:

Step 1: Check Your Analytics

Open Google Analytics → Real-Time → Overview.

• Huge spike in users: You’re going viral. Skip to “Traffic Spike Response” below.
• Normal or low traffic: The problem isn’t real visitors. Continue to Step 2.

Real traffic shows in analytics. Bot attacks usually don’t (bots don’t execute JavaScript).

Step 2: Check Your Host Status

Before assuming you’re under attack, check if your host is having issues:

• Log into your hosting dashboard – any alerts or maintenance notices?
• Check your host’s status page (most have one)
• Check DownDetector for your hosting provider

If your host is having issues, you’re not alone and they’re probably already working on it.

Step 3: Check Server Logs or CDN

If you use Cloudflare or another CDN, their dashboard shows traffic analysis:

• Requests from many different IPs, normal patterns: Real users
• Requests from few IPs or same IP ranges: Likely attack
• Huge volume to login page or wp-admin: Brute force attack
• Requests to random/nonexistent URLs: Bot probing

Traffic Spike Response

Good news: real people want to visit your site. Bad news: your server can’t handle it. Here’s how to cope:

Immediate Actions

1. Enable aggressive caching: If using WordPress, install and activate W3 Total Cache or WP Super Cache
2. Contact your host: Ask them to temporarily increase resources
3. Simplify your pages: Temporarily disable heavy plugins, switch to a lighter theme
4. Add Cloudflare: Free tier provides CDN caching that offloads your server

Prevent Next Time

• Use a CDN permanently (Cloudflare free tier is fine for most sites)
• Consider managed WordPress hosting (WP Engine, Kinsta) with built-in scaling
• Load test before big launches with Loader.io (free tier available)

DDoS Attack Response

Fake traffic designed to overwhelm your server. Here’s how to fight back:

Immediate Actions

1. Enable Cloudflare “Under Attack” mode: Adds a JavaScript challenge that blocks most bots
2. Turn on rate limiting: In Cloudflare or your host’s firewall
3. Block suspicious IP ranges: If you see patterns in logs, block those ranges
4. Contact your host: They can often null-route attack traffic at the network level

Cloudflare Quick Setup

If you don’t have Cloudflare yet, it’s the fastest path to DDoS protection:

1. Sign up at cloudflare.com (free plan works)
2. Add your site and follow the setup wizard
3. Update your nameservers to Cloudflare’s (instructions provided)
4. Enable “Proxy” (orange cloud) for your DNS records
5. Turn on “Under Attack” mode if actively under attack

Takes about 30 minutes to set up. The free plan includes DDoS protection.

Server/Hosting Issue Response

If it’s not traffic and not an attack, something’s wrong with your server:

• Contact your host’s support – they can see server-level issues you can’t
• Check recent changes: Did you install a plugin, update WordPress, or change anything recently?
• Check error logs: If you have access, look for PHP errors or memory issues
• Restore from backup: If a recent change broke things, roll back

For ongoing slow performance (not an outage), see Fix a Slow WordPress Site.

Sources

• Google Analytics
• DownDetector
• W3 Total Cache
• WP Super Cache
• Loader.io
• cloudflare.com