WordPress errors are an unfortunate reality of owning and managing a website. The good news, however, is that most WordPress errors can be easily fixed once you know what they are. This article will help you identify 8 common WordPress errors and how to fix them. The first step to fixing any WordPress error is to understand what it is, so let’s get started!
8 Common WordPress Errors – How to Fix Them
1) Page Not Found
Sometimes, a 404 error is as simple as fixing a typo or misspelling of a specific page title. Double-check to make sure you spelled everything correctly in your permalinks and titles.
To correct page title errors: Log into your Dashboard from your web browser and click on Settings > Permalinks. Click on save changes once you’ve confirmed everything looks correct. If that doesn’t work, log back into your Dashboard, click on Settings, then select Permalinks again, and click on the Save button at the time.
2) The Link You Are Following Has Been Moved
This is by far one of the most common error messages you’ll see when you run into problems with your site. And while it can be a pain, it’s just an error message, so nothing that some troubleshooting can’t fix. The first thing you should do if you see this message is to check your browser window for any redirects (i.e., where are you being sent after following a link on your site).
If there aren’t any redirects, then it may just be a temporary issue with that particular link, so try clicking on another one and see if that one loads correctly. If all links seem to be broken, however, then it’s time to start digging deeper.
Check your settings page and make sure that 301 redirects are enabled—this will ensure that all links automatically update as you move pages around on your site. It also helps search engines understand what pages have moved or been deleted without causing users to get redirected unnecessarily. Also, look at whether or not you have any 404 errors in place—these tell search engines what pages no longer exist on your site, but they also show up as broken links for users who visit those pages directly.
3) Permalink Structure is Incorrect
The permalink structure is one of those things that needs to be correct for a site’s on-page SEO efforts to work. If your links don’t include useful keywords, they won’t be picked up by search engines and they won’t help with keyword ranking.
However, if you make a mistake with your permalinks it may cause serious damage: broken links, 404 errors (not found), etc. Before going live with a new site or migrating an existing one you should carefully review how your permalinks are set up and make sure there aren’t any errors.
4) Your Current Theme Doesn’t Support Some Options
You might have chosen a theme that looks great but doesn’t include all of your desired functionality. If you’re running into errors related to an undefined index, you may be using a theme that doesn’t support all of your current plugin options.
For example, if you install a gallery plugin and find yourself running into errors when you try adding images, it might mean that your current theme doesn’t support galleries (or any plugins for that matter). It can be easy to get carried away in search of a perfect theme and forget about what functionality it provides. Make sure any necessary functionality is available before choosing a theme.
The Theme Isn’t Compatible with Your Plugin: In some cases, your error messages will tell you exactly which file isn’t compatible with another. This usually means that either your theme or plugin needs updating—but sometimes incompatibility issues arise from something else entirely.
To rule out potential compatibility issues between plugins and themes, check their documentation and see if there are known compatibility issues between them. If not, you may need to contact both parties directly to see what they suggest doing next.
5) Header already sent error when editing a theme file
Once you’ve activated a theme, click on Appearance>Themes and then click Activate on your desired theme. Now go to header.php located in your WordPress theme folder and edit it. Then close your text editor and try uploading again or go back to your page and view it live.
If you still get that error message, check if any new code has been added from editing other pages in your theme—in which case remove that code or read up about the wp_enqueue_scripts function for more information.
6. You can’t see your website
If you can’t access your website, be sure that your hosting provider hasn’t temporarily blocked it. You can also try opening your site in a different browser or using an incognito window if you use Google Chrome or Internet Explorer. If that doesn’t work, make sure that you have appropriate file permissions on your server so that other users aren’t able to access files they don’t have permission to see. Also check your.
htaccess file for anything suspicious, as sometimes hackers will attempt to gain access through a backdoor account by leaving an extra .htaccess file behind. Finally, check your wp-config.php file and make sure that there are no errors in it.
7. Is this page secure?
8 out of 10 users will never visit a site that doesn’t have an SSL certificate. Why? Because they’re concerned about their privacy and security when browsing online. The good news is, that you can get a free SSL certificate for your website, even if you are on a budget.
Since your business probably has a website already, getting one is quick and easy—and well worth it! If you haven’t installed one yet, there are many reasons why now is a great time to do so.
8. The website won’t load from your domain name provider
One of the most common errors that occur with WordPress is when it won’t load from your domain name provider. This can happen for a variety of reasons but is often because you’ve entered incorrect host information in your wp-config.php file.
If you see an error message that reads Error Establishing a Database Connection, go into your admin area and click Settings → General and verify that all of your settings are correct and match what you have entered in wp-config.php. It should look something like below