The website is not available - possible causes and what you can do - first of all, no need to worry

"This website cannot be reached" - you probably know this error message from surfing the net. If it shows up for your website, it's annoying, but in the vast majority of cases, don't panic.

The website is not available - possible causes and what you can do - first of all, no need to worry.

Most of the time your homepage is only offline for a short time, for example, because your website provider is carrying out maintenance work. With just a few steps you can check exactly why your website is not displayed (and often fix the problem quickly). This is how you do it:

Your website is not available: That may be the reason

With the following tips you can usually quickly determine where the problem lies and how you can fix it:

• Checks whether other websites can be reached or whether your internet is generally not working. Check your ISP's trouble page or social media profile for possible trouble reports. (Tip: If necessary, search Google for the name of your provider and "fault" or "status")
• Check the address line of your browser - maybe a typo has crept into the URL of your site.
• Delete the saved cookie data in your browser. This works via the menu item Clear browser data. Cookie data can be corrupt and prevent your site from being displayed correctly.
• Open your website in another browser - sometimes anti-virus software or an ad blocker prevents access.
• Check your website on another device, for example, your smartphone.

In rare cases, a hacker attack is behind it - you can find more information on this below in the text.

Didn't find the right solution yet? Then it's time to expand your troubleshooting.

Website offline: Check the website of your web space and domain provider

If your website is not accessible, technical problems or maintenance work by your web space and domain provider can be the reason.

Your provider will of course inform you about this in advance by email or social media. So check your inbox and your provider's social media pages first - maybe you'll have an explanation and know how long it will take. If you don't find what you're looking for there, you can contact them directly via email or often via live chat.

Has your website been hacked?

If you haven't figured out why your site isn't showing with the steps above, one thought often comes to mind: Has my site been hacked? Luckily, a hacking attack on a single website is extremely rare. The effort would simply be too high and the “benefit” for the culprits would be minimal.

What can happen, however, are automated attacks in which a large number of websites are attacked at the same time.

This happens, for example, in the form of a so-called DDoS attack, in which numerous communication requests are intended to overload a network. Such attacks can lead to a failure or a targeted shutdown of the network by the operator to end the attack. In most cases, such a failure is short-lived and is quickly remedied by the provider.

So this is not a "hack" on your part, because nobody had access. Rather, a DDoS attack paralyzes a large number of sites.

The problem of insecure passwords

“Leaked” passwords, i.e. passwords that have become public, pose a completely different problem. Such a publication occurs, for example, if the security measures on a single platform are breached and passwords become known as a result. These are then automatically tried out by the culprits on many other platforms - perhaps also on the login page of your website provider.

If you now use the same combination of e-mail address and password as on the affected platform, the so-called “hackers” can theoretically gain access to your site.

For this reason, it is always advisable to use different passwords for different pages.

These are possible indications of a hacker attack:

– Your browser or anti-malware software will warn you when you try to access your site

– You notice changes in your side that you didn't make yourself

– Your domain suddenly redirects to another, unknown page

– Your website content has been completely or partially deleted

If you notice these changes on your website, you have to act quickly! In this way, you can keep the possible damage to you and your website visitors as low as possible. Preferably:

- Change your passwords and use secure combinations of letters, numbers, and special characters

– Contact your web space and domain provider.

Conclusion: No need to panic - website failures are mostly harmless 

In most cases, you don't have to worry if your website is not available. Even in the event of a breakdown with your web space provider or a hacker attack on your site, it is usually possible to restore the website.

Why? Renowned web space providers back up your data regularly. You can ask your provider for details about these backup copies of your website.

For additional security, you can also make regular data backups yourself.