White Screen of Death

In plain English

Your site loads a blank, white page and nothing else. No menu, no text, no error. Behind the scenes, WordPress hit a problem serious enough that it couldn't finish building the page, so it served up nothing at all. It looks alarming — but your site and your content are almost always still there. They just can't display until the underlying problem is cleared.

Why it matters for your business

A white screen means your site is effectively offline. Visitors can't read it, buy from it, or contact you — and they have no idea why, so they simply leave. It also tends to strike right after an update, exactly when you're least expecting it. The good news: the cause is usually a single plugin, theme, or memory limit, and once it's found, the fix is quick.

What usually causes it

Most often it's a plugin or theme update that doesn't agree with the rest of your site, or your hosting running out of memory. Finding which one — without guesswork — is the whole job.