10 Common WordPress Problems and How to Fix Them

Before the list: almost every problem below comes down to one of four causes. Working out which one you are dealing with is faster than searching the exact error message.

1. A plugin conflict — two plugins, or a plugin and the theme, disagreeing
2. A PHP version mismatch — the host upgraded, something in your stack did not
3. Database bloat — years of revisions, transients and orphaned metadata
4. Undersized hosting — the site outgrew the plan it is on

1. White screen, no error

PHP hit a fatal error and display is off, so you get nothing.

Turn on WP_DEBUG in wp-config.php, or better, read the host's PHP error log. The log names the file. Almost always a plugin or a theme function, very often after an update.

Fix: deactivate the offending plugin via FTP or the file manager by renaming its folder in wp-content/plugins.

2. Site broke after an update

Same cause, known trigger.

Roll back the specific plugin to its previous version, confirm that fixes it, then look for why it broke. Frequently the plugin now requires a newer PHP version than the host provides.

Prevention is a staging environment: update there, check, then repeat on live. This is core to what should be checked every month.

3. The admin area is slow but the front end is fine

The front end is cached; the admin is not. So this is your true, uncached performance.

Usual causes: database bloat, a plugin doing expensive work on every admin page load, or too many plugins adding admin notices and dashboard widgets. Clean up post revisions and expired transients, then audit what is running in admin.

4. The whole site is slow

Different problem from the above. Start with why is my WordPress website slow, which works through images, plugin weight, hosting and caching in the order they usually matter.

5. Contact form submissions not arriving

Extremely common, and usually silent — which is worse, because you do not know you are losing enquiries.

The cause is normally that the host's PHP mail is unreliable or the messages are landing in spam because the sending domain has no SPF or DKIM records. Fix it by sending through a proper transactional mail service rather than PHP mail.

Then test it end to end, from a real address, and check the spam folder. This site logs a loud server warning when its mail provider key is missing, precisely because the failure is otherwise invisible.

6. Images look blurry or load slowly

Usually one of: the image was uploaded smaller than the space it renders into, WordPress's generated sizes do not match the theme's layout, or lazy loading is applied to the hero image so the largest element on the page waits.

How images affect website speed and SEO covers sizing, formats and the lazy-loading mistake.

7. Comment and form spam

If you do not use comments, disable them entirely — site-wide, not per post. That removes an entire attack surface.

For forms, a honeypot field plus server-side rate limiting stops most automated submissions without making legitimate users solve puzzles. CAPTCHAs are a last resort; they cost you real conversions.

8. "Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance"

An update was interrupted and left a .maintenance file in the WordPress root. Delete it. The site comes straight back.

If it happens repeatedly, the update is timing out — usually a hosting resource limit.

9. Mixed content warnings after moving to HTTPS

The page loads over HTTPS but references assets over HTTP, so the browser flags it.

Run a proper search-replace across the database — a tool that handles serialised data, not a raw SQL find-and-replace, which will corrupt serialised arrays. Then check hardcoded URLs in theme files and widgets.

10. Hacked or serving unexpected content

Take it seriously and move quickly.

1. Take the site offline or into maintenance mode.
2. Change every password: WordPress admin, hosting, FTP, database.
3. Restore from a backup predating the compromise, if you have one.
4. Update everything, remove anything unused.
5. Work out how they got in — usually an outdated plugin — or it happens again.

Prevention is unglamorous and effective: keep things updated, remove what you do not use, use strong unique passwords, limit admin accounts. That is most of what the maintenance service is, and WordPress security and maintenance covers the routine.

Diagnosing anything not on this list

1. What changed immediately before it started?
2. Does it happen with all plugins deactivated? *(Test on staging.)*
3. Does it happen on a default theme?
4. What does the PHP error log say?

That sequence identifies the culprit for the overwhelming majority of WordPress faults, and it is faster than searching the symptom.