We Meet to Troubleshoot WordPress
We catch up regularly in our favourite café. Well, not regularly as in weekly but, you know, every few months or so when we feel we have something to talk about. There are four of us: we call ourselves Survivors, because each one of us has battled several broken WordPress sites, but what we have in common was the dreaded issue of links not working in WordPress. We'd initially met at a local WordPress meetup, which eventually folded, but we had so much in common by that time and knew so much about what each other was going through with their websites, that we wanted to keep meeting and sharing fixes.
Fixing Broken Links: A Step-by-Step Guide
So, your links are broken. Don't panic. This is one of the most common issues we see, and it's almost always fixable. Let's walk through the most common causes and their solutions. I'll explain this as if we were sitting together, because honestly, that's how I talk to all my clients.
First, check the obvious. Did you recently change your domain or move your site? If your wordpress not working after changing site url, this is almost certainly the culprit. Your site's address is stored in the database, and all your internal links point to the old location. You need to update the "Site Address" and "WordPress Address" in your dashboard under Settings > General. If you can't access your dashboard, you can manually update these values in your `wp-config.php` file or directly in the `wp_options` table of your database. Pro tip: Always, always back up your site before making changes like this.
Second, let's talk permalinks. This is the #1 fix for most people. Sometimes, the rewrite rules that control how links are formatted get corrupted. It's a simple fix. Just go to Settings > Permalinks in your WordPress admin area and click "Save Changes" without actually changing anything. This flushes the rules and rewrites them correctly. Nine times out of ten, this solves the problem instantly.
Third, consider your plugins and theme. A faulty plugin or theme can break all sorts of functionality. To test this, temporarily switch to a default WordPress theme like Twenty Twenty-Four. If the links work, you know your theme is the issue. Next, deactivate all your plugins. If the links work, reactivate them one by one to identify the culprit. This process of elimination is a fundamental skill for any wordpress developer and is your first line of defense.
Fourth, a more advanced cause: webhooks wordpress integrations. If you're using services that rely on webhooks (like e-commerce or membership plugins), a broken link in the callback URL can cause the entire integration to fail silently. Double-check the endpoints configured in any external services to ensure they match the correct, current URL of your site.
- Clear Your Cache: If you use a caching plugin or server-level cache, clear it. You might be seeing an old, cached version of a page with old links.
- Check for Hard-Coded Links: If you or a previous developer manually added links in the theme code using the full `http://` address, those will break if the domain changes. These need to be updated to relative paths (e.g., `/about-us/`) or use WordPress functions like `home_url()`.
Don't Fight This Battle Alone
Walking through these steps can feel overwhelming, especially when your site is down and every minute counts. This is where a professional service can be a lifesaver. At WPutopia, we provide WordPress services to clients, including WordPress maintenance, theme upgrades, plugin installation, and more. We handle the technical headaches so you can focus on your business. If you're tired of being a survivor and just want a website that works, get in touch with us today for a hassle-free solution.
