My changes aren't showing up
What to do when you've saved edits in WordPress or your site platform but the live site hasn't updated.
- Difficulty
- Beginner
You saved the change. You can see it in the editor. But when you visit your live site, everything looks the same as before. This is one of the most common things people run into — and it almost always has a quick fix.
Quick summary
The most likely culprit is caching. Start with a hard refresh (Ctrl+Shift+R or Cmd+Shift+R). If that doesn't work, clear the site cache from your dashboard. If the change still isn't live, double-check that you saved and published it correctly.
Step 1 — Hard refresh your browser
Your browser stores a local copy of web pages to load them faster. That "cached" copy may be outdated.
Press Ctrl+Shift+R (Windows / Linux) or Cmd+Shift+R (Mac). Chrome lists this as "reload the current page, ignoring cached content" — exactly what you want here.
Check in a private / incognito window. This bypasses your browser's stored files entirely. In Chrome, press Ctrl+Shift+N (Windows / Linux) or Cmd+Shift+N (Mac).
Try on a different device or network. Ask a colleague to load the page on their phone and confirm what they see.
If the change shows in a private window but not your normal browser, your browser cache is the issue. See how to fully clear it.
Step 2 — Confirm the change was saved and published
Drafts and unpublished edits don't appear on the live site.
Go back to the editor for that page or post.
Check the status. In WordPress, open the settings sidebar with the gear icon at the top right, then look at Status on the Post (or Page) tab. The options are Draft, Pending Review, Private, Scheduled and Published — it has to be Published for changes to be live.
Save it. On something not yet live the button says Publish. On a page that is already live, WordPress 6.6 and later label the button Save (older versions said Update). An edit left unsaved in the editor never reaches the live page.
Using Elementor or a page builder?
In Elementor the main button reads Publish on a page that isn't live yet and Update on one that is. The arrow beside it holds Save Draft, and saving a draft of a published page deliberately leaves the live page alone. If you used Save Draft, click Update to push the change live.
Step 3 — Clear the site cache
Many WordPress sites use caching to serve pages quickly. WordPress's own advice, when you want a change live immediately, is to clear the cache — otherwise visitors (you included) keep seeing the old version until the cache updates on its own.
Log in to your WordPress dashboard.
Look for a caching plugin in the top toolbar or the left menu. Common names: WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, LiteSpeed Cache, or Swift Performance.
Click "Clear Cache" or "Purge All." The exact label varies by plugin, but it's usually prominent.
Reload your live site and check if the change is now visible.
Step 4 — Clear the hosting-level cache
Some hosting providers (Flywheel, WP Engine, Kinsta) add their own caching layer on top of WordPress.
Log in to your hosting dashboard.
Look for a cache management option. In MyKinsta, go to Sites → your site → Caching and click Clear all caches. In the WP Engine User Portal, open the environment from the Sites page, choose Cache (you may have to expand Manage), then click Clear all caches. On Flywheel, open the site's Advanced tab and click Flush Cache.
Clear the cache and reload your site.
Change showing now?
If clearing the cache fixed it, you're all set. For future reference, clearing the cache after making edits is good practice.
Step 5 — Check if a CDN is involved
A CDN (Content Delivery Network — a global network of servers that speeds up your site) caches pages too. If your site uses Cloudflare or a similar service, its cache may need purging.
Contact us if you're not sure whether your site uses a CDN. We can clear it on your behalf.
Common questions
I cleared the cache but the old version is still showing.
There may be multiple layers of caching — browser, WordPress plugin, hosting, and CDN. Work through each layer in order. If you've cleared them all and the change still isn't live, contact us.
My changes are showing on mobile but not desktop (or vice versa).
This is a caching quirk — different devices may have different cached versions. Clear the site cache completely and hard refresh both devices.
I made a change weeks ago and it still hasn't appeared.
Check the page status in the editor first (Step 2). If it's published, there may be a caching configuration issue we need to look at.
The change appeared briefly and then reverted.
This can happen if two people are editing the same page at the same time, or if an automated backup restore was triggered. Contact us so we can check the revision history.
Related guides
- How to clear your cache & hard refresh
- My site looks broken
- Drafts, previews, and publishing in WordPress
- Publishing your changes in Elementor
- Info to gather before contacting support
- Caching explained
- Cache plugins explained
Need a hand?
Last updated