My site looks broken
What to do when your website layout is wrong, styles are missing, or something looks completely off.
Don't panic — a "broken" look is usually a display problem, not data loss. Your content is almost certainly still there. This guide helps you figure out what happened and what to do next.
Quick summary
Start with a hard refresh and check in a different browser. If the problem persists, think about what changed recently. A plugin update, a theme change, or a caching issue causes most "broken layout" problems. Note what looks wrong and contact us with a screenshot.
Step 1 — Hard refresh your browser
Before anything else, clear what your browser has stored and reload the page fresh.
Press Ctrl+Shift+R (Windows / Chrome / Firefox) or Cmd+Shift+R (Mac). This forces the browser to ignore its stored version and fetch the page again.
Try a different browser. Open Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge — whichever one you don't normally use — and load your site there.
Try on your phone. A phone on mobile data rules out any network or computer-specific issue.
If it looks fine in another browser, the issue is your browser's cache. Follow that guide to fully clear it.
Step 2 — Describe exactly what looks wrong
Before you contact us, write down what you see. This saves back-and-forth.
- Which page(s) are affected? Just one, or the whole site?
- What looks wrong? (Missing images, jumbled text, buttons out of place, no styling at all, content overlapping)
- Is it wrong on mobile, desktop, or both?
- When did it start?
Take a screenshot now
A screenshot captures the exact problem and is the fastest way to show us what you're seeing. See how to take a screenshot.
Step 3 — Think about recent changes
Most broken layouts happen right after a change. Ask yourself:
- Did a plugin or theme update run recently?
- Did you (or a team member) edit anything in the site editor, Elementor, or page builder?
- Did your host recently migrate the server or push an update?
- Did you change any CSS (stylesheet) or add custom code?
If a plugin or theme update is the likely cause, contact us — we can roll back the change.
Step 4 — Check for a caching problem
Caching (your site's built-in speed system) sometimes serves an old, broken version of a page.
Log in to your WordPress dashboard (or your site's admin panel).
Find the caching plugin or setting. Common caching plugins include WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, and LiteSpeed Cache. Your host may also have a built-in cache option in its dashboard.
Clear / purge the cache. Look for a "Clear cache" or "Purge all" button. Click it, then reload your site.
Did clearing the cache fix it?
If yes, great. It was a stale cached file. Let us know — we may need to adjust your cache settings to prevent a recurrence.
Step 5 — Check if a plugin is the cause
A broken plugin can strip out all styling or collapse the layout.
Add ?nocache=1 to the end of your URL (e.g., https://www.yoursite.com?nocache=1) and reload. On some setups this bypasses the cache and shows the raw state.
Do not deactivate plugins yourself unless you are comfortable with WordPress. Deactivating the wrong plugin can make things worse. Contact us and we'll diagnose safely.
What to send us
- Your site URL
- Screenshots of the broken pages
- Which browser and device you're using
- When it started
- Any recent changes you're aware of
If the whole site is down or shows a blank white page
See My website is down — a blank white screen often means the WordPress software has crashed, which is a different problem.
Common questions
Related guides
- How to clear your cache & hard refresh
- My website is down
- My changes aren't showing up
- How to take a screenshot
- Info to gather before contacting support
Need a hand?