Fix the error status on the homepage on WordPress

Why it matters

Google's test saw an error answer (4xx or 5xx) from the homepage, so it may be dropped from search results. The cause is either a real fault on your server or a rule that blocks Google's crawlers.

The fix

1. Turn on logging by setting WP_DEBUG and WP_DEBUG_LOG to true and WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY to false in wp-config.php, load the homepage, and read wp-content/debug.log. When you are done, set them back to false and delete debug.log, which can hold sensitive details and may be readable from the web.
2. If a plugin causes the error, deactivate it by renaming its folder in wp-content/plugins, and switch to a default theme to test the theme. Check also the memory limit and your host's status.

define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );
// Set these back to false and delete wp-content/debug.log when you are done

Read the documentation ↗(opens in a new tab)

Related

• Reported by the Indexability check
• Remove the noindex tag from the homepage
• Remove the noindex header from the homepage
• Let search engines crawl the homepage
• Resolve the noindex that robots.txt hides
• Find out why Google cannot index the homepage
• Remove the nofollow instruction from the homepage
• Add structured data to the homepage
• Fix the broken structured data on the homepage