What the white screen actually means
A completely blank page — sometimes with no error message at all — usually means a fatal PHP error. Most often it's a plugin or theme conflict, or the site running out of memory. The page isn't empty; the code that builds it has crashed before anything could be shown.
The usual causes
The triggers are consistent: a plugin or theme update that conflicts or fails partway; the PHP memory limit being reached; a corrupted file after an interrupted update; or a PHP version change on the hosting that older code no longer supports. If the white screen appeared right after you updated something, that update is almost always where to look.
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Safe ways to narrow it down
If you can still reach the WordPress admin area, note what changed most recently — an update is the usual trigger, and deactivating that plugin often restores the site. If you can reach the hosting files, enabling WordPress's debug log makes it show the exact error instead of a blank page, which turns guessing into diagnosis. A safety note: take a backup before changing anything, and don't deactivate or delete things on a live site blindly — a wrong move can lock you out of admin entirely. If you're not comfortable working with files or FTP, stop here and get help rather than experimenting.
When to get help
If the site is down and you can't reach the admin area, the fix usually means working in the hosting files or the database — fast for a professional, easy to get wrong under pressure. Our WordPress support service handles exactly this, and a general website repair covers the rest. WordPress showing a white screen? Get a free website review and we'll identify the cause and quote a fixed price to fix it.
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