Troubleshoot your homepage

If your homepage appears missing, blank, or different from expected, this guide will help you identify and resolve the issue.

When you switch themes, your previous homepage may move to drafts. It is not deleted—you can restore it.

To restore your previous homepage:

1. Visit your site’s dashboard.
2. Navigate to Pages → Drafts.
3. Locate and publish your previous homepage.
4. Navigate to Settings → Reading.
5. Select “A static page” in the homepage settings, then choose your homepage from the Homepage dropdown.
6. Click “Save Changes“.

Or, you can switch to your previous theme under Appearance → Themes and your previous homepage will automatically be restored. If you cannot remember your previous theme’s name, check your Activity Log to find it.

If your homepage suddenly displays a blank page (or only shows a header and footer), your homepage template may have been accidentally cleared.

To restore your homepage template:

1. Go to Appearance → Editor.
2. Select Templates.
3. Find your theme’s homepage template—usually named Front Page, Homepage, or Index.
4. Click the three dots and select Reset to restore the theme’s default design.

Note: Resetting the template will remove any customizations you made. If you need to recover previous changes, select View Revisions instead.

If your homepage looks correct in the Editor but displays different content on your live site, your Block theme may have a Front Page template overriding your settings.

To check if your theme has a Front Page template:

1. Go to Appearance → Editor.
2. Select Templates.
3. Look for a template named Front Page.

If your theme uses the Front Page template, you will want to move the content you created to the Front Page template and set your homepage settings to the default. Follow these steps:

1. Go to Pages and open your homepage.
2. Select all the content and copy it.
3. Go to Appearance → Editor and select Templates.
4. Open the Front Page template.
5. Paste your content into the template and click “Save“.
6. Go to Settings → Reading and select Your latest posts.
7. Click “Save Changes“.

Note: Selecting “Your latest posts” tells your site to use the theme’s built-in templates—including the Front Page template where your content now lives. Despite the name, this setting displays your Front Page template, not a list of blog posts.

How you edit your homepage depends on your theme type. To check your theme type, look for Appearance → Editor in your site’s dashboard. If it exists, you have a Block theme. If you see Appearance → Customize instead, you have a Classic theme.

Block themes include a built-in homepage that you edit through the Site Editor. This homepage does not appear in your Pages list—it is part of your theme’s design. To edit your homepage, go to Appearance → Editor. Learn more about editing the default homepage.

With classic and some third-party themes, you set a specific page as your homepage in Settings → Reading. The homepage appears in your Pages list like any other page. Learn how to create a custom homepage.

If you cannot find your homepage when adding pages to your navigation menu, use the Home Link block instead. See Add links to a menu.

If you made changes to your homepage but your live site still shows the old version, your browser may be displaying cached content. Clearing your cache forces your browser to load the current version.

Tip: Test your site in a private or incognito browser window to bypass cached content.