1. Identify the cause
- Check server logs to see if the spike is from genuine users or a bot/DDoS attack.
- Use tools like UptimeRobot, Pingdom, or your hosting dashboard to confirm downtime patterns.
2. Immediate steps to bring the site back up
- Restart the server (temporary relief).
- Enable maintenance mode so visitors see a friendly “We’ll be back soon” page instead of a crash.
- If you’re on shared hosting, temporarily disable heavy plugins or scripts that consume a lot of resources.
3. Reduce server load
- Use Caching (Cloudflare, WP Rocket, LiteSpeed Cache) so pages are served from cache instead of generating them each time.
- Optimize your database (especially for WordPress with plugins like WP-Optimize).
- Compress images and minify CSS/JS to speed up load times.
4. Handle high traffic better
- Upgrade to a better hosting plan or dedicated/VPS server.
- Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) like Cloudflare, BunnyCDN, or AWS CloudFront to spread the load across multiple servers worldwide.
- Use Load Balancing if your site traffic is consistently high.
5. Protect against attacks
- Enable a Web Application Firewall (WAF) (Cloudflare, Sucuri).
- Limit requests per IP to prevent brute force or spam hits.
6. Plan for scalability
- If you expect spikes (e.g., product launches), scale up resources temporarily.
- Optimize code and queries so your site handles more visitors with fewer server demands.
If you tell me whether your site is WordPress, custom PHP, or another platform, I can give you the exact steps and tools to apply right now so it comes back online faster.
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