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Why Your Under Construction Page Won't Go Away (And How to Fix It)

62 threads Sep 9, 2025 Plugin → Under construction

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You've finished working on your site, you've toggled the Under Construction plugin to 'Off', and yet... the construction page stubbornly remains. This is one of the most common and frustrating issues reported by users of the Under Construction plugin. Based on extensive community reports, this guide will explain why this happens and provide a clear, step-by-step troubleshooting process to resolve it.

The Root Cause: Caching

In nearly every case analyzed, the core issue is not a bug with the Under Construction plugin itself but rather some form of caching. The plugin works by setting a simple flag. When you turn it off, that flag is removed. However, various caching systems save a 'snapshot' of your page to serve it faster to visitors. These systems often save the Under Construction page and continue to serve it even after the plugin is deactivated or deleted.

How to Troubleshoot and Fix the Issue

Step 1: Confirm It's a Caching Issue

First, verify that the problem is indeed caching. To do this, try accessing your website URL with a random parameter appended to it. This trick often bypasses most cache systems.

  • Try visiting: https://yourwebsite.com/?nocache=12345 or https://yourwebsite.com/?random=abcde
  • If your normal site loads with this URL parameter, you have confirmed a caching issue.

Step 2: Clear All Types of Cache

You must clear cache from multiple potential sources. Don't just stop at one.

  1. Browser Cache: Force a hard refresh (Ctrl + F5 on Windows, Cmd + Shift + R on Mac). Also, test your site in an incognito or private browsing window.
  2. WordPress Caching Plugins: If you use plugins like W3 Total Cache, WP Super Cache, WP Rocket, or others, locate their settings in your WordPress admin dashboard and use their 'Empty All Cache' or 'Purge Cache'功能.
  3. Server-Level Cache: Many web hosts implement their own caching systems (e.g., Varnish, LSCache, Redis). You often need to clear this cache from your hosting control panel (e.g., cPanel). If you cannot find the option, contact your hosting provider's support and ask them to clear the server-level cache for your website. This is a critical step that users often miss.
  4. Content Delivery Network (CDN) Cache: If you use a service like Cloudflare, KeyCDN, or StackPath, you must log into your account on that service's website and purge its cache.
  5. Facebook Cache: If links shared on Facebook show the Under Construction page, use the Facebook Sharing Debugger to scrape and clear the cached information.

Step 3: Search Engine Index (SERP)

If search engine results pages (SERPs) still show "...is under construction" in the title tag, this is not a plugin issue. The plugin has been deactivated correctly, but search engines like Google have not yet re-crawled and re-indexed your site to see the change. You must wait for this process to happen naturally, or you can request a re-crawl using Google Search Console.

Step 4: Check www vs. non-www Versions

A common specific scenario is where the Under Construction page is cleared on yourdomain.com but remains on www.yourdomain.com (or vice-versa). This happens because these are treated as two separate URLs by caching systems. Ensure you clear the cache and test both versions of your site address.

What If Nothing Works?

If you have deactivated the plugin, cleared every cache you can find, and the issue persists across all devices, the final step is to contact your web hosting provider. Explain the situation and specify that you need them to clear all server-level and proxy caches for your domain. As confirmed in the community threads, the Under Construction plugin does not leave any residual files or code behind once it is deleted. If it's gone, the persistent page is always being served by a caching mechanism outside of WordPress.

By methodically working through these steps, you can almost always identify and resolve the cause of a stuck Under Construction page and successfully launch your website.

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