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Why Your WordPress Homepage Shows the Wrong Title or Layout (And How to Fix It)

14 threads Sep 17, 2025 Core → Networking wordpress

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Seeing an incorrect page title, a sample page, or an unexpected layout on your WordPress homepage is a common and frustrating issue. Based on community support threads, this problem often stems from a few specific configuration and caching settings. This guide explains the most likely causes and provides step-by-step solutions to regain control of your homepage's appearance.

Why This Happens

The homepage is a special page in WordPress, and its display is controlled by a combination of your theme's settings, WordPress's reading configuration, and cached data. When these elements are out of sync, you can see old content, incorrect titles, or layouts you didn't intend.

Common Solutions to Fix Your Homepage

1. Check Your WordPress Reading Settings

The most common cause of homepage display issues is an incorrect setting under Settings > Reading. Ensure you have correctly assigned your desired front page as a "Static Page." If you have a "Posts page" set, remember that this page will often display a blog loop layout, which can be confusing if you expected a static design. This is a normal function of how WordPress handles these assigned pages.

2. Reset Your Permalinks

Sometimes, the rewrite rules that control your site's URLs become corrupted. Resetting them is a simple but effective fix.

  • Go to Settings > Permalinks.
  • Simply click "Save Changes" without making any modifications.
  • This refreshes the rules and can resolve issues where old pages are incorrectly displayed.

3. Clear All Caches

Cached data is a frequent culprit behind seeing old content. You must clear all possible sources of cache:

  • Server/Browser Cache: Clear your browser cache and any server-side cache provided by your hosting provider.
  • Plugin Cache: If you use a caching plugin (e.g., W3 Total Cache, WP Super Cache), clear its cache.
  • CDN Cache: If you use a Content Delivery Network like Cloudflare, purge its cache.

4. Investigate Your Theme and Plugins

Your theme or a plugin might be adding extra information to your page titles or controlling the homepage layout.

  • SEO Plugins: Plugins like Yoast SEO control page titles and meta descriptions. Check your homepage settings within the SEO plugin to ensure the title is configured correctly.
  • Theme Settings: Many themes add a geographic or site identifier to page titles by default. Explore your theme's options panel for title or SEO settings.
  • Conflict Test: As seen in the sample threads, a theme or plugin conflict can cause preview and display issues. To test, temporarily switch to a default WordPress theme (like Twenty Twenty-One) and disable all plugins. If the problem resolves, reactivate your theme and plugins one by one to identify the source of the conflict. The Health Check plugin allows you to do this safely without affecting your site's visitors.

When to Seek Specific Support

If the steps above do not resolve your issue, the problem may be specific to a commercial product you are using.

  • Commercial Themes/Plugins: For issues related to a commercial theme (e.g., Flatsome, BeTheme, ListingHive) or page builder (e.g., Elementor), it is best to contact the product's official support channel. Their developers are best equipped to provide guidance for their specific product.
  • Core WordPress Functions: For persistent issues with WordPress core functions, you can seek help from the wider community in the WordPress support forums.

By methodically working through these steps—checking settings, clearing cache, and testing for conflicts—you can almost always identify and fix the reason your homepage isn't displaying correctly.

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