Why Does My Old Website Show Up?
There is nothing more frustrating than putting all your time and effort into building a new website and when you look at the live version you still see the old website.
So, why does my old website show up? It could be due to a variety of reasons. The important thing is to first determine if anything has changed with your domain name. Next, check local settings to see if your computer is storing and displaying an old version of your site.
Here are step-by-step instructions for making sure that your new website displays instead of the old one.
Check Your DNS Settings
Did you recently make changes to your domain? If you made any changes to your DNS settings, you'll need to wait about 48 hours for the domain to propagate.
Domain propagation is the process where by which your DNS settings update across the internet to reflect a change in your domain's records.
You can check to see if your domain has propagated by visiting whatsmydns.net. Simply put your domain name in the text field, select the record you would like to check in the dropdown field, and click search.
If you see a bunch of red X's then the domain is not propagated yet. If you see mostly check marks (and only a few random red X's) then your domain should be fine.
Check Incognito and/or Clear Cache and Cookies
Your browser saves old versions of websites you've visited so that pages you frequent will load faster. This is nice for loading your site quickly but also means that updates to the site might not show right away.
The first thing you should do is check the site in Incognito. The Incognito browser does not store cache or cookies so it should not be displaying an old version of the site.
You can quickly open a new incognito browser by using the hotkey Ctrl + Shift + N.
If the new version of the site displays correctly in Incognito, then you'll want to clear the cache and cookies on your main browser.
In order to clear cache and cookies in your browser, navigate to History and then click Clear Browsing Data. Make sure that you're selecting All Time as the time range.
Clear Cache from Your ISP
In the same way that your browser stores cached versions of webpages, your internet service providor (ISP) also stores cached websites. You may need to clear the cache (also know as flush DNS) in order to reset everything.
On a Windows, click on the Start button. Then navigate to Windows Systems > Command Prompt. After the interface is open, enter the following command:
ipconfig /flushdnsOn a Mac, open the interface by clicking on Go > Utilities. Then click on Terminal and run the following command and your computer password when prompted:
sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponderIn Conclusion
These are the most common reasons why you may be seeing your old website. If doing these three things does not resolve the issue, please reach out to your host provider for more support.
If you found another way to get your website the show the newest version, feel free to share in the comments!
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