If you open a site and its show 500 internal server error message it means there is some issue with website. 500 Internal Server Error or HTTP Error is one of the most common issues WordPress webmasters encounter. Website show 500 internal server error when server encounter with unexpected condition that prevents it from fulfilling the request.
When you see 500 error on site its means no issue with your browser, computer, or internet connection.
Error message can be different based on website.
It can be “500 Internal Server Error”, “500 Error”, “HTTP Error 500”, “500. That’s an error”, “Temporary Error (500)”, or just the error code “500”.
Reasons of 500 Internal Server Error
Browser Cache and Cookies
Login credentials to MySQL database are incorrect
Database corrupt
Corrupted WordPress installation or core files
Issues with database server
Corrupted .htaccess file and PHP memory limit
Problems with third-party plugins and themes
Critical PHP errors or PHP timing out with third-party plugins
Permissions of file and folder permissions are incorrect
The PHP memory limit on your server is finished
Your .htaccess file is broken or corrupted
If there are problems in CGI and Perl script
HTTP Error 500 affects on SEO
500 Internal server error affects on SEO if its not fixed early. If its persist long time then website ranking in search engine have negative impact.
Fix HTTP Error 500 in WordPress
Are you getting 500 error on wordpress site? 500 Internal Server Error or HTTP Error 500 is one of the top most common issues WordPress users encounter.
Finding the reason behind this error not easy as some of the other commonly encountered HTTP errors.
Here is the reasons of 500 error on wordpress site and how we can fix it.
1. Theme installation
Some time new theme installation or update on theme can cause the 500 error on server.For fixing it you can try to change the theme or install a new theme.
if you are able to access the admin panel. You can also change the theme using phpmyadmin panel.
Here is the process.
Find the wp_options table. open it and Locate the template and stylesheet rows.
Click Edit and change the template and stylesheet value and press Go to save changes.
2. Corrupted .htaccess File
Another reason of 500 error is corrupt htaccess file. you can create new one and check the issue.
3. Insufficient PHP Limit
Insufficient memory Limit also be the reason of 500 error. Some scripts or plugins require certain memory limit.
To fix the memory limit you can increase it by editing htaccess file or php.ini file.
After done you can refresh the site and check if issue is resolve or not.
4. Incompatible PHP Version
when we move site from one host to other or upgrade theme, plugins on site. its show 500 error. It can be due to PHP version issue. Some plugins need more specific PHP version to execute.
We can change the PHP version using cpanel.simply log in and head to the PHP configurations under the Advanced tab..
5. 500 Internal Server Error Due to Plugins
WordPress plugins can create a conflict with other pluign, theme etc.. To check the issue if its occur due to plugin. in the wp-content folder, rename the plugins folder to plugins.renamed and visit your site in a private browsing mode.
If it loads correctly, the issue is caused by one of your plugins. If the error persists, something else is causing it.
6. Re-upload WordPress core files
Sometime wordpress files can be corrupted during upgrade or migration. Which cause the 500 error. You can download the same wordpress version and replace the core files.
7. Access your error logs.
Your server log file can also tell you the reason of 500 error. you can access the log file using cpanel and check the logs.
Another option is to enable the WordPress debug log. You can do this by connecting to your site via SFTP and opening your wp-config.php file.
8. Permission errors
If any files permission is not set correctly it can also create 500 error. You can check files permission using FTP and right click on files and change the permissions. it can be 644 or 755, 777 etc..