Picture yourself at a restaurant. You placed your order over an hour ago, yet it’s nowhere in sight. Suddenly, a waiter waltzes to your table and says, “We’re sorry, but the kitchen is taking too long, and we can’t serve you.”
Painful, right?
That’s basically what a 504 gateway timeout error means. It’s the message your browser displays when a server takes too long to respond to your request. This can hurt businesses relying on organic traffic, as site visitors may leave for the competition, taking their money with them.
If you want to prevent that, this article is for you.
Keep reading to learn what a 504 gateway timeout error means, what causes it, and how you can fix it before it affects your rankings.
Table of Contents
What Is a 504 Gateway Timeout?
When you surf the internet, two servers process your requests: the main and the upstream. The main is like the waiter, while the upstream server is the kitchen preparing your order.
Depending on the status of the upstream server, the main one can return several replies called HTTP response codes.
If the upstream server processes your request successfully, the main server delivers a 200 OK code. If not, you get a variety of 5xx response codes that signal a problem delivering your request or “preparing your order.”
One of them is the 504 gateway timeout.
This error is displayed differently across sites and browsers, but whichever one you see, it means the same thing—the server took too long to process your request.
Google Chrome displays this as: “The site can’t be reached. Domain.com took too long to respond.”
These are some more variations:
- 504 Gateway Timeout
- Gateway Timeout Error
- HTTP 504 error
- 504 Error
- This page isn’t working. Domain took too long to respond.
- 504 Gateway Timeout — The server didn’t respond in time
- The page request was canceled because it took too long to complete
But sometimes, all you get is a blank white screen.
Common Causes of a 504 Error
Persistent HTTP errors hurt your SEO. They disrupt the user experience, forcing Google to de-index your site and drop your rankings. That’s why identifying the culprit is crucial.
Frustrated visitors may abandon your site for competitor pages, steering good traffic and potential leads away from your business. According to Google Consumer Insights, 53% of visitors bounce if a website doesn’t load within the first three seconds.
So, here are a few things that could be causing this.
Server Overload
Remember the restaurant I mentioned earlier? Their kitchen may not prepare your dish because multiple orders are coming in at once. Website servers experience the same thing. When there’s a high traffic volume, the servers overload and can’t handle all the requests, leading to a 504 error.
Network Issues
Sometimes, it’s not the server; it’s just your network. Your router or modem might have connection issues, preventing you from accessing the site.
DNS Issues
DNS stands for Domain Name System, which essentially means the website’s phone number. A website may migrate its DNS to a new IP address or change its number in the internet phonebook. But since your computer has already stored the outdated DNS, it won’t reach the new one.
Firewall Restrictions
Firewalls are like security guards that block attacks on your website. But sometimes, they can get too strict and block good traffic, which stops visitors from successfully reaching the site.
Proxy Server Problems
Proxy servers protect information like your email address or location while you access different sites. The downside is that they could cause timeout errors if set up incorrectly.
How to Fix Timeout Errors for Site Visitors
If you’re encountering a timeout error while browsing, the issue could be on the website’s end or your own connection. This section will walk you through the steps to troubleshoot and resolve the error from your side.
Refresh the Page
Though timeout errors can be frustrating, they’re often temporary issues caused by minor network glitches or an influx of organic traffic to the target site. In that case, reloading the page is the fastest way to resolve this.
You can do this by clicking the “refresh” button in your browser’s address bar. You can also press F5 on Windows or Cmd + R on macOS.
If it doesn’t work immediately, try again after a few minutes before moving on to the next fix.
Inspect Your Internet Connection and Network Devices
If you’re receiving an HTTP 504 code, check your network devices. Turn off your router or modem, turn them back on after 10 to 30 minutes, before refreshing the page.
Check the General Status of the Website
Sometimes the problem is with the website’s servers, not your device. To confirm this, use website checker tools like Is it Down Right Now, Down for Everyone or Just Me, or Down Detector. Just paste the site’s address into any of these platforms to see if the timeout is a general issue.
Access the Site from Another Device or Browser
Sometimes, timeout errors occur because your computer or browser has stored an outdated DNS record. It’s like having the wrong phone number for a website. To test this, access the site on a different browser or device that hasn’t visited it before.
Clear the DNS Cache on Your Device
Another way to fix DNS issues is by clearing the DNS cache from your operating system. Think of it as deleting the website’s old phone number so you can reach the new one.
If you’re a Windows user, open the command prompt, type in “ipconfig /flushdns,” and press enter to flush out the outdated DNS information.
On Mac, open the terminal and type “sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder,” then press enter.
Disable Your Proxy
As mentioned earlier, proxy servers help protect your information while you surf the Internet. Using them to hide your device’s location may alter your IP address and prevent you from accessing certain sites. An incorrect proxy setting could also affect your connection to specific websites. In this case, turning it off is the only solution.
- If you’re a Windows user, press the Start key on your keyboard.
- Click the settings icon and then “Network and Internet.”
- On this page, select “proxy” from the left panel.
- Under “manual proxy setup,” toggle “Use a proxy server” off to deactivate it.
If the proxy server was the culprit, you should be able to access the site now.
Enable Your VPN
You might not have access to a website because the site’s firewall has blocked your location. In this case, you can’t visit the page directly, so consider installing a VPN.
VPNs help you change your device’s location to visit restricted sites. Some options include ExpressVPN, VPN Mentor, and Windscribe.
How to Fix the Timeout Error for Site Owners
As a site owner, keeping visitors engaged is crucial, and nothing drives them away faster than a timeout error. That’s why we’ve outlined some of the best ways to keep your website fast and accessible.
Check Your Server’s Status and Restart if Necessary
A 504 gateway timeout error could mean your server runs too slowly, is overloaded, or is completely shut down. This might be due to an influx of traffic, problems with the hosting company, or if your site just needs a quick reset. In that case, check if your server is functioning correctly and restart it if necessary.
- First, log into your hosting account.
- Look for a server status or dashboard option to check if the server is online.
- If the server is down, click on the restart or reboot option.
If you’re using a dedicated server, your rules are slightly different. Here’s how it’s done:
- Mac or Linux users, open your computer’s built-in secure shell (SSH) terminal, while Windows users, open PowerShell. But if your computer doesn’t have a built-in SSH, access an external one like PUTTY.
- Next, type the SSH login command to connect to your server: “ssh username@your-server-ip”
- Remember to replace “username” with your server name and “your-sever-ip” with your IP address.
- Next, type in your password.
- Then type in this command and press enter to restart your server: “sudo reboot.”
This should prompt the server to shut down and restart. Wait a few minutes to see if your server is back online.
Increase Server Capacity
Have we been talking a lot about restaurants? Well, don’t get tired of them just yet.
One reason a site could be timing out is a spike in traffic, slowing it down — just like a restaurant handling multiple orders. The restaurant can expand or hire more staff to accommodate the volume of orders.
If your site crashes because of an increase in website traffic, you should do the same.
Your hosting plan determines the capacity of traffic your servers can handle, and upgrading your plan will increase your capacity, fixing the 504 errors. You could also try load balancing, which splits visitors between multiple servers, similar to hiring more chefs in your kitchen to handle more orders.
- Log into your hosting provider and see how much traffic your plan can handle.
- If it can’t handle the number of visitors you’re getting, consider moving from shared hosting to a dedicated server. This is like moving from a cramped rented space to a personal building.
- Use a content delivery network (CDN) to distribute traffic across different servers.
- Finally, remember to use Google Analytics or your hosting tool to continuously monitor any spikes in your traffic so you can prepare accordingly.
Adjust Firewall and Security Settings
A firewall is a network security device or software that filters incoming traffic based on predefined specifications. But your firewall settings might be too strict and could block real customers from entering your site. They could bar IP addresses that have repeatedly tried to access your site or specific countries. Sometimes, they just mistake real human visitors for bots.
Your DDoS protection system might also be too sensitive, or your CDN might be misconfigured. If this is the culprit, you should tone down your security measures so they can accept real visitors and protect your site.
You can start by:
- Log into your CDN or security dashboard. This could be Cloudflare, Sucuri, or your hosting provider’s firewall settings.
- Check for logs that show that users are being blocked and find out why.
- For Cloudflare users, lower your security level slightly, from high to medium.
- You can also turn off strict DDoS security measures and only use them when your site is actually under attack.
Optimize Your Website’s Code
Your website’s code might be too complicated for computers and browsers to read, making it harder for servers to process client requests.
Bad code can come from slow-loading plugins, multiple scripts running simultaneously, large page files, and unnecessary extra code. Cleaning this up will make the website load faster.
- First, identify the slow parts with website speed test tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix.
- Complicated code could also point to website themes or plugins slowing down your site. Head to your WordPress dashboard and deactivate or delete any plugins you have recently installed.
- Optimizing large files like videos and images can speed up your site. Before uploading these multimedia files, compress them with tools like TinyPNG or Short Pixel for photos and Handbrake for videos. This will help them load faster without losing quality.
- Also, enable lazy loading so these images load only when visitors scroll to them, not all at once.
Check DNS Settings
Start by visiting sites like DNS Checker to determine if DNS issues are causing the HTTP error. Next, try flushing your computer’s DNS cache following the prompts I outlined for site visitors.
Also, update your DNS records if you recently migrated to a new hosting provider or switched to a faster DNS provider like Google Public DNS.
Contact Customer Support
After exhausting every troubleshooting tactic, it might be time to let your hosting provider fix the problem. They can pinpoint the cause of the error and offer a suitable solution faster.
Whether your provider is GoDaddy or Bluehost, reach out via their “Contact Us” pages or live chat for a faster response. To help them diagnose and resolve your problem faster, make sure you include the name of your domain, screenshots of the error message, fixes you’ve already tried, and the exact time the error started.
FAQs
There are many ways to fix a 504 gateway timeout error, depending on whether you’re a site visitor or owner. If you’re a visitor, check your connection, reboot your network devices, or just try accessing the site from another browser. If you’re the site owner, try adjusting your firewall settings, clearing your DNS cache, or updating your hosting plan.
504 codes are mostly server-side errors. In this instance, site visitors have limited options to fix the problem. But if the website is not down for everyone else, it might be an individual issue with your network device or browser.
Conclusion
Though a 504 gateway error may slightly inconvenience site visitors, it’s a ticking time bomb for businesses. A persistent crash could affect your user experience and rankings, taking leads from your site to the competition.
But with these tips, you should be able to resolve this issue before it causes serious damage to your SEO.
Need help building quality, responsive websites for your business? Lead Nicely is the way to go. Our team can help you create fully functioning websites that load fast, stay accessible, and keep visitors engaged. Not to mention, the website converts!
