Uploaded My Site But Cannot See It

Getting Started | Updated March 2026

You uploaded your website files but your domain still shows a default page, a blank page, or an error. This is almost always because the files ended up in the wrong directory, there is no index file, or DNS hasn't propagated yet. Work through these causes in order.

In This Guide

Files in the Wrong Directory
No Index File
DNS Has Not Propagated
Browser Cache
File Permissions

#1 Cause

Files Are in the Wrong Folder

Your files must be directly inside public_html, not inside a subfolder within it. If your index page is at public_html/mysite/index.html instead of public_html/index.html, your domain will show a blank or default page.

01. Files in the Wrong Directory

Your website files must be inside the public_html folder. This is the document root for your primary domain. Common mistakes:

Files in a subfolder - you uploaded a folder containing your files, so they ended up at public_html/website/ instead of public_html/. Move the files up one level
Files in the home directory - you uploaded to / instead of /public_html/. Move them into public_html
Addon domain wrong folder - addon domains have their own directories inside public_html (e.g., public_html/youraddon.com/). Check the path in cPanel > Domains

Verify in cPanel > File Manager. Navigate to public_html and confirm your index.html or index.php is there.

02. No Index File

The server looks for a default page in this order: index.html, index.php, index.htm. If none exist, the server shows either a directory listing or a 403 Forbidden error.

If your main page has a different name (like home.html or main.php), either rename it to index.html/index.php, or add a DirectoryIndex directive in .htaccess:

DirectoryIndex home.html

See our .htaccess guide for more on directory index settings.

03. DNS Has Not Propagated

If you recently registered your domain or changed nameservers, it can take up to 24-48 hours for DNS to fully propagate. During this time, your domain may not resolve to our servers yet.

Check the current status at whatsmydns.net. Look up your domain's A record and see if it points to our server IP (check your welcome email for the correct IP). For more details, see our DNS propagation guide.

04. Browser Cache

Your browser may be caching a previous version of the page (the default or blank page you saw earlier).

Hard refresh: Ctrl+Shift+R (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+R (Mac)
Incognito window: open a private browsing window to bypass cache entirely
Different device: try from your phone on cellular data

See our cache troubleshooting guide for more.

05. File Permissions

Incorrect permissions can prevent the server from reading your files:

Files should be 644
Directories should be 755
PHP scripts should be 644 (not 777)

Fix permissions in cPanel File Manager: right-click a file > Change Permissions. Never set files to 777, as this is a security risk and may trigger our malware scanner.

Still Not Showing?

If you've checked everything above and your site still isn't loading, open a ticket with your domain name and a screenshot of what you see. We'll investigate.

Open a Support Ticket