GoDaddy Suspended Your Site? Here’s How to Fix it

It’s really upsetting when you try to visit or log into your website, but instead see a notice from GoDaddy saying, ‘This site has stepped out for a bit of error’

This means GoDaddy has temporarily taken your site offline. We want to stress that even though it seems really bad, it’s not the end of the world.

GoDaddy, like all web hosts, suspends websites for a variety of reasons, however, the two top reasons we have seen are payment failures and malware infections. There are other reasons as well, like policy violations for instance, but these are less common. The notice is vague on purpose, without saying exactly what happened or how to fix it, because anyone visiting your site will also see this message.

Before doing anything else, scan your site for malware. This is the main reason sites get suspended, and it’s something you can and should fix quickly.

Don’t panic, we’re here to help. In this article, we will show you how to diagnose the common scenarios and set about remedial action for GoDaddy suspended site message, so that your site can be back up and running as soon as possible.

TL;DR: GoDaddy account suspended? Scan your site to figure out if malware is the culprit. Once you have a diagnosis, MalCare will take 60 seconds to remove every trace of malware from your website. Then request GoDaddy to unsuspend your website.

Why GoDaddy suspended your site

GoDaddy suspends sites due to non-compliance with their policies. You will probably be seeing a vague, unhelpful error on your site that says: “This site has stepped out for a bit”; or more generic site suspended warning message.

💡 GoDaddy usually sends an email notifying their customer of the reason for site suspension. You may have received an email, which would make a good starting point for recovery. If you can’t find the email, then give them a call to learn why they suspended your website. You also have the option for a live chat.

Typical reasons for GoDaddy site suspension are:

1. Your website is hacked 
2. Your website is using excessive resources 
3. You failed to renew your subscription 
4. Other policy violations 

Now that you understand why your GoDaddy site suspended, it’s time to figure out how to fix it.

Fix 1. Your website is hacked 

Hacked WordPress websites are very bad for web hosts for several reasons. GoDaddy, like all web hosts, routinely checks for hacked websites and immediately suspends them.

☣️ Scan your website right away to learn if it is indeed hacked.

To fix a hacked website you need to clean the malware infection. MalCare will help you do just that. 

• Ask your web host to whitelist your website.
• Install MalCare on your site. Your site will start syncing immediately.
• Once the sync is complete, you will see the scan results. If there is malware on your site, MalCare will tell you.
• Upgrade to a subscription, and use the automated cleaner to remove all the malware. It will take 60 seconds to get rid of all traces.

After the malware is gone, you need to make sure it doesn’t reappear. Websites are often hacked due to vulnerabilities present on your website. In most cases, it is an outdated plugin and/or theme or weak user credentials. 

Before you appeal to GoDaddy to unsuspend your website, update all your plugins and themes, delete inactive and nulled plugins and themes, and fix weak credentials. Also, take hardening measures to ensure that your website is never hacked in the future.

Fix 2. Your website is using excessive resources 

Every website is allotted a certain amount of resources like processing power, storage, and memory. In a shared hosting environment, these resources are distributed among multiple websites. 

When one website ends up using more resources other websites on the same server are affected.

Hosting providers send an email notifying you about the excessive usage of resources and requesting you to upgrade. 

This may be a tempting solution, and if you have the budget, you may consider it. However, upgrading to a bigger plan is a superficial solution, because it is important to first determine why your website is using excessive resources in the first place.

Questions to ask:

There are two plausible scenarios where you’re spending server resources due to an uptick in traffic:

As you can imagine, the latter scenario is not good for your site. It means that your website is most likely experiencing an attack, where it is being bombarded by bots.

⚠️ The only effective way to prevent this onslaught is to install a WordPress firewall. A WordPress firewall filters out these bots and attack requests, allowing only legitimate traffic to get through to your site. Not only does this solve the issue of excessive server usage, but also provides a better experience for your users.

Fix 3. Renew your hosting subscription 

Renewal of subscription fails for reasons like expired cards, insufficient funds, and fraud prevention. Payment issues are fairly common and shouldn’t take you long to fix them. 

We recommend that you fix your payment issues quickly because once a website is suspended, hosting providers will store your data for a short while before deleting it permanently. You need to restore your website before the data is lost forever. 

In GoDaddy’s case, they do keep a backup of your website but if your account was suspended due to payment issues, they charge you a massive fee to restore your website. We recommend using an alternative backup plugin that can quickly restore your website whenever required.

Fix 4. Other policy violations 

Most of us rarely read policies because they are long, boring, and difficult to understand. But the policies are very important. Violating them, even unintentionally, will get your website suspended. 

Using copyrighted media, storing illegal files, selling banned drugs, uploading unsavoury or exploitative content, and harmful political content are leading causes for suspension. 

GoDaddy has a ton of policies. Plowing through them all is going to be a super time consuming and frustrating experience. 

Instead, if you look at the suspension email that GoDaddy sent you or get on a chat with a customer support representative, you will get to the heart of the issue right away.

Once you know which exact policy you are violating, you can take steps to rectify the issue.  In fact, you can ask GoDaddy’s customer care representatives for help in resolving policy infringements.

Request GoDaddy for review and unsuspension

When you are ready, inform GoDaddy you have fixed the issue. 

We highly recommend that you take additional measures like removing inactive plugins and themes, updating the rest of the plugins and themes, installing a firewall and security plugin. Take a few WordPress hardening measures. 

Please ensure that you are sending detailed information about all the steps you took to fix your website. Your website should be unsuspended soon.

Prevent a GoDaddy suspended site in the future.

The most common reason why websites are suspended is due to malware infection. Making sure your site is scanned for malware every day will ensure that your website is being protected 24×7. Maintaining basic security hygiene like updating plugins and themes, proper user permissions, strong credentials are a must. 

Next, to avoid payment failure, switch to automated upgrades. Remember, your account should be linked to an active credit card.

Finally, the way to prevent any future violations is to follow GoDaddy policies to the letter. 

This is not easy. There is too much information and the policies are hard to understand. However, all is not lost. There are many online communities that’ll help you understand the policies.

Subreddits: 

• GoDaddy 
• WebHosting 
• WordPress 

Facebook groups: 

• GoDaddy Helping Each Other
• WebHostingExperts
• WordPress Hosting

Why did GoDaddy suspend your site because of malware?

You may be wondering: why would GoDaddy care about malware on my site? A hacked website is your headache, not theirs!

And while you are right, there are many reasons: 

Final Thoughts

We’ve covered the most common reasons web hosts suspend sites, along with specific steps you can take.Your hosting provider — whether it’s Bluehost, SiteGround, or another service — should be able to tell you exactly why your account was suspended. That said, some hosts are more forthcoming and helpful than others, which is where our guidance can make a real difference

We hope this article was useful during this very stressful situation. If you have any other questions or need assistance with your website, please email us. We’re more than happy to help!

FAQs

Why did GoDaddy suspend your site?

GoDaddy suspended your site because of a number of reasons. It could be policy violation or payment failure or malware infection or something else. To learn what led to GoDaddy site suspension, check your email. GoDaddy usually sends an email notifying the reason for the suspension to all suspended websites.

What to do when GoDaddy suspends your site?

If GoDaddy suspended your website, you need to figure out the reasons behind the suspension and then fix your website. Primary reasons for suspension include policy violation, malware infection, and payment failure. You can fix these issues by:

1. Reading GoDaddy’s policies carefully 
2. Removing malware from your website
3. Clearing all payment dues

How to remove malware from GoDaddy websites?

To remove malware from your GoDaddy website, you need to use a malware removal plugin.  Only high-end security plugins like MalCare are equipped to find the most difficult to detect malware.