How to Unpublish or Delete a WordPress Site (Complete Guide)

Key Takeaways

• Temporarily hide your site using maintenance mode plugins, or permanently delete your web presence by erasing your WordPress files and database.
• Safely unpublish individual pages by switching them to drafts or private mode, keeping your content intact without permanently deleting it.
• Preserve your SEO rankings with 301 redirects, and simplify major site changes using Cloudways’ 1-click backups and application deletion tools.

As a website owner, you’ll probably need to take your WordPress site offline at some point. Maybe you want to permanently delete an old project, unpublish specific posts, or temporarily hide your site from the public during a major redesign. Knowing how to do this properly matters.

Unpublishing a WordPress site isn’t just about hitting delete. Doing it wrong can hurt your search engine optimization (SEO), create broken links that frustrate users, and even cause permanent data loss.

In this guide, we will walk you through the step-by-step process of unpublishing a WordPress site. We will cover how to properly back up your data, safely take your entire website offline (both permanently and temporarily), the best methods for hiding individual pages, and SEO best practices to protect your search rankings.

Let’s get started…

Crucial Step: Back Up Your Data Before Taking Your WordPress Site Offline

Before you unpublish, hide, or permanently delete your WordPress website, you must create a complete backup. Even if you are just temporarily taking the site down, having a recent backup ensures that if something goes wrong, you won’t lose your hard work, themes, plugins, or database configurations.

Depending on your hosting provider, taking a backup can be done in a few different ways:

Method 1: The 1-Click Cloudways Backup (For Cloudways Users)

If your site is hosted on Cloudways, you can trigger a full server or application backup in seconds.

• Log in to your Cloudways Platform and navigate to your Application.
• From the left-hand menu, click on Backup And Restore.

• Click the Take Backup Now button.

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Method 2: Using a Free WordPress Plugin (For Standard Users)

If you are using a different hosting provider, the easiest way to secure your data is by using a reliable backup plugin like UpdraftPlus.

• From your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins > Add New and install UpdraftPlus.

• Once activated, navigate to Settings > UpdraftPlus Backups.
• Click the Backup Now button and ensure both your files and database are checked.

Once your backup is securely stored (either on your server or downloaded to your local computer), you can safely proceed with unpublishing your site…which we’ll show how to do next.

How to Unpublish an Entire WordPress Site Temporarily

Sometimes you don’t want to delete your website permanently. You just need to hide it from the public while you make major updates, rebrand, or fix critical errors. The safest way to take your site offline temporarily without breaking your WordPress installation is using a plugin.

Here are the two best ways to do this:

Method 1: Use a Maintenance Mode Plugin (SeedProd)

Putting your site into Maintenance Mode or displaying a “Coming Soon” page is the most professional way to temporarily unpublish your site. It lets visitors (and search engines) know that the downtime is intentional and temporary.

You have lots of options for WordPress maintenance mode plugins. We’ll walk through the process using SeedProd, which many people use for this.

• In your WordPress dashboard, navigate to Plugins > Add New and search for SeedProd. Install and activate it.

• Go to SeedProd > Landing Pages in your left-hand menu.

• You will see options for “Coming Soon Mode” and “Maintenance Mode.” Click on Set up Maintenance Page to quickly design what your visitors will see.

• Once you are happy with the design, go back to the Landing Pages dashboard and toggle the Maintenance Mode switch from “Inactive” to “Active”.

Now, anyone visiting your site will see your custom maintenance screen, while you can still log in and view the actual site as an administrator.

Method 2: Password Protect the Entire Website

If you are working on a staging site for a client or want to restrict access strictly to your team, password protecting the entire front end of your site is a great alternative to maintenance mode.

Note: If you are using Cloudways to create a WordPress staging site, you can skip this method entirely. Cloudways staging environments are password-protected by default.

For standard hosting users, you can achieve this easily using a free plugin:

• Go to Plugins > Add New and install the free Password Protected plugin. Activate it.

• Navigate to Settings > Password Protected.

• Check the box next to Password Protected Status to enable it.

• Scroll down to the New Password field, type in your desired password, and click Save Changes.

Once enabled, any visitor who tries to access your website’s URL will be met with a simple login screen. If they don’t have the password, they can’t see the site.

How to Permanently Delete a WordPress Site

If you are completely done with a project, rebranding on a new domain, or shutting down a business, you might want to wipe your website from the internet permanently.

Warning: This action is irreversible. Please ensure you have taken a full backup (as outlined in the first step) before proceeding.

Method 1: Manually Delete Files and the Database (For Standard Hosts)

If you are using a traditional shared hosting provider, you will need to manually delete your WordPress core files and the associated database.

Step 1: Delete the Website Files

• Log in to your hosting account dashboard and open the File Manager (or connect via an FTP client like FileZilla).

• Locate your website’s root folder, which is usually named public_html.
• Select all the files and folders inside public_html (including wp-admin, wp-content, and wp-includes) and delete them.

Step 2: Delete the Database

• Go back to your hosting dashboard and look for phpMyAdmin (usually located under the Databases section).
• On the left side of the screen, click on the database associated with your WordPress site.
• Scroll to the bottom, check the Check all box to select all the tables, click the drop-down menu next to it, and select Drop.

• Confirm the deletion when prompted.

Once both the files and the database are gone, your site is permanently deleted.

Method 2: The 1-Click Cloudways Method

If your WordPress website is hosted on the Cloudways Platform, you don’t have to mess around with File Managers or phpMyAdmin. You can permanently delete the entire application in just a few clicks.

• Log in to your Cloudways Platform and navigate to Applications.
• Click on the application you want to delete to open its Access Details.
• On the bottom right of the screen, locate the Delete Application icon (it looks like a trash can).

• Click the icon, type “DELETE” in the confirmation prompt to verify your choice, and click Submit.

Your application, files, and database will be wiped from the server instantly.

Advanced Method: Delete Your Site via the Cloudways API

For developers and advanced users who want to automate this process, you can delete a WordPress application programmatically using the Cloudways API.

The easiest way to do this is by executing the deletion command directly from the Cloudways API Playground.

Here is how you do it:

• First, retrieve your API key from the API Integration section in your Cloudways dashboard.

• Open your Cloudways dashboard and find your Server ID and App ID. (The easiest way to find these is by checking your default Cloudways Application URL, e.g., wordpress-123456-789012.cloudwaysapps.com, where 123456 is the Server ID and 789012 is the App ID).

• Go to the Cloudways API Playground. At the very top of the page, click the Authorize button and input your API credentials to authenticate your session.

• Scroll down to the Application category (which handles adding, cloning, or deleting apps) and click on the endpoint labeled DELETE /app/{appId} (Start the remove app operation) to expand it.

• Click the Try it out button to open the input fields. Enter your server_id and app_id into their respective boxes, then click the Execute button.

Your WordPress application will instantly be removed from your server. If successful, you will see a 200 Server Response code with a status confirming the app has been removed.

Note: You can also reference the official API Documentation to build this endpoint into your own automated scripts.

How to Unpublish Specific WordPress Pages and Posts

Sometimes, you don’t need to take down your entire website; you just need to hide a specific piece of content. Whether it is an outdated blog post, an expired promotional page, or a draft that accidentally went live, here are the best ways to unpublish individual pages and posts.

Method 1: Switch to Draft (The Quickest Way)

The easiest way to remove a live page from public view without deleting the content is by reverting it to a draft.

• Go to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Pages or Posts.
• Hover over the item you want to unpublish and click Edit.

• In the top-right corner of the Gutenberg editor, click the Switch to draft button.

• A prompt will appear asking “Are you sure you want to unpublish this post?”. Click OK.

The content will immediately be removed from the front end of your site but will remain safe in your dashboard for future edits.

Method 2: Unpublish Multiple Pages at Once (Bulk Edit)

If you are doing a massive content audit and need to unpublish dozens of pages at once, doing it one by one will take forever. Use the Bulk Actions feature instead.

• Go to Pages or Posts in your dashboard.
• Check the boxes next to all the pages/posts you want to unpublish.

• At the top left of the list, click the Bulk actions drop-down menu, select Edit, and click Apply.
• In the bulk edit menu that appears, locate the Status drop-down.
• Change the status to Draft and click the blue Update button.

Method 3: Change Visibility to Private or Password Protected

If you don’t want to unpublish a post entirely, but you only want specific people to see it, you can change its visibility settings.

• Open the page or post in the WordPress editor.
• In the right-hand Settings sidebar, look under the Summary section for Visibility (it usually says “Public”).
• Click on the word Public to open a drop-down menu.
• Choose either:
  • Private: Only logged-in users with Admin or Editor roles can see the page.

• • Password Protected: Anyone with the link can access the page, but they must enter a custom password to read the content.

• Click Update to save your changes.

Method 4: Schedule Content to Unpublish Automatically

If you are running a time-sensitive campaign (like a holiday sale or a contest), you might want a page to unpublish itself at a specific date and time so you don’t have to remember to do it manually.

To do this, you can use a dedicated scheduling tool. Here’s how:

• Go to Plugins > Add New Plugin and install the free PublishPress Future plugin.

• Open the page or post you want to schedule.
• In the right-hand sidebar, you will now see a Future Actions panel.
• Check the box to Enable Future Action.

• Under the Action drop-down, select Change status.
• Set the New status drop-down to Draft (or you can choose to move it to the Trash).
• Finally, use the Time and Date settings to pick the exact moment you want the content to go offline, then click Save to update the page/post or Publish if the page/post is new.

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How to Protect Your SEO When Removing WordPress Content

Unpublishing a page or an entire site comes with a major hidden cost: 404 Page Not Found errors.

When search engines or visitors try to access a URL that you just switched to “Draft” or deleted, they hit a dead end. If Google sees too many of these dead ends, it can negatively impact your site’s overall search rankings.

If you want to protect your SEO, consider these alternatives instead of simply pulling the plug:

1. Set Up a 301 Redirect (Crucial for Deleted Pages)

If an old page has valuable backlinks or still gets traffic, don’t just unpublish it. Instead, set up a WordPress redirect to point that traffic to a relevant, live page on your site. This tells Google that the content has moved, preserving your SEO value.

• Go to Plugins > Add New Plugin and install the free Redirection plugin. Activate it.
• Navigate to Tools > Redirection in your dashboard.
• Scroll down to the Add new redirection section.
• In the Source URL field, paste the relative URL of the page you are unpublishing (e.g., /old-blog-post/).
• In the Target URL field, paste the full URL of the relevant live page you want visitors to land on.

• Click the blue Add Redirect button.

2. Archive the Post Instead of Drafting It

If you want to remove an outdated post from your main blog feed but still want visitors to be able to access it via direct links, you should archive it. This preserves your internal linking structure so SEO isn’t disrupted. WordPress doesn’t do this natively, but a plugin can add this feature.

• Install and activate the free LH Archived Post Status plugin.
• Open the post you want to hide in the WordPress editor.
• In the right-hand sidebar, click the current Status (usually “Published”) to open the drop-down menu.
• You will now see a new option called Archived. Select it and click Update.

The post will instantly disappear from your blog homepage and category feeds, but the actual URL will remain live and accessible.

3. Hide the Site from Google (NoIndex)

Note: A common misconception is that tweaking your WordPress reading settings unpublishes your site. This is false. The site remains 100% live and accessible to anyone who has the link.

However, if your goal is simply to hide the site from appearing in Google search results (for example, if it is a private portfolio or a staging site), you can add a noindex tag.

• Go to Settings > Reading.

• Scroll down to the Search engine visibility section.
• Check the box next to Discourage search engines from indexing this site.
• Click Save Changes.

Wrapping Up!

Unpublishing a WordPress site isn’t the same for everyone. In this guide, we explored how to handle every scenario: from temporarily hiding your entire site behind a maintenance screen or password, to permanently deleting it manually or via the Cloudways API.

We also looked at how to hide specific content by reverting individual pages to drafts, making them private, or scheduling them to unpublish automatically.

Picking the right method protects your work and your search rankings. Always follow this rule before making major changes: back up your entire website first.

Finally, if you set up proper 301 redirects for deleted content or archive pages instead of trashing them, you can safely manage your site’s visibility without frustrating visitors or losing your SEO authority.