If you see a 403 Forbidden page, you don't have an index file for your site or subdirectory. If you see a Coming Soon page, you've not yet replaced the placeholder web page or homepage we created for you when you signed up for your plan.

Note: If you have a folder with no index page and want a list of files to display when viewed, this can be set via the Indexes tool. (Learn More)

About your homepage

By default, the page you'll see when you visit your website after it's published is named index.html. It will be found in the public_html folder in your File Manager.

To see your website at your domain, your site must include an index file. Index files will load in the order of index.php, index.html, then index.htm. Files called home.html or default.html, for example, will not appear by default in your domain. If your site doesn't include an index file, by default your site visitors will encounter an error when they visit your web address. 

Note: If you use WordPress and the blog is set to be your homepage, the homepage will be index.php. 

File names are case sensitive

Your homepage needs to be named index.html. Other variations, such as Index.html or INDEX.html, will not be shown when you visit your web address. Also, be sure your file includes the extension .html. If your file name ends with .htm, you may need to re-save it as an .html file.

Renaming your homepage

If you've already created a homepage but aren't seeing this page at your web address, you may need to rename your homepage file. For example, if you named your homepage home.html, you should change its name to index.html.

With a third-party tool such as Dreamweaver, you can use your software to rename the file, and then re-upload your file to replace the default Coming Soon page we provided.

If you used another tool to create your page, you can rename your page using the File Manager.

Renaming files in cPanel

1. Sign in to your My Services page.
2. Click the Web Hosting link.
   
3. Click the File Manager link in the Files module. A new browser opens to the File Manager.
   
4. Click the Folder (in the left column) where the file is located and then click the File Name to rename (in the right column), ensure the file row is highlighted. Note: You can also right-click with your mouse on the file you want to rename.
   
5. Click the Rename button. A modal opens to rename the file.
   
6. In the New File Name field, enter the new name for your file (index.html) then click the Rename File button.