Loopback Requests! 4 steps to fix the WordPress ‘ Your Site Could Not Complete a Loopback Request’ problem

You might be having nightmares about your WordPress website and how to resolve the loopback requests issue. However, there are quick ways to fix the problem.

Errors on Loppback requests as depicted on site health checks include:

• Loopback requests are used to run scheduled events and are also used by the built-in editors for themes and plugins to verify code stability.
• The loopback request to your site failed, which means features relying on them are not currently working as expected.
• The loopback request returned an unexpected HTTP status code of 403. It was not possible to determine if this would prevent features from working as expected.

Loopback also helps make sure WordPress APIs work. You could also get a rest API error as “The REST API is one way that WordPress and other applications communicate with the server. For example, the block editor screen relies on the REST API to display and save your posts and pages. When testing the REST API, an unexpected result was returned: REST API Response: (403) Forbidden.

Loopback requests also helps in scheduling events. The loopback is necessary for cron jobs to operate efficiently. Site health provides suggested items that are thought to be helpful for your site; these could include enhancements to performance, user experience, and other areas, but they should not be prioritised as highly as a critical issue.

What are Loopback requests?

All that a loopback request is, is an attempt by WordPress to make a request to itself. Scheduled events are executed via loopback requests (wp-cron.php). To guarantee the stability of your website, loopback requests must operate properly. This indicates a problem with the way your website is connecting to itself. For planned tasks and updates, this is essential.

Loopback requests made through the wp-cron.php file are crucial. It is used to automate a variety of tasks, including sending email notifications, publishing scheduled posts, and checking for plugin or theme updates. However, it requires loopbacks in order to function.

How to fix WordPress Loopback requests problem

Four approaches can be taken to solve the loopback request issue.

1. Plugin deactivation

Some plugins may bring such errors especial image related plugins such as smash plugin. You can check here how the problem was resolved. So it is good to deactivate all plugins and activate one after the other while checking on WordPress health checks for problems. Deactivate all plugins temporarily to see if the issue resolves. 

2. Using Cloudflare SSL

For those using cloudflare CDN, SSL configuration has be done the correct way otherwise there will be a conflict between https headers. It’s possible it’s because your site thinks it’s an HTTPS site, so it tries a local HTTPS connection that fails. Flexible leads to inconsistent behavior. It is recommended to put your SSL configuration into FULL.

3. Hosting plan and configurations

It’s important to note that in a VPS or Dedicated server environment, you have the flexibility to make specific adjustments or tweaks if needed. In a shared hosting environment, there are certain limitations that may prevent you from performing more advanced customisation tasks.

If you have no idea of the best way to move ahead it’s recommended to check with an expert developer or coordinate with your managed hosting to determine the specific loopback processes that are required.

You can request hosting provider to enable webp shell functions like escapeshellarg, exec, shell_exec, etc if the problem is brought by image related plugins.

4. Changing WordPress Configuration file

define ('ALTERNATE_WP_CRON', true);

Check the code above is intact in wp-config.php file. Sometimes deleting the code entirely helps in eliminating the problem.