Why are my website buttons not working?

You open your own website, tap "Book a call" and nothing happens. Or the page jumps back to the top. On a desktop it might work; on your phone it doesn't.

A button can look finished without being connected to anything. So before anyone changes code, find out which kind of failure you have. The checks below take a few minutes and need no technical knowledge.

Is the button connected to anything?

Start by asking the button what it is.

A website button that does nothing has either never been connected to a destination or action, or it's connected and something on the page stops it. Right-clicking the button and watching the browser's console when you click it will usually tell you which.

Run these three checks on a computer, in Chrome:

1. Right-click the button. A real link offers to copy its address. Copy it and paste it somewhere you can read it. If there's no link option, the button is meant to trigger an action instead, or it's only decoration.
2. Press Tab until the button is highlighted, then press Enter. Buttons and links can be reached this way. If Tab skips it entirely, it's probably a styled box rather than a working control.
3. Open the console. Press Ctrl+Shift+J on Windows or Cmd+Option+J on a Mac to open Chrome's console, reload the page, then click the button. Red text means the site's code hit an error.

When we built test pages to check this in Chrome, a button with nothing behind it produced no error at all when clicked. A button with broken code behind it produced a red error on every click, and some errors appeared as the page loaded. That's why you reload first. A clean console doesn't prove the button works.

Use what you found to decide the next step.

What you see	What it means	Next step
The page jumps to the top, # appears in the address	A placeholder link	Set the real destination
A login screen or "page not found"	The link points to a preview or removed page	Replace the address
Nothing at all, no red text	Probably never connected	Connect the action in your builder or code
Red text in the console	Code is failing	Send the error to your developer
Works with Enter, not with a click or tap	Something sits on top of it	See the next section

Links copied from a builder's editor are worth checking first. Lovable, for example, says its development preview address needs a Lovable login, so a button pointing there sends visitors to a sign-in screen.

Is something covering it on a phone?

A button can be perfectly connected and still be impossible to tap.

Cookie banners, sticky bars, chat bubbles and invisible layers can sit on top of a button. In our test, a cookie banner covering a sticky "Get a quote" bar on a phone-sized screen blocked every tap. Pressing Enter on the same button still worked, which is how a desktop check can miss the problem.

Test on a real phone in a private browser window, so the cookie banner appears the way a new visitor sees it. Tap the button before dismissing anything, then again afterwards. If it only works after the banner closes, the banner is covering it.

The fix is a layout change, so it needs whoever can edit the site's code or builder settings. Check one more thing while you wait: whether the button becomes reachable after a visitor accepts or rejects cookies. If it stays covered either way, fix that first.

Does it work for every visitor?

Some buttons work for you and fail for part of your audience.

Booking buttons are a common example. A "Book a call" button that opens a scheduling widget relies on that service's script. When we blocked the script, as an ad blocker would, the button did nothing and the console showed an error.

A plain link to the booking page still worked. Calendly itself recommends a fallback button that opens the scheduling page in a new tab, and notes that the widget may need to wait for cookie consent.

Test with your ad blocker on, and in a private window where you reject cookies. Then check these:

• Pop-ups. If a button opens a new window and Chrome shows Pop-up blocked in the address bar, the browser stopped it. It probably opened without a direct click or too long after one, so your developer needs to open it straight away or use a normal link.
• Email buttons. An email link hands the address to whatever email app the visitor's device is set to use. Someone who only uses webmail may see an unfamiliar app or nothing. Show your email address as text beside the button.
• WhatsApp buttons. The official format is https://wa.me/ plus the full international number, with no zeroes, brackets or dashes.

For contact forms that submit but never reach your inbox, our contact form checks cover the delivery side.

If buttons on your site still don't do their job, we can trace each one and repair what's broken. For a custom-coded site, we'll quote once we know how deep the problem goes; Framer and Webflow sites are outside our repair work, though we're happy to discuss a rebuild. Book a free intro call, with no obligation, or get in touch at hi@aruno.studio, on WhatsApp or on Telegram at @mihaipostelnicu.

Does it work but look dead?

Sometimes the action happens and the visitor never finds out.

A button should change the moment it's pressed: a "Sending..." label, a short pause in which it can't be pressed again, then a success or error message. In our test, a callback button without any of that sent three identical requests when clicked three times. The version with feedback sent one.

Watch for these too:

• The message flashes and the page reloads. A button inside a form submits the form by default unless it's set up otherwise. In our test, the "Thanks" message appeared, then vanished as the page reloaded, and the typed email ended up in the address bar.
• A greyed-out button with no explanation. A disabled button ignores clicks. Tell visitors what's missing, such as a required field, instead of leaving them guessing.
• A slow response. If the button reacts after a few seconds, the page may be busy loading other things. Our guide to slow mobile pages shows how to find out.

If people don't notice the button at all, that's a design question rather than a broken button, and a website audit reviews exactly that.

How do you know it's fixed?

Test the way a stranger would, not the way you built it.

• Right-clicking each link shows the address you expect, on your live domain
• The button works on a real phone, in a private window, before closing the cookie banner
• It still works with cookies rejected and an ad blocker on
• One press gives a visible response, and a second press doesn't send a duplicate
• The result arrives: the page opens, the booking lands in your calendar or the email reaches you
• The console shows no red errors after a reload and a click

If an AI builder made the site, report the problem the way the tool asks. Lovable's debugging guide asks you to say what's broken, where, what you expected and what happened instead, and to paste the exact error from the console. It uses "Nothing works, fix it!" as the example of a report that doesn't help.

Once the site is live, Microsoft Clarity can flag "dead clicks", where visitors click something and nothing visibly changes. It's a useful way to spot the next broken button before a customer tells you.

Go back to the button you tapped at the start. When it shows you where it goes and answers on the first press, it's doing its job.