Website migration checklist: before, during and after the move

Use this checklist when a site is moving to another host, to another platform, or both. A move between hosts keeps every address, so the DNS switch is the part to get right. A move between platforms changes addresses, so the redirects are. Work through the stages in order and skip what does not apply.

The checklist is about order. How each platform exports and imports is in the guides for Wix to WordPress, Squarespace to WordPress, Shopify to WooCommerce and WooCommerce to Shopify. If moving a store is still undecided, read when to switch between WooCommerce and Shopify, and when to stay first.

Before the move

• List every address the old site answers at. Start from its sitemap, then add the addresses your analytics shows the most visits to. Google's guidance for a site move names both. The redirects and the checks afterwards are built from this list.
• Decide the new address for each old one. Give every row a new address, or mark it retired. Google says not to redirect many old addresses to one unrelated page such as the home page. The redirect map builder turns the two columns into redirect rules and points out chains, loops and duplicates.
• Back up or export everything. On WordPress that is the files and the database. On a hosted platform, run every export it offers.
• Write down what the site does through a plugin or an app. Forms and where their mail goes, payments, bookings, memberships, tracking scripts. Each needs a replacement or a decision to drop it.
• Copy out the DNS records as they are now. Take all of them, not only the website's. Mail for your domain is routed by DNS records too, and you will want the old values if you have to go back.
• Lower the DNS record's time to live. Internet providers cache a DNS answer for as long as that setting says. Google suggests lowering it to a few hours at least a week before a change of hosting, so that the switch reaches visitors faster.

Build the new site in private

• Build at a temporary address. The old site keeps serving visitors while you work. How to set up a WordPress staging site covers making one.
• Hide the build from search engines. In WordPress, tick "Discourage search engines from indexing this site" under Settings, then Reading. WordPress's documentation says this is a request and does not block access, so add a password as well.
• Account for every row of the address list. Each old address needs a page at the same address or a redirect to its new one.
• Put the redirects on the new site and try them there. Use permanent redirects. Google treats a 301 or a 308 as a signal that the new address replaces the old, and a 302 as temporary.
• Point internal links at the new addresses. Menus and links inside pages should not rely on the redirects.
• Send every form and place a test order. Use the payment method's test mode, and check that each message and order email arrives.

On the day

• Freeze changes on the old site. Anything added after the final export stays behind.
• Take the final export. Bring across what changed since the build: recent orders, customers, comments and form entries.
• Switch the DNS. Do it where the domain is managed, once the redirects answer on the new site. Change the records for the website and leave the mail records alone unless the mail is moving too. A WordPress site built at a temporary address also needs its own address changed, as how to change a WordPress URL describes.
• Let search engines back in. Untick the box under Settings, then Reading, and remove the password. Google's guidance is to remove any such block from the new copy when the move starts. The WordPress site health check shows whether a page still asks search engines not to list it.

After the move

• Test the old addresses. Run them through the redirect checker, which shows each hop and its status code. Every one should reach its new page in one hop, with a 301.
• Send every form again, on the real domain. A form can show its thank-you message while the email goes nowhere. On WordPress, see WordPress not sending email.
• On a store, check the payments without a card. Each gateway's settings should show a live connection with test mode off, the provider's dashboard should show no notice on your account, and the first real order should reach "Processing", the status WooCommerce gives once payment is received. Read your provider's rules before paying with your own card: Stripe's testing documentation says its services agreement prohibits testing in live mode using real payment method details. WooCommerce gives a test order no special status, so delete the ones you placed before the switch before anyone ships them.
• Open the site over https and look for a browser warning. If there is one, see Your connection is not private.
• Submit the new sitemap in Google Search Console. If the domain changed, verify both the old and the new site there and use its Change of Address tool.
• Watch for addresses that answer "not found". Add a redirect for each old address the list missed.
• Keep the old hosting. Until the DNS change has spread, some visitors still reach the old host. Google's guidance is to shut it down once traffic to it has reached zero, and to keep redirects for at least a year.

What people forget

• Email. Mailboxes kept at the old host do not move with the website. Find out where your mail lives before you cancel anything.
• The block on search engines. Nothing on the front of the site shows that it is still on.
• Images still loaded from the old platform. They display until the old account is closed. Search the new content for the old platform's addresses.
• Customer passwords. The platform guides above explain why they do not move. Tell customers before the switch that they will set a new one.
• The login for the domain. The switch is made where the domain is managed. Find out who holds that login before the day.

If you would rather hand the move over, our WordPress migration service moves one WordPress site from one host to another and tests the copy on the new host before the DNS is changed, and a move between platforms starts with a free migration assessment.