Moving a WordPress site or changing platform
How to move a site to a new host, a new address or a new platform without losing its pages, its search traffic or its orders. What moves by itself, what has to be rebuilt, and how old addresses are redirected.
- By
- WP Ministry
- Published
Every move has the same three risks: something is left behind, old addresses stop working, and the switch is made before anyone has checked the copy. The pages here are about avoiding each.
Before any move. The migration checklist is the order of work. Build the list of old and new addresses with the redirect map builder, and after the switch test them with the redirect checker. Setting up redirects covers how to put them in place.
Keeping search traffic. How to migrate without losing SEO sets out what Google and Bing document about a move, and nothing they do not.
Changing host. Moving WordPress to a new host is a copy, a test of the copy, and one DNS change.
Changing the address of a WordPress site. Moving to a new domain is the whole job, redirects and search engines included. For the settings alone, see changing the site URL and moving WordPress out of a subdirectory.
Coming to WordPress. From Wix, from Squarespace, from Webflow, from WordPress.com, and for a store from Shopify to WooCommerce. If you do not know what a site runs on, the platform detector will say.
Changing how the site is built. Switching from Elementor to the block editor is a rebuild, page by page, that can be done while the site stays live.
Leaving WooCommerce. Read whether to leave for Shopify before how to do it. Several of the usual reasons for leaving can be fixed where you are.
If you are getting quotes, what a migration costs explains why they differ so much: "migration" names several different jobs.
If you would rather hand it over, platform migrations lists the moves we do, each quoted in writing after a free assessment, and WordPress migration is a move between hosts at a fixed price.
Guides
- How to change your WordPress URL without locking yourself outChange "WordPress Address (URL)" and "Site Address (URL)" under Settings, then General, or set them in wp-config.php or with WP-CLI. Then replace the old address stored in your content, redirect the old address to the new one, and tell search engines if the domain changed.
- How to migrate a website without losing SEO: what Google and Bing documentRankings are lost in a move when addresses change and nothing tells search engines where each one went, or when a page's content does not arrive. Redirect every old address to its nearest equivalent with a 301, carry the content across, and expect a dip while the site is recrawled.
- How to migrate a WordPress site to a new host without downtimeMoving WordPress to a new host is a copy of two things, the files and the database, a test of that copy before any visitor is sent to it, and one DNS change. The old site keeps serving visitors until the new one is proven.
- How to migrate from Shopify to WooCommerceYes, you can do it yourself. Shopify exports products, customers and orders as CSV files, and WooCommerce imports them. Customer passwords do not move, the design is rebuilt, and nearly every address changes, so each old one needs a redirect before the domain is switched.
- How to migrate from Squarespace to WordPressSquarespace exports layout pages, one blog with its posts, and text and image blocks as a file the WordPress importer reads. Products, further blogs, galleries, video and the design are left out and are rebuilt. Redirect each old address before you change the domain.
- How to migrate from Webflow to WordPressWebflow exports each CMS Collection as a CSV file and, on a paid Workspace plan, the site's HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Neither is a site WordPress can import. The content is carried across, the design is rebuilt, and every old address is redirected.
- How to migrate from Wix to WordPressWix has no export for a whole site, so a move to WordPress is part import and part rebuild. Products, contacts and orders leave Wix as CSV files. Pages, most blog posts and the design are rebuilt by hand, and every old address is redirected.
- How to migrate from WooCommerce to ShopifyProducts and customers move from WooCommerce to Shopify as CSV files. Past orders need a migration app or Shopify's API. Passwords, your theme and what your plugins did do not move, and every old address needs a redirect because Shopify's address patterns are fixed.
- How to move from WordPress.com to self-hosted WordPressWordPress.com is a hosting service that runs WordPress for you. Self-hosted WordPress is the same software on hosting you rent. Moving is an export, an import and a redirect of the old address. Paid WordPress.com plans now install plugins, so check first that you need to move.
- How to move WordPress from a subdirectory to the root of your domainTwo jobs share this name. To show the site at the root while its files stay in the folder, change "Site Address (URL)" and copy index.php and .htaccess to the root. To remove the folder, change both addresses, move the files, replace the old address in the database and redirect the old folder.
- How to move WordPress to a new domain and keep your links and search trafficA domain move is four jobs. Make the site answer at the new name, rewrite the old name wherever it is stored, redirect every old address to the same path with a 301, and tell search engines. Keep the old domain registered, because the redirect has to stay for a long time.
- How to set up redirects in WordPress: plugin, server or codeUse a 301 redirect when an address has changed for good. Set it in one of three places, a redirect plugin, the web server's configuration or a few lines of code, then check that the old address reaches the new one in a single hop.
- How to switch from Elementor to the WordPress block editor (Gutenberg)Neither Elementor nor WordPress has a converter that turns an Elementor page into equivalent blocks. With Elementor switched off, a page shows only a plain copy of its text and images. So the move is a rebuild, page by page, and it can be done gradually while the site stays live.
- Traffic dropped after a website redesign: what to check on a WordPress site, in orderA redesign cuts search traffic in four ways. The new site is closed to search engines, old addresses answer 404, old addresses redirect to the wrong page, or the pages that brought visitors are gone. Three can be read off the site in minutes. The fourth takes Search Console.
- WooCommerce vs Shopify: when to switch, and when to staySwitch when you need something the other platform does by design and yours does not. Shopify runs the hosting for you and fixes parts of the store. WooCommerce leaves both the upkeep and the control with you. Slow pages, plugin conflicts and update work can be fixed without moving.
- WordPress vs Shopify for SEO: what each one lets you controlNeither platform ranks better by itself. Google's requirements are about the page, not the software behind it. WordPress and Shopify differ in how much of a page's address, markup and speed you control, and in who does the upkeep.
What it costs
Runbooks and checklists
- Website migration checklist: before, during and after the moveA checklist for moving a website to another platform or another host. List every address first, build the new site in private, switch the DNS only once the redirects are in place, and keep the old hosting until the new site has settled.
- Website redesign SEO checklist: what to record, map and check on a rebuilt siteA redesign loses search traffic when addresses change without redirects, when pages that brought visitors are dropped or thinned, or when the new site goes live closed to search engines. This checklist covers each, in order, for a rebuild on the same domain.
Tools
- What is this site built with? Platform and theme detectorGive any site's address and see the platform it runs on. For a WordPress site, also its theme's folder, its page builder and the plugins that show.
- HTTP status and redirect checkerSee what an address answers and every redirect on the way: each hop, its status code and where it sends you next.
- Redirect map builderTurn a list of old and new addresses into 301 redirect rules for Apache, nginx or Shopify, with chains, loops and duplicates pointed out. Built in your browser.