Changing your WordPress domain can be tricky, but following a clear process helps avoid SEO issues, downtime, and broken links. Here’s the key takeaway: plan carefully, back up your site, and set up proper 301 redirects. Here’s a quick rundown of the steps:
- Back Up Your Site: Create a full backup of your database, files, and settings to prevent data loss.
- Buy and Configure Your New Domain: Register your domain early, update DNS records, and test in a staging environment.
- Update WordPress Settings: Change the WordPress and Site Address URLs in your dashboard.
- Set Up 301 Redirects: Redirect old URLs to the new domain to maintain SEO rankings and user access.
- Notify Search Engines: Use tools like Google Search Console to inform search engines about the domain change.
- Test Your Site: Check all pages, links, and functionalities to ensure everything works as expected.
How to Move a WordPress Website to a New Domain | WordPress Migration
1. Create a Complete Site Backup
Before diving into a domain change, the first and most crucial step is to back up your entire site. Think of it as your safety net – if anything goes wrong, you’ll have a copy of everything to restore your site quickly.
A proper backup includes your WordPress database, website files, themes, plugins, media uploads, and configuration settings. Essentially, it’s a snapshot of your site that you can rely on if something goes awry during the domain transition.
Preventing Data Loss
Changing your domain can be a delicate process, and there are many points where things can go sideways – updating database URLs, tweaking DNS settings, or moving files, to name a few. If just one file gets corrupted or a database update fails, it could disrupt your entire site. Having a backup ensures you can recover from these errors with minimal hassle. It’s the difference between a quick fix and losing months – or even years – of hard work, customer data, and customizations.
Minimizing Downtime
Every minute your site is offline can hurt your business and reputation. Downtime affects your visitors, sales, and even search engine rankings. Without a backup, troubleshooting or rebuilding parts of your site during a domain change can take hours – or longer. A reliable backup allows you to restore your site quickly and retry the domain change without unnecessary delays. This preparation helps keep your site accessible and your users happy throughout the process.
Improving User Experience
Broken pages or missing media can frustrate visitors and drive them away. A backup ensures you can address these issues quickly if they happen during your domain change. Whether users are bookmarking your pages, sharing your content, or relying on your site for information, maintaining a seamless experience is key. With a backup, you can restore functionality right away while resolving any deeper domain-related issues in the background.
Don’t just back up – test your backup. Use tools with test restore features to ensure your backup works before you need it. Plugins like UpdraftPlus or tools like Local or DevKinsta can help you restore backups safely in a test environment. Make it a habit to test backups monthly, after major updates, and before any significant changes to ensure they’re reliable [1][2].
Once your backup is secure and tested, you’re ready to move on to purchasing and configuring your new domain.
2. Buy and Set Up Your New Domain
After securing your backup, it’s time to purchase and configure your new domain. This step is crucial, as proper setup ensures a smooth transition for your WordPress site.
Choose a registrar that offers free WHOIS privacy, reliable DNS management, and responsive customer support. Steer clear of registrars with a poor track record for customer service – you’ll want quick assistance if any issues crop up during the process.
Register your domain at least a week in advance to allow for DNS propagation. Don’t leave this to the last minute; giving yourself extra time helps avoid unnecessary stress.
Once you’ve purchased the domain, follow your hosting provider’s guidelines to configure the A and CNAME records. Most hosts provide clear instructions, so check your hosting account for the exact IP addresses and settings required.
Verify domain ownership if your hosting provider requires it. This is often a prerequisite for adding the new domain to your hosting account, so complete this step promptly.
Minimizing Downtime
To avoid disruptions during the switch, point the new domain to your existing site and test the DNS setup without altering your live content. This step helps identify and fix any connection issues before making changes to WordPress.
If your hosting provider offers a staging environment, use it to test domain changes. Services like WP Engine, SiteGround, and Kinsta provide staging sites where you can safely experiment without affecting your live site.
Schedule the domain change during low-traffic hours for your audience. For instance, if most of your visitors are based in the United States, plan the update late at night or early in the morning Eastern Time when fewer people are likely to be online.
Improving User Experience
Test critical pages like your homepage, contact forms, and checkout process on the new domain. If you run an e-commerce site, pay extra attention to these areas. Once testing is complete, notify your users about the upcoming change. Send out an email, post updates on social media, and add a notice to your website. Give your audience at least a week’s heads-up so they can update their bookmarks and prepare for the switch.
Keep your old domain active during the transition. Don’t let it expire immediately after the change. Maintain it for 6-12 months to catch users who may still have the old domain bookmarked or memorized.
Once everything is tested and your audience is informed, you’ll be ready to update your WordPress domain settings and complete the transition.
3. Change WordPress Domain Settings
Once your new domain is set up, the next step is to update your WordPress settings to reflect the change.
Log into your WordPress admin dashboard and go to Settings > General. Here, you’ll find two key fields: "WordPress Address (URL)" and "Site Address (URL)." Both need to be updated with your new domain name.
Replace your old domain with the new one in both fields, including the correct protocol (http:// or https://). Make sure not to add a trailing slash at the end. For example, if your new domain is "mynewsite.com" and you’re using SSL, enter "https://mynewsite.com" in both fields.
After making the changes, click "Save Changes." Keep in mind that WordPress will log you out after saving – this is completely normal.
Minimizing Downtime
Plan your changes carefully to reduce downtime. Before making updates, ensure your backup is ready, DNS records are set, and your new domain ownership is verified.
Schedule the change during low-traffic hours. For US-based websites, this is typically late at night or early in the morning. Use your analytics data to pinpoint when your site gets the least traffic.
Have your new admin login URL and credentials handy. Once the change is made, you’ll need to log in using the new domain’s admin URL (e.g., https://yournewdomain.com/wp-admin). Keeping this information accessible will help you avoid unnecessary delays.
Preventing Data Loss
Back up your site before proceeding. A verified backup is essential in case anything goes wrong during the update. Test your backup to ensure it works properly before making changes.
Stick to the WordPress dashboard for updates. While advanced users might be tempted to edit the database directly via phpMyAdmin or modify wp-config.php, using the dashboard is safer and reduces the risk of data corruption.
Improving User Experience
Updating the domain in WordPress settings won’t automatically fix internal links or image URLs. You’ll need to address these separately to ensure everything works smoothly.
Use a plugin like Better Search Replace to update old URLs. This tool scans your database and replaces all instances of the old domain with the new one, preventing broken links or missing images.
Test your admin login with the new domain before making announcements. After updating the settings, log in using your new domain URL to confirm everything is working as expected. This step helps you identify any potential issues before your visitors notice them.
While the domain change in WordPress settings takes effect immediately, remember that DNS propagation can take up to 48 hours globally. During this time, some visitors may still see your old domain while others access the new one.
Once you’re confident everything is working correctly, you can move on to verifying these changes with additional tools.
4. Update DNS Records and Nameservers
To connect your new domain to your hosting server, you’ll need to update your DNS records and nameservers. This step ensures that your domain’s backend settings align with your hosting environment, enabling a seamless transition to your new site.
Log in to your registrar’s control panel. Most registrars, such as GoDaddy, Namecheap, or Google Domains, offer a DNS management section. Locate the area for managing DNS or nameservers.
Update the A records to your hosting provider’s IP address. Confirm the correct IP address with your hosting provider and replace any outdated entries. If you’re sticking with the same hosting provider, this might already be set up correctly.
Set CNAME records for subdomains (like ‘www’) to point to your new domain, and update MX records to keep email services running smoothly. This step prevents any disruptions to email functionality during the transition.
Minimizing Downtime
To reduce the risk of service interruptions during DNS propagation, make these updates during off-peak hours. Since DNS propagation can take up to 48 hours, scheduling changes during low-traffic times helps minimize visitor impact.
Keep your current hosting active until DNS propagation is complete. This ensures that visitors can still access your site if their DNS queries are temporarily directed to the old server.
Use a DNS propagation checker to track progress. Tools like WhatsMyDNS.net and DNSChecker.org can query multiple DNS servers worldwide, showing how far your updates have spread. Wait for consistent updates across most servers before announcing the change or deactivating the old server.
Improving User Experience
Check DNS propagation using global lookup tools. Ask friends or colleagues in different locations to test your site, or use online tools that simulate access from various regions.
Ensure all DNS record types are configured correctly. Verify that your AAAA records (for IPv6), TXT records (for site verification), and any other specialized records are properly set. You can use command-line tools like nslookup on Windows or dig on macOS and Linux for quick lookups and detailed tracing of DNS requests.
Monitor your site’s performance with DNS lookup tools. Platforms like MXToolbox.com let you perform lookups for various record types across global servers, including Google, Cloudflare, OpenDNS, and Quad9. Regular monitoring helps you catch and resolve any configuration issues before they affect your visitors.
Even after updating your DNS records, it may take some time for all internet service providers to recognize the changes. Be patient during this process, and avoid making further DNS modifications until the initial updates have fully propagated.
sbb-itb-77ae9a4
5. Create 301 Redirects
Once you’ve updated your domain settings and DNS records, the next step is to set up 301 redirects. These redirects ensure that both users and search engines are seamlessly guided to your new site. A 301 redirect tells browsers and search engines that your content has permanently moved, automatically forwarding visitors from your old URLs to the corresponding pages on your new domain.
To implement these redirects effectively for a WordPress domain change, you’ll need to modify your .htaccess file. Access your root directory using FTP or a file manager, and add the following code at the top of the file:
RewriteEngine On RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^olddomainname\.com [NC,OR] RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.olddomainname\.com [NC] RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://newdomainname.com/$1 [L,R=301] Replace "olddomainname.com" and "newdomainname.com" with your actual domain names. This rule captures all requests to your old domain and redirects them to the matching pages on your new domain, while keeping the URL structure intact. This approach helps preserve your SEO during the transition.
Ensuring SEO Continuity
When done correctly, 301 redirects pass about 90–99% of link equity from your old pages to the new ones, meaning your search engine rankings should remain stable. Without these redirects, search engines might treat your new domain as a completely different site, delaying the transfer of SEO value.
Google typically takes 4–6 weeks to fully process and transfer rankings from the redirected pages. During this time, you may notice some fluctuations in your rankings. These redirects signal to search engines that your content hasn’t been removed but has simply moved to a new location.
Be sure to monitor your search rankings closely in the first month after implementing the redirects. Use tools like Google Search Console to track how search engines are crawling your new domain and to identify any errors in your redirects. Pay particular attention to your most important pages and high-traffic content to ensure they are redirecting as intended.
Keep your redirects active for at least one year after the domain change. While most SEO value transfers within the first few months, some backlinks and search engine references may take longer to update. Removing redirects too soon could lead to broken links and lost traffic.
Improving User Experience
Bookmarks and saved links to your old URLs will automatically take visitors to the correct pages on your new domain, avoiding frustrating error messages. This smooth transition helps reduce bounce rates and ensures users have a positive experience.
Double-check that your redirects work on both desktop and mobile versions of your site. Some redirect setups can behave differently across devices, so test thoroughly. Also, verify that redirects handle various URL formats correctly, including pages with or without trailing slashes and URLs containing query parameters.
Social media links and email signatures with your old domain will still work thanks to the redirects. This gives you time to update those references gradually without losing traffic from existing shares or promotional materials.
Set up redirect monitoring tools to catch any problems early. Tools like Screaming Frog or redirect checkers can help you identify broken links or redirect chains. Fixing these issues quickly ensures a smooth user experience and protects your SEO rankings.
Lastly, avoid redirect chains, as they can slow down page loading times. While a single 301 redirect typically adds only a minor delay (less than 200 milliseconds), redirect chains – where one redirect leads to another – can significantly impact loading speed. Keep your redirects clean and direct for the best results.
6. Tell Search Engines About the Domain Change
Once your 301 redirects are in place, the next step is to notify search engines about your domain change. While the redirects help search engines discover the move naturally, directly informing them speeds up the process and minimizes potential disruptions to your rankings. Here’s how to handle this with Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
Google Search Console is the go-to tool for notifying Google. Start by logging into your Search Console account and adding your new domain as a property. You’ll need to verify ownership using one of Google’s recommended methods, such as uploading an HTML file or updating your DNS settings.
After verifying both the old and new domains, use the Change of Address tool in the settings of your old domain. This tool explicitly informs Google that your site has permanently moved. Select your new domain from the dropdown menu and submit the request. While Google typically processes these requests within a few days, it can take several weeks for the indexing to fully reflect the change.
For Bing, use Bing Webmaster Tools to update your domain. Add your new domain as a property and verify ownership, just as you did with Google. Although Bing doesn’t offer a dedicated change of address tool, you can still guide the process by submitting your updated sitemap and using the URL inspection tool to help Bing understand the transition.
Don’t forget to submit your updated XML sitemap in both Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. This sitemap should reflect your new domain structure, making it easier for search engines to crawl and index your content efficiently.
Ensuring SEO Continuity
Once you’ve informed search engines, focus on maintaining your site’s SEO performance during the transition. Monitor your search performance closely for the first 8-12 weeks after the domain change.
Use the Index Coverage report in Search Console to see which pages Google has successfully indexed on your new domain. Be on the lookout for crawl errors or indexing issues, such as blocked resources in your robots.txt file or unexpected server errors. These problems can hinder search engines from accessing your content.
Speaking of robots.txt, make sure to update this file on your new domain. A misconfigured robots.txt file can unintentionally block important pages or resources, negatively impacting your SEO.
Keep both the old and new domain properties active in Search Console for at least six months. This allows you to track how traffic and rankings transfer from the old domain to the new one. The old domain’s data can also help you identify any redirect issues or pages that are still receiving traffic through the redirects.
To further optimize the transition, update internal links to point directly to the new URLs. While 301 redirects take care of external links, updating internal links eliminates unnecessary redirect chains, which can improve page load times and overall user experience.
Search engines typically take 4-8 weeks to fully process a domain change, even when all steps are followed correctly. During this time, it’s normal to see both old and new URLs appearing in search results as the transition progresses.
Lastly, review your backlink profile in the Links report to identify high-value external links. While 301 redirects ensure these links still work, reaching out to key sites and asking them to update their links to your new domain can boost your SEO and reduce reliance on redirects.
7. Test Your Site After Migration
Once your domain migration is complete, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and test everything thoroughly. This step is crucial to ensure a smooth transition and to catch any issues before they snowball into bigger problems.
Start by checking all major pages and functionalities on your site. Go through your homepage, product pages, contact forms, and any interactive features like shopping carts or membership areas. Pay extra attention to revenue-generating and lead-capturing pages – they’re the backbone of your business and can’t afford to be overlooked.
Measure your site’s loading speed using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix. Domain changes can sometimes lead to unexpected slowdowns, especially if DNS propagation is still ongoing or if redirect chains are causing delays. Compare the new loading speeds to your pre-migration benchmarks to identify any performance hiccups.
Ensuring SEO Continuity
Protecting your SEO rankings after a migration is non-negotiable. Start by ensuring that meta titles, descriptions, and structured data are intact and displaying correctly. Sometimes, these elements can get lost during the migration process, especially if you’re using a content management system.
Double-check your XML sitemap to confirm it includes all updated URLs. Make sure it’s accessible and submit it to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools if you haven’t done so already. This helps search engines quickly adapt to your site’s new structure.
Keep a close eye on your search rankings during the first 4-6 weeks post-migration. Some fluctuations are normal, but drastic drops might signal issues with redirects or other technical problems. Use the Performance report in Google Search Console to monitor how your pages are performing in search results.
Review your robots.txt file to ensure it’s configured correctly. A poorly set up robots.txt can accidentally block search engines from crawling important pages, which could tank your SEO efforts.
Once your SEO elements are in good shape, turn your attention to verifying the successful transfer of all site content.
Preventing Data Loss
Check that all your content has made it through the migration unscathed. This includes blog posts, images, videos, downloadable files, and any custom content types. Missing content not only disrupts the user experience but can also trigger 404 errors that hurt your search rankings.
Test your contact forms and lead capture tools to ensure they’re working as expected. It’s not uncommon for businesses to discover post-migration that their forms stopped functioning, leading to lost leads.
Verify your analytics tracking. Make sure tools like Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, and other tracking codes are firing correctly. You may need to update configurations to reflect your new domain, ensuring you don’t lose critical performance data.
Review your email marketing integrations as well. If you’re using platforms like Mailchimp or ConvertKit, confirm that new subscribers are being added to your lists and that automated email sequences are still operational.
Once you’ve confirmed the integrity of your content and integrations, shift your focus to the user experience.
Improving User Experience
Test your site’s functionality across all devices to ensure a seamless experience for both desktop and mobile users. Since mobile traffic often accounts for a significant portion of visitors, make sure navigation menus, forms, and touch-interactive elements work flawlessly.
Check internal links to confirm they work correctly and avoid unnecessary redirects. Broken or poorly configured links can frustrate users and harm your site’s credibility.
Validate social sharing buttons and Open Graph tags to ensure they display the correct content. If needed, refresh cached data using tools like Facebook’s Sharing Debugger.
If your site has an internal search feature, test its functionality. Domain changes can sometimes break search indexing, making it harder for visitors to find what they’re looking for.
Keep an eye on your website’s uptime during the first week after migration. Tools like UptimeRobot or Pingdom can send alerts if your site goes down, allowing you to address issues quickly before they affect users or search engine crawling.
Lastly, gather feedback from real users. Ask colleagues, customers, or friends to explore your site and report any issues they encounter. Their insights can help you catch problems you might have missed.
Tool Comparison Table
Choosing the right backup tool can make your domain change process much smoother. With over 80% of websites being under 1 GB in size [7], most site owners can rely on standard backup and migration tools. However, understanding the strengths of each option ensures you select the one that best suits your needs.
Here’s a breakdown of some of the top backup tools that simplify website migration:
| Tool Name | Best For | Key Features | Notable Stats |
|---|---|---|---|
| UpdraftPlus | All-around backup & restore | Scheduled backups, cloud storage integration, one-click restore | 3+ million active installs [3][10] |
| Duplicator | Site migration | Full site packages, drag-and-drop installation | 1.5+ million active installs [5] |
| All-in-One WP Migration | Simple migrations | Export/import functionality, migration support | Used by 60+ million websites [3][8] |
| BlogVault | Real-time backups | Incremental backups, staging support, malware scanning | 90,000+ active installs [6] |
| Solid Backups | Enterprise backup | Site backups with deployment tools | 500,000+ installations [9] |
These tools not only safeguard your data but also come with migration-friendly features that are critical for domain changes. Since WordPress lacks built-in backup functionality [5][7], third-party plugins are essential. The best tools offer features like scheduled backups, cloud storage integration, and one-click restores [4][5]. For domain changes, plugins with built-in migration capabilities make it easier to transfer your website to a new domain [3][8].
Cloud-based solutions are particularly useful, as they help reduce server load during backups [5][7]. Additionally, incremental backups save both time and resources by backing up only the changes made since the last backup, rather than duplicating the entire site every time [3][6][7].
When choosing a backup tool, look for one that can restore your site even if the WordPress dashboard becomes inaccessible [4][7]. This feature is vital for disaster recovery, ensuring you can recover from server failures or corrupted installations.
The right tool for you depends on your website’s needs. For example, active blogs and eCommerce sites often require daily backups [5][7] to minimize potential data loss. If your hosting provider offers free migration services, it’s worth exploring those options to reduce reliance on premium plugins while still maintaining reliable backup protection. A dependable backup tool is key to minimizing risks and downtime during a domain change.
Conclusion
Switching your WordPress domain doesn’t have to be overwhelming if you tackle it with the right approach. The secret? Preparation and patience. Rushing through the process can lead to broken links, lost search engine rankings, and unnecessary downtime.
To minimize disruptions, schedule the domain change during periods of low traffic – think weekends or late evenings. While it’s normal to see a temporary dip in search rankings after a domain change, using proper 301 redirects and notifying search engines can help your SEO bounce back. Pair these steps with thorough post-migration checks to ensure everything is running smoothly.
Don’t forget about backups! Reliable backups are your safety net during the entire process. They ensure you can recover quickly if anything doesn’t go as planned.
For more detailed guidance, WP Winners offers a wealth of resources to help you navigate domain migrations successfully. Whether it’s your first time or you’re managing multiple sites, having the right information at your fingertips can make all the difference in keeping your WordPress site running seamlessly.
FAQs
What happens if you don’t set up 301 redirects correctly when changing your WordPress domain?
Switching your WordPress domain without properly setting up 301 redirects can create serious headaches. Search engines might interpret your new domain as an entirely different site, which could tank your existing search rankings and slash your organic traffic. On top of that, visitors clicking on old links could run into 404 errors, leaving them frustrated and chipping away at your website’s reputation.
The fix? Make sure every old URL redirects smoothly to its new counterpart. This keeps your SEO intact, maintains your traffic, and ensures a hassle-free experience for your users.
What steps should I take to protect my SEO rankings when changing my WordPress domain?
To protect your SEO rankings when changing your WordPress domain, the first step is to back up your entire website. This precaution ensures you have a safety net to restore your data if anything goes wrong. After that, implement 301 redirects to seamlessly guide both search engines and visitors from your old domain to the new one.
Make sure to update all URLs across your site, including your database, WordPress settings, and internal links, so everything aligns with the new domain. Use tools like Google Search Console to notify search engines about the domain change. Once the switch is complete, keep a close eye on your site’s traffic and performance. Thoroughly testing your site will help you spot and fix any issues quickly, ensuring a smooth transition with minimal disruption to your rankings.
What are the best tools to back up my WordPress site before changing its domain?
Before you switch your WordPress domain, it’s important to back up your site to avoid losing any data. Tools like UpdraftPlus, Duplicator, and Jetpack VaultPress Backup are excellent choices for this task. These plugins handle full-site backups automatically and make restoring your site simple if anything goes wrong.
By using one of these backup plugins, you can securely save your content, settings, and database, ensuring a smooth and worry-free domain change.