WordPress Website Migration
New host, new domain, or new platform, without losing your rankings or your email.What does a website migration involve?
A website migration moves your site to a new home: a new hosting company, a new domain name, or a new platform like WordPress. Done well, visitors never notice. Done badly, it breaks images and links, loses search rankings, and knocks out email. I handle the whole move: backups, a tested copy on the new server, every URL redirected, DNS and email records, SSL, and the updates Google needs, followed by monitoring after launch.
Common moves
Moving to a new host
Leaving slow or expensive hosting for a better WordPress host, with a tested copy on the new server before anything switches over.
Changing your domain name
Rebrands and new domains, with every old address redirected to its new match and a Google Search Console change of address.
Squarespace or Wix to WordPress
Moving your pages, posts, images, and products into WordPress so you own your site outright and can grow it however you like.
The checklist behind every migration
- Full backups of files and database before anything moves.
- A working copy on the new server, tested page by page before the switch.
- A URL map and 301 redirects so every old link and search result lands on the right new page.
- Careful search-and-replace of the old address throughout the database, including the settings page builders store in hard-to-reach places.
- DNS and email records (MX, SPF, DKIM) copied over so email keeps flowing, plus SSL on the new site.
- Search engine updates: sitemap resubmission, Google Search Console, and a change of address for domain moves.
- Post-launch monitoring for broken links, 404 errors, and crawl problems in the weeks after the move.
Why migrations go sideways (and how to avoid it)
- No redirects. Old URLs return “page not found,” and rankings built up over years disappear.
- Email forgotten. The domain moves, the email records do not, and messages quietly stop arriving.
- Hard-coded old addresses. Images, links, and page builder settings still point to the old site or to a staging copy.
- Mixed content warnings when parts of the site still load over plain HTTP after moving to HTTPS.
- Files left behind. Files in the site root, like robots.txt or verification files, often do not come along with a plugin-based migration.
I migrate WordPress sites with tools like All-in-One WP Migration and WP-CLI, and I check each of these by hand afterward. If a migration someone else did went wrong, WordPress troubleshooting can clean it up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Usually not in any way visitors notice. The new site is built and tested first, then the switch happens by updating DNS, and the old site keeps working until the change has spread.
Not if the move is handled correctly. Keeping or redirecting every URL, updating Google Search Console, and fixing crawl errors quickly protect your rankings. Most ranking losses after migrations come from missing redirects.
Email depends on your DNS records, not your website files. The MX, SPF, and DKIM records are copied and checked so email keeps working through the move.
Yes. Pages, blog posts, images, and often products can be moved into WordPress, rebuilt in a layout you can edit, and redirected from the old addresses so you keep your search traffic.
A straightforward WordPress host-to-host move often takes a day or two including testing. Domain changes and platform moves take longer because of redirect mapping and rebuilding.
Planning a move?
Tell me where your site is now and where it needs to go. Call or text 919-724-4417.