Moving your WordPress site to a new domain can feel risky. You don’t want to lose your hard-earned SEO rankings, and you need to make sure visitors who use your old domain are automatically sent to the new one.
In this guide, we will show you how to move WordPress to a new domain without losing your SEO. We have used these exact steps to migrate hundreds of websites, including our own.
Here is a quick overview of everything we will cover in this tutorial. You can click any link below to jump straight to that section:
- What to Know Before You Change Domains
- What You Need to Get Started
- Step 1: Create a Duplicator Backup of Your WordPress Site
- Step 2: Create a Database for Your New Domain Name
- Step 3: Unpack WordPress on Your New Domain Name
- Step 4: Set Up Permanent 301 Redirects
- Step 5: Notify Google About Your New Domain
- Changing Only Your Domain Name (Same Hosting)
- How to Move WordPress to a New Domain Without a Plugin
- Post-Migration SEO Checklist
- Frequently Asked Questions About Moving a WordPress Site
- Video Tutorial
What to Know Before You Change Domains
Not every domain change needs a full migration. Before you start, pick the scenario that matches your situation:
- You are moving your WordPress site to a new domain, including moving the site to a new hosting account or server. Follow the steps in this guide.
- You only want to rename your domain, and the website hosting stays exactly where it is. Skip to changing only your domain name.
- You are keeping your domain but switching hosting companies. This guide is not for you. See our tutorial on moving a WordPress site to a new host instead.
Switching domains will temporarily affect your search rankings and traffic while Google and other search engines adjust to the change. This happens to every website that changes its domain, and it is normal.
However, you can greatly reduce the SEO impact by setting up proper 301 redirects and notifying search engines the right way. That is exactly what the steps below do.
Lastly, if your old website is on WordPress.com, then you need to follow the instructions in our guide on how to move from WordPress.com to WordPress.org instead.
What You Need to Get Started
In this guide, we are assuming that you have your WordPress website set up on oldsite.com, and you are trying to migrate it to newsite.com.
Here is what you need before you start:
- Both domains added to your hosting account, with the new domain’s DNS pointing at the server where the new site will live.
- Access to your web hosting control panel.
- Basic familiarity with using an FTP client like FileZilla, or the File Manager app in your hosting dashboard.
If you still need hosting for your new domain, then Bluehost plans include a free domain name.
Step 1: Create a Duplicator Backup of Your WordPress Site
The first thing you need to do is create a full backup of your WordPress site. You will use this backup to create an exact copy of your website on the new domain.
While there are many WordPress backup plugins available, we will be using the free Duplicator Lite plugin for this tutorial. It does everything this migration needs, and you will not need a paid plan to move your domain.
Over 1,500,000 professionals use Duplicator, and it has worked reliably for us even on very large sites.
Let’s start by installing and activating Duplicator on your old domain. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Once activated, the plugin will add a Duplicator menu item in your WordPress admin. You need to go to the Duplicator » Backups page and then click on the ‘Create New’ button.
Duplicator will now start the backup wizard and automatically assign a name to this backup.
Click on the ‘Next’ button to continue.
Duplicator will now scan your site to see if everything is in order. Items marked ‘Good’ passed the check, and a ‘Notice’ is just informational.
If the plugin finds a real issue, then you will see a warning with instructions on how to fix it.
If the results look good, then click on the ‘Build’ button.
The plugin will now package your website files into a backup. Depending on the size of your site, this may take a few moments.
Once finished, you will see the download options. Click ‘Download Both Files’ to save the installer and the archive to your computer.
The archive file is a complete copy of your WordPress files. It includes your WordPress themes, permalink settings, plugins, uploads, and any other files created by WordPress plugins.
The installer script is a PHP file that will automate and run the WordPress migration by unpacking the archive file.
If you later want scheduled backups, cloud storage, or 1-click recovery, then the paid Duplicator Pro plan adds those features.
Step 2: Create a Database for Your New Domain Name
The two files you just downloaded contain a copy of your old site’s database. Before you unpack your files, create a fresh, empty MySQL database on your new domain.
If you have already created a database, then you can skip this step.
To create a database, you need to visit your hosting account’s cPanel dashboard and find the ‘Databases’ section.
We will show you how to locate it on Bluehost, but the basic instructions are the same and should apply to all hosting providers.
Log in to your Bluehost account dashboard and click on the ‘Manage Site’ button under your website.
Under your site settings, click on the cPanel button under the ‘Overview’ tab.
This will open the cPanel dashboard.
Scroll down to the Databases section and click on the ‘Manage My Databases’ option.
Provide a name for your database and then click on the ‘Create Database’ button.
cPanel will now create a new database for you. After that, you need to scroll down to the MySQL Users section.
Next, provide a username and password for your new user and click on the ‘Create User’ button.
The new user you just created still does not have permission to work on the database. Let’s change that.
Scroll down to the ‘Add User to Database’ section. First, select the database user you created from the dropdown menu next to the ‘User’ field. Then select the new database you just created and click on the ‘Add’ button.
Next, cPanel will ask you to choose privileges for the user, which define what users can do with the database.
Select ‘All Privileges’ and click on the ‘Make Changes’ button to continue.
Your database is now ready, and you can use it to move WordPress to the new domain name.
Make sure to note down the database name, username, and password. You’ll need this information in the next step.
Step 3: Unpack WordPress on Your New Domain Name
Now, you need to upload the Duplicator files you downloaded earlier to your new domain name.
The Duplicator backup includes your WordPress installation as well, so you don’t need to install WordPress on your new domain.
First, connect to your domain name using an FTP client or the File Manager app in your hosting account. Once connected, make sure that the root directory of your website is empty.
After that, you can upload the archive and installer files to the root directory. This is usually called public_html.
Once both files have finished uploading, you are now ready to unpack WordPress.
Open a new browser tab and go to the following URL:
https://newsite.com/installer.php
Don’t forget to replace newsite.com with your actual domain name. This will launch the Duplicator installer wizard, and you will see the ‘Step 1 of 2: Deployment’ screen.
Note: If your new domain doesn’t open or takes you to a different page, then you may need to wait for the DNS settings to update. This can take up to 24 hours, but it usually happens much faster.
The installer will look for the archive file and then automatically select options for you on the screen.
Scroll down to the ‘Database Connection’ section under Setup. Here, you need to enter the information for the database you created in the previous step, then click on the ‘Validate’ button.
Duplicator will now attempt to connect to the database using the information you provided.
Upon success, it will show you a Validation Pass. Otherwise, it will show you a warning with details on how to fix it.
Click on the ‘Next’ button to continue.
Duplicator will now extract the archive, import your database, and automatically update the URLs to your new domain name. Once finished, you will see a success message with an Admin Login button.
You can now click on the ‘Admin Login’ button to enter the WordPress admin area of your site on the new domain.
The installer turns on its ‘Auto delete installer files after login’ option by default. That means once you log in, Duplicator removes installer.php and the archive file for you.
Look for the notification confirming that Duplicator deleted these files, since leaving them on the server is a security risk. You can also remove them manually at any time from the Duplicator » Tools page.
Step 4: Set Up Permanent 301 Redirects
Your site is now live on the new domain, but anyone who types your old address still lands on the old site. So the next thing to do is to redirect them to the new domain.
You can do this by setting up 301 redirects. This is the most important step to protect your SEO.
Whenever someone lands on your old domain, a 301 redirect automatically sends them to the same post or page on your new domain instead of showing them a 404 error.
The redirect also tells search engines that the page has permanently moved, so the links and authority pointing at your old URL count for the new one.
At this point you have two websites: the original on your old domain and an identical copy on the new one, and you need to keep that old installation in place so it can keep redirecting visitors.
There are two ways to set up the redirects.
Method 1: Set Up 301 Redirects With .htaccess
With this method, you’ll edit the WordPress .htaccess file on your old domain. It works on Apache and LiteSpeed servers, which are widely used by WordPress hosting providers.
First, you need to connect to your old site using FTP or your host’s file manager.
You will find the .htaccess file in the same directory as your wp-includes and wp-admin folders. Open it and paste the following lines of code at the very top:
#Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(www.)?oldsite.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.newsite.com/$1 [R=301,L]
Make sure you replace oldsite.com with your old domain and www.newsite.com with your new domain in the above code. If your new site does not use www, then remove the www from the last line.
Once you save the changes, visit a few URLs on your old domain, including a blog post. Each one should automatically redirect you to the matching page on the new domain.
If nothing redirects, then your old site is likely on an NGINX server, which does not use .htaccess files.
In that case, you can use the redirect tool in your hosting control panel, since most hosts have one. Your hosting support can also add the redirect for you, or you can use Method 2 below, which works on any server because it runs through WordPress.
Method 2: Set Up a Full Site Redirect With All in One SEO (Pro)
If you would rather not edit server files, then the All in One SEO (AIOSEO) Pro plan can set up the full site redirect from a settings page. Most popular SEO plugins include a similar redirect feature, and we use AIOSEO on our own sites, so that is what we will show here.
First, you need to switch back to the WordPress dashboard of your old website. Then, install and activate the AIOSEO plugin there.
Upon activation on your old domain, you need to visit the All in One SEO » Redirects page and click on the ‘Activate Redirects’ button.
Next, you need to switch to the ‘Full Site Redirect’ tab and turn on the ‘Relocate Site’ toggle.
After that, you need to enter your new domain name and click the ‘Save Changes’ button.
Step 5: Notify Google About Your New Domain
Next, you need to tell Google about your change of address so that it can find your new domain quickly and start showing it in search results.
First, you need to add both your new and old domains to Google Search Console as two different properties. See step 1 in our Google Search Console guide for instructions.
Next, you need to select the old domain name as the active property in your Google Search Console account dashboard.
After that, click on the Settings menu from the left column.
Now, you can click on the ‘Change of address’ tool.
Now, you need to select your new domain from the Update Google section.
Then, you should click on the ‘Validate & Update’ button. Google will now validate that your old domain is redirecting to the new domain and save your changes.
On the next screen, Google Search Console will show you a step-by-step wizard to submit your change of address request.
Before you leave Search Console, open the property for your new domain and submit your XML sitemap under the Sitemaps menu. This helps Google crawl your new URLs faster.
If you get search traffic from Bing, then you should also tell Bing about the move using the Site Move tool in Bing Webmaster Tools.
Changing Only Your Domain Name (Same Hosting)
Sometimes you only want your existing site to use a new domain name, and nothing else changes. If the site stays on the same hosting account, then you do not need a migration plugin at all.
You only need to point the new domain at your site and update the URLs.
First, add the new domain in your hosting dashboard and assign it to your existing website. Most hosts call this setting the ‘primary domain’ or ‘assigned domain’ for the site.
Your hosting documentation will show where to find this setting, and hosting support can also change it for you.
Next, log in to your WordPress admin area and go to the Settings » General page. Here, you need to replace the old domain with the new one in both the ‘WordPress Address (URL)’ and ‘Site Address (URL)’ fields.
After you click ‘Save Changes’, WordPress will log you out. Log back in at the new domain to continue.
Note: If you cannot access the admin area, you can set the same values in your wp-config.php file instead by adding define( 'WP_HOME', 'https://newdomain.com' ); and define( 'WP_SITEURL', 'https://newdomain.com' );.
Your database still contains the old domain in post content, image URLs, and settings. The easiest way to fix all of them is with the free Search & Replace Everything plugin.
Install and activate it, then go to the Tools » WP Search & Replace page. Enter your old domain in the ‘Search for’ field and your new domain in the ‘Replace with’ field, and select all your tables.
The plugin will find all instances of your old domain name in the database. You can then click on the Replace All button to replace them.
Or, if you are comfortable with the command line, then WP-CLI does the same job in one line:
wp search-replace 'https://oldsite.com' 'https://newsite.com' --all-tables
WordPress stores some settings in a special text format called serialized data, and editing it with plain SQL queries can corrupt it. Both tools above handle serialized data safely, which is why we recommend them over direct database edits.
Finally, your old domain still needs to redirect, and Google still needs to hear about the change.
Follow Steps 4 and 5 above, which work exactly the same for an in-place domain change.
How to Move WordPress to a New Domain Without a Plugin
You can move WordPress to a new domain manually, without any plugin. However, it has more steps, and a small mistake can break your website, causing downtime until you fix it.
So, keep your backup files until you confirm the new site works. Here is the short version of the process:
- Export your database. Open phpMyAdmin from your hosting control panel, select your site’s database, and use the Export tab. The Quick method with SQL format is fine.
- Download all your WordPress files from the old domain over FTP, including the wp-content folder and the hidden .htaccess file.
- Upload the files to the new domain’s root folder, usually public_html.
- Create a new database and user on the new domain’s hosting. Step 2 above shows exactly how.
- Import your .sql file into the new database using phpMyAdmin’s Import tab.
- Edit wp-config.php on the new domain and update the DB_NAME, DB_USER, and DB_PASSWORD values to match the database you just created.
- Update the URLs. The database still points at your old domain, so run a search and replace from the old domain to the new one. You can use the free Search & Replace Everything plugin or the WP-CLI command shown in the section above.
- Test the new site, then set up your 301 redirects and notify Google (Steps 4 and 5 above).
This is the same process Duplicator automates in Steps 1-3. But if you are comfortable with FTP and phpMyAdmin, the manual method works just as well.
Post-Migration SEO Checklist
The move is not finished when the new site loads. Work through this checklist over the first few days to protect your rankings:
- Test your redirects. Open several old URLs, including posts, pages, and a few images. Confirm each one lands on the matching new URL and not the homepage.
- Check your canonical tags. These tags tell Google which URL is the official version of a page. View the source of a few pages and make sure they point to the new domain, which your SEO plugin normally handles automatically.
- Update your Google Analytics property. In GA4, edit your data stream’s URL to the new domain so your traffic reporting continues without a gap.
- Update the links you control. Change the URL on your social media profiles, Google Business Profile, directory listings, and email signatures.
- Announce the move to your readers. Publish a short blog post and share it with your email newsletter and push notification subscribers. Ask readers to report anything broken, since they will often catch things you missed.
- Keep the old domain registered and redirecting for at least 12 months, or longer if you can afford it. If the old domain expires, every redirect breaks, and you lose any remaining SEO value.
Frequently Asked Questions About Moving a WordPress Site
Here are the answers to the questions we hear most often about moving a WordPress site to a new domain.
1. Will changing my domain name permanently hurt my SEO?
No. A temporary dip in rankings is normal while search engines process the change.
However, the 301 redirects and Search Console notification in this guide tell Google exactly where you have moved, so it can transfer your existing authority to the new domain.
You may also want to see our guide on how to verify your SEO is intact after WordPress domain migration.
2. How long does the entire domain migration process take?
You can typically complete the technical steps in this guide, from backing up your site to setting up redirects, in a few hours.
However, it will take longer for search engines like Google to fully crawl and index your new domain. While notifying Google speeds this up, it can take several weeks for your rankings to fully stabilize after the move.
3. Can I move my WordPress site without using a plugin like Duplicator?
Yes, you can transfer your files over FTP, export and import your database with phpMyAdmin, and then update the URLs. We cover the exact steps in the manual migration section of this guide.
A plugin like Duplicator simply automates the most error-prone parts, such as URL updates and database packaging, which is why most beginners find it faster and safer.
4. What is the main difference between moving to a new domain vs. a new host?
Moving to a new domain is like changing your business’s street address. Moving to a new host is like changing the company that owns the building, but your address stays the same.
This guide is for changing your domain, which has its own SEO requirements like 301 redirects.
5. How do I change the primary domain in WordPress?
If your site is staying on the same hosting account, point the new domain at your existing site from your hosting dashboard, and then update the ‘WordPress Address (URL)’ and ‘Site Address (URL)’ fields under Settings » General.
After that, run a search and replace for the old URLs and set up 301 redirects. The changing only your domain name section above walks through each step.
Video Tutorial
We hope this tutorial helped you move your WordPress site to a new domain name. You may also want to see our ultimate WordPress migration guide or our comprehensive guide on WordPress SEO.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Babs
This absolutely worked for me
Eben
Hi, One simple question,
Domain1.com (expired but files are there in CPanel of X Hosting)
Domain2.com (new domain added to X Hosting and nameservers updated to point to hosting server)
I simply want my Domain2.com to point to files or folder of Domain1.com in my hosting account
pls tell how to do this..this is not answered clearly anywhere
WPBeginner Support
Hi Eben,
In your domain settings there is an option to select the root folder or home directory for that domain. You can use that option and point it to the directory that has your older domain’s files.
Admin
Rafi
Hi there,
My website domain name has expired but I have a full backup of it using backup to dropbox. Now can I migrate the previous site to a new domain? If possible then what are the process?
Thanks In Advance
Rafi
WPBeginner Support
Hi Rafi,
Yes you can migrate it to a new domain name. The process actually depends on the backup you have. If you have complete WordPress backup then you can just upload it to your new domain name and then update URLs.
Admin
sarah
I enjoyed the article! I just wondered, what do i do if my new site is still being hosted with wordpress? there is no URL change either.
I don’t think i’ll need to do any 301 redirects is that right?
However, I am lost as to the steps i should take to move the traffic from A to B, does this depend on the DNS change? Would appreciate any advice!
Logan Miller
This is SUCH a helpful article.
I’m currently stuck at the “sitename.com/installer.php” step. When I put this in the browser (but with my actual domain) I get a 404 error.
The installer.php file is uploaded to my directory, so in theory it should work?
I’ve double checked all the previous steps, and it seems to all be good, so I’m stuck.
My first thought is that perhaps the dns nameservers haven’t fully propagated yet, and I’m being impatient.
Anyone have an idea?
WPBeginner Support
Hi Logan,
Try accessing your your website with www.
Admin
Chris
Hey guys great article. I actually merged 2 existing sites together and moved all the content from my subdomain site onto my main domain site.
All data has been transferred across and I have setup the redirect using htaccess file. All the links appear to be redirecting correctly =)
my question is, what should I do with the OLD wordpress install (files, database etc) located on the subdomain?
Julie
Great article! My question is similar but my client already has a new site hosted with blue host. Her old site is a wordpress.com site. She doesn’t need any of the content as she has completely finished the new site. My question is about the redirects from the old site. People still visit there and she’s got good rankings. What’s the best way to redirect the pages (urls) from her old wordpress.com site to her new self hosted site? No content or anything. Just the redirects.
Thanks for all your help! You guys are the best!!
WPBeginner Support
Hi Julie,
The best way to redirect is by purchasing the Site Redirect addon from WordPress.com
Admin
Shadhirsha
Hi,
I have a website with subdomain and I didn’t publish my main domain. when I trying to apply for adsense. it shows that you can’t register with subdomain.
So I am trying to move my subdomain to main domain. But I have problems
These are the problems below:
1. I have register google analytics, google optimize, tag manager and webmasters and etc(SEOs) with subdomain
2.Traffics and trackings
So, Please help me to move my website safely
WPBeginner Support
Hi Shadhrisha,
Please see our article on moving WordPress from subdomain to root domain.
You will need to create a new Google Analytics, Optimize, and Tag manager profile for the root domain as it is a different domain altogether. Same goes for webmaster tools, however you can inform Google by change of address in the webmaster tools settings for your old subdomain.
Admin
Brian
I had an idea for a website and instead of registering for a domain i just made a subdomain from one of my other sites. The idea has developed into something more now. I want to register a domain name and move everything to it and delete the subdomain. I don’t have that much content, I haven’t started it up yet. I could just delete the subdomain and populate the new domain manually. But I do have the subdomain in google analytics and search console. Would it hurt my new site if I did just delete the subdomain, register a new domain and start from there.
WPBeginner Support
Hi Brian,
If the site was not indexed by search engines or had no significant content, then it is safe to delete it.
Admin
Mike Poepping
This article makes sense for how to move an entire domain to a new address, but what would change in this process if I only wanted to move some content from one site to another?
I’m working with a client who has a new site being developed (for a large national audience), so that their current site can focus on driving local leads only.
I want to know how to get their highest performing blogs on to the new national site without losing the excellent keyword rankings we’ve achieved over the past couple of years on their current site (which is the site moving to the extremely local focus).
Any tips and/or guidance would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance!
Sam
unfortunately, I deleted all the old domain files including the .htacess file from the server without redirecting.Now I got my new domain and I don’t have my old domain files. could you please tell how can I redirect the users from old to the new domain in this situation? Else my domain will be penalized by Google which looks like duplication as I didn’t redirect.
WPBeginner Support
Hi Sam,
Assuming that you still have the old domain name registered, deleting the file only makes your website unavailable on your old domain. You can simply create a new .htaccess file in the old domain folder to set up redirects.
Admin
Murali N
Hi, my current WordPress is in root folder; now I want to create WordPress Network / Multisite with sub-folders.
Can I move my current example.com to example.com/subfolder-1 following the above? OR, is there a simple way to do this?
Alex
Hi
I want move a website to another domain however the structure is very different. The old website was created several years and hasn’t even submitted to google webmaster or console as it is now. What would be the best way to go around it.
Joe G
There are about a million unanswered questions that all ask the same thing:
How long do you leave the old site up for?
If you delete the old site files (to save backup space) will leave the edited .htaccess file in the old directory, will it continue to forward to the new site?
Thanks.
WPBeginner Support
Hi Joe,
You should keep your old domain for at least 6 months. You can delete any old files via FTP without deleting .htaccess file.
Admin
Abhay
Hi,
Thanks a lot for your post!
I am using a domain abcd.com for my Wordpress based website hosted on Bluehost and want to shift to wxyz.com. I have purchased this new domain.
Now your article says “Next, you need to open your FTP program and connect to your new site. Make sure that the root directory, or the directory where you want to copy your website is completely empty. Upload the installer.php file and your package zip file to the new site.”
What do you mean by “connect to new site”? As far as I read from your website, and FTP client is used to access files on your ‘hosting’ and not ‘domain’. How do I access the root directory of my new domain? I just have the domain name with me.
I am not a pro with the website stuff so I contacted my domain provider, they said you can simply change the A name record and nameservers.
I am stuck, please help me.
WPBeginner Support
Hi Abhay,
Domain names are addresses that point to files hosted on your hosting account. Please see our guide on the difference between domain names and web hosting to learn more.
If your new domain is also hosted on Bluehost, then you can go to your domains settings and find out your root folder. It could be any folder inside your website’s root directory. Usually it is named after your domain name.
Admin
Abhay
Hi,
I am using the following service providers:
Hosting: Bluehost
Old Domain: Hostgator
New Domain: Godaddy
Now how to I access the root folder of my new domain?
WPBeginner Support
Hi Abhay,
First you will need to point your GoDaddy domain to Bluehost servers by changing its DNS settings. Next you will need to add your domain name to your Bluehost hosting account. Go to your hosting cPanel dashboard and click on Add Domains.
Rob
Hi!! Thanks for this!!
I have a question though: Do I need to keep my old domain like forever? Until when should I wait to finally delete my old domain?
WPBeginner Support
Hi Rob,
We recommend keeping the old domain for at least 6 months. After that you can let it expire.
Admin
Krunal
Hi, I am trying to shift a blog between two domain hosted on the same server and with the same MySQL server versions. However while installing database i am getting a connection error and and reason mention in the message was the MySQL Version issue. Below is the exact message i am getting:
NOTICE: The current version detected was released prior to MySQL 5.5.3 which had a release date of April 8th 2010. WordPress 4.2 included support for utf8mb4 which is only supported in MySQL server 5.5.3+. It is highly recommended to upgrade your version of MySQL server on this server to be more compatible with recent releases of WordPress and avoid issues with install errors.
Any help in this regards is really appreciated.
Thanks
WPBeginner Support
Hi Krunal,
Please ask your WordPress hosting provider to upgrade your MySQL version.
Admin
Joe G
Everything worked perfectly with the move but what now?
How long do you need to keep the old installation and will the redirect still work with just the edited .htaccess in the directory?
Andreas Schueler
Very helpful post, thank you. With your help, moving to the new domain was a breeze.
Smith Andrews
Firstly, thank for your great work….i want to migrate my site to a new domain in the same server…the old domain is in the public directory so will the new site be a subdomain or what im confused??
WPBeginner Support
Hi Smith,
You can point your domain name to any folder inside public_html. For example, you can create a new folder under public_html and name it after your new-domain.
Admin
Adesanmi Franklyn
Hi,
Thanks for this awesome content. Please I want to know how long it will take Google to rank the new site as the old site. And also, would all the link juice of the old site be passed to the new site?
Because the moment I changed the URL following this all traffic and post ranks drop. Now I’m wondering if it will take position again on search.
WPBeginner Support
Hi Adesanmi,
Please see the step 4. It allows you to tell Google that your website address has changed. The search rankings will start reappearing in sometime. Meanwhile, your 301 redirects will keep sending users to your new website.
Admin
Tanya
Thanks for this detailed post. I’m wondering why I need to duplicate the wordpress site. Why can’t I just change the domain for the current site without duplicating it? If I create a duplicate wordpress installation, it will exist in a subfolder, which is not ideal, especially for the link structure. Thanks in advance.
WPBeginner Support
Hi Tanya,
This method makes sure that your website is available on both locations during the transfer and before setting up permanent redirects.
Admin
Tanya
Thanks for your reply. I have another question. If I use the Duplicator plugin, do I have to first create a database for the new site before I run the duplicator installer? Do you have instructions for doing this? The instructions above indicate that the installer should be put into a folder that is completely empty. That implies that I cannot first use the Wordpress installer that comes with BlueHost to install Wordpress (and I assume also creates the associated database). Thanks for your help.
WPBeginner Support
Hi Tanya,
Yes, you will need to create the database. We will soon update the article with more detailed instructions. Meanwhile, you can create a new database by visiting your hosting account’s Cpanel dashboard. Look for the databases section and click on MySQL Databases. You will first need to create a new database, after that you will need to create a new database user. Finally, you will need to add your new database user to your database.
Micheal James
how to do 302 redirect?
Mikeal
i have redirected my website but still i am having issues
Castro
Hey Wpbeginner, thanks for the article. How can i move my free domain under wordpress to a paid hosting and new domain name. Ive search everywhere but no clue. Thanks
WPBeginner Support
Hi Castro,
If by free domain you mean a domain name like example.wordpress.com, then you cannot have it. However, this does not mean that you cannot move your blog to self hosted WordPress.org (paid hosting). See our guide on how to transfer your blog from WordPress.com to WordPress.org.
Admin
Kerry
Hi Wp-Support,
Thanks for such a great article. Though it’s was written months ago, it’s an evergreen article.
However, my question is: I recently registered a new domain, in fact it is my first WordPress website. But it has not yet been indexed. Does the process you outlined here applies to my new site as well?
Vince Hordemann
Great article. I followed it step by step and it appears that my old site is now redirecting and that my Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools are all working too. Thanks!
Georgia
Hi!
First of all I would like to congratulate you on your great, helpful and comprehensive posts. The steps seem really simple to follow.
I want to ask something that is not yet covered, neither in the text, nor in your replies. Lets say that my current site is https://www.example.net (it already has a SSL certificate) and I want to redirect all pages to https://www.example.com ( https as well), without changing host provider.
Which code should I use in .htaccess file? Should I do anything else?
Thank you in advance!
WPBeginner Support
Hi Georgia,
The above .htaccess code will work fine.
Admin
Manpreet Singh Rehsi
Hi,
What should we do with old domian name.
For how much time one should keep old data as it is on the old domain.
Jennifer
Hi, I just purchased a new domain name and want to change the old domain to the new one. My worry now is, my current hosting does not have SSL cert and I am using the Cloudflare Flexible SSL. Do I need to put in redirect both http and https (even though I don’t have the cert in my hosting)?
How about Cloudflare? Do I use the same account, edit it with new domain name or register a new account?
Many thanks in advance.
Brit
Thanks for this. Does this only work for wordpress.org? I have wp.com and can’t seem to find the htaccess link and it looks like the only way to change my site name with the new domain is to pay to map it. Is this normal?
WPBeginner Support
Hi Brit,
In order to use your own domain name, you will have to upgrade your WordPress.com account or move to self hosted WordPress.org website. Please see our comparison of WordPress.com vs WordPress.org.
Admin
kuber
Hi,
There is a question about my sitemap
After submitting the new website’s sitemap to Search Console, the old website sitemap should be removed
Rui
Hi, thanks for your nice tutorial! Can you please clarify the best way to execute Step 4, when you have to migrate your site every 2 months or so due to having it blocked by the local authorities? Cheers
Elise
These directions helped me a lot! Thanks!
Mick Lite
If I change the domain, does all the stats in the blog stay like views and such?
Russell Alexander
My band has a sign up page (.net) and a website (.com). The .net is a redirect to a directory on the .com site, it’s not its own real domain. The .com is also a add-on domain of my main domain, so it’s like this:
Main domain – add-on .com (as a folder of the main) – .net (a folder in the .com)
I set up a WP site on my main domain. It put it in the root, even before the .www folder that has the main, the add-on, etc. But it has a specific path, so (finally) the question:
Can I just change the redirect of the .net to the new WP install I’ve done? Sorry if this sounds like a Gordian knot, but that’s the best way I can explain it. I haven’t used WP much before, and I wanted to make sure it wouldn’t freak out being the subject of a redirect. As in, the plug-ins, Paypal, etc.. The redirect would really only affect the main landing page, where people sign up for the mailing list.
Thanks for your help.
Camila
This article helps a lot thank you. I just have one question. I have my primary domain and the new domain and both point to the same root. When you type either domains they will go to the same homepage but of course all posts and pages are under the primary domain.
This being said I’m not switching locations or anything. I mean the root file will remain the same I only need to switch is the domain name {with home and posts redirects of course}. So, do I need to do the whole duplicator step thing???
This process is really scary for me!
Any help will be appreciated.
Kind regards
Cami
WPBeginner Support
Hey Camila,
No you will need to update WordPress URLs to use your preferred domain.
Admin
Chris ohrn
For step 3 and step 4:
if the site uses the same url, that should not be needed or?
as well we got a 301 on our topp domain but don’t know how to remove it..
The 301 is not there on the www. but without the www. it is there!
A bit bizare and mindboggler..
Thanks for thoughts:)
Swati Ohri
Hi Team,
I just moved from my old domain to a new one. I have a basic account on Bluehost hence the customer support team says I can’t add it as an addon domain to create 301 redirects. My old domain was 6 months old, now I have to again start from the very first step. Can you help me how I can fix this?
Kristine
Where I can find full service for domain migration?
I need to migrating (rebranding) domain1.com to domain2.com with all of the contents and urls, also the subdomain. Looks like it’s a complicated job
Thanks
Hasi Aulia
Hi there,
I want to ask you, how about to redirect domain and change the paltform at the same times, I wanna move aaaa(dot)com (using blogspot custom domain) to bbbb(dot)com using wordpress self-host.
What the best step to avoid losing my ranking at the search engine to do it?
Thanks
Logan Cale
One question or factor typically not mentioned when you change a domain is how long does it take to get back your rank in Google, and the answer according to this article below is 2-6 months depending on what you do to improve it.
Luiz Cent
Thank you for publishing this article, I would not have remembered to notify Google of the change, I was simply going to resubmit the new site to index. Also have to make the change in GA!
Much more work than anticipated but it’s done!
Cliff
First off, nice article very helpful.
The question is how long do I need to leave the old site up? or can I delete the old site now that I have the new site up and running.
Thanks in advance.
hari kumar thapa
I want to change my domain and move that WordPress to new hosting! will this have any effect only ranking? backlinks or like that?
Any anyone suggests me any post how I can move my WordPress to Blogger completely?
No just copy past I want to completely move into blogger.
Is this possible?
Pamela
Is there a way to transfer Facebook comments from the old domain? I’m using facebook comments on my old website and would love to keep them on the new domain.
Med
Hi, I wan some help please
My case is a little different
I migrated content of my website example.com from blogger to Wordpress with dedicated server and I decided to leave the first active until I finish the development of the wordpress version that has a provisional domain ‘example. net’
When I finished developing, I tried to permanently change the .NET domain name to .COM because I might lose all the search results from the search engines.
How can I reach this goal and thank you
WPBeginner Support
Hi Med,
You can hide your development site from search engines so that its not being indexed. Once you are ready to move it to your primary domain follow the instructions given in the article.
Admin
Saimon Hossain
Hello sir, i already change my site address in webmastertool, but now again i need to change the domain. so what should i do now?
Emmanuel
Good post, I am trying to move only partial content not the entire website. What is the best way to go about it and not lose SEO ranking?
Emily Burnett
Thanks so much for this post – very straightforward and helpful as I tackled something intimidating.
Ryan
Thank you!
This content was exactly what I needed. Really really helpful.
Much appreciated.