WPBeginner

Beginner's Guide for WordPress

  • Blog
    • Beginners Guide
    • News
    • Opinion
    • Showcase
    • Themes
    • Tutorials
    • WordPress Plugins
  • Start Here
    • How to Start a Blog
    • Create a Website
    • Start an Online Store
    • Best Website Builder
    • Email Marketing
    • WordPress Hosting
  • Deals
    • Bluehost Coupon
    • SiteGround Coupon
    • WP Engine Coupon
    • HostGator Coupon
    • Domain.com Coupon
    • Constant Contact
    • View All Deals »
  • Glossary
  • Videos
  • Products
X
☰
Beginner's Guide for WordPress / Start your WordPress Blog in minutes
Choosing the Best
WordPress Hosting
How to Easily
Install WordPress
Recommended
WordPress Plugins
View all Guides

WPBeginner» Blog» Tutorials» How to Properly Move Your Blog from Tumblr to WordPress

How to Properly Move Your Blog from Tumblr to WordPress

Last updated on February 22nd, 2019 by Editorial Staff
200 Shares
Share
Tweet
Share
Pin
Special WordPress Hosting offer for WPBeginner Readers
How to Properly Move Your Blog from Tumblr to WordPress

Do you want to move your Tumblr blog to WordPress? WordPress is the most powerful website builder and blogging platform in the world. I gives you complete freedom to build any type of website that you want. In this article, we will show you how to properly move your blog from Tumblr to WordPress.

Moving from Tumblr to WordPress

Why You Should Move Your Tumblr Blog to WordPress?

WordPress is the most popular blogging platform in the world. It powers more than 32% of all websites on the internet.

To learn more about WordPress and what you can do with it, please see our complete WordPress review with pros and cons.

There are two types of WordPress. First, there is WordPress.com which is a hosted platform, and then there is WordPress.org also called self-hosted WordPress. To understand the difference, please see our comparison of WordPress.com vs WordPress.org.

We recommend using WordPress.org because it gives you the freedom to build any kind of website. It also gives you access to all powerful WordPress features out of the box.

Things You’ll Need to Move Tumblr to WordPress

To start with WordPress.org, you’ll need a domain name and a web hosting account.

We recommend using Bluehost. They are an officially recommended WordPress hosting provider, and one of the largest hosting companies in the world.

They are offering WPBeginner users a free domain name, free SSL Certificate, and discount on hosting. Basically, you can get started for $2.75 / month.

→ Click Here to Claim This Exclusive Bluehost Offer ←

If you can spend a little more, then we recommend SiteGround. They are also an officially recommended WordPress hosting service.

Note: Both Bluehost and SiteGround don’t allow hosting of adult content on their servers.

If your Tumblr blog contains adult content, then we recommend HostGator. They are also in our list of the top WordPress hosting companies.

Once you have purchased hosting, the next step is to install WordPress. Most hosting providers offer 1-click WordPress installation. If you cannot find the option, then ask your hosting company, and they will install WordPress for you.

Alternately, you can follow our step by step guide on how to install WordPress to do it yourself.

After installation, you’ll reach the WordPress dashboard screen which looks like this:

WordPress dashboard

Moving Your Content from Tumblr to WordPress

First, you need to visit Tools » Import page and click on the ‘Install Now’ button below Tumblr.

Installing Tumblr importer

WordPress will now fetch and install the Tumblr Importer tool for you. Once it is done, click on the ‘Run Importer’ link to continue.

Run Tumblr importer

On the next screen, you’ll need to provide OAuth Consumer and Secret keys. These keys allow your WordPress site to connect and import your content from Tumblr servers.

To get these keys, you need to click on the URL shown on the screen, which will take you to Tumblr website where you need to click on the ‘Register Application’ button.

Register app

Next, you need to fill in the ‘Application Name’, ‘Application Website’, ‘Application Description, and ‘Default Callback URL’ fields. All the rest can be left blank.

For the website and default callback URL fields, you need to your WordPress site’s full URL. You can use anything you want for the Application name and description.

Register application

Once you are done, click on the Register button at the bottom to continue.

Tumblr will now register the application and return you to the application dashboard. From here you can copy the consumer key. You need to click on the ‘Show Secret’ to reveal and copy the secret key.

Copy keys

You now need to go back to your WordPress admin area and go to Toools » Import page and run the importer again.

You can enter the keys you copied earlier in the importer settings and click on ‘Connect to Tumblr’ button.

On the next screen, you need to click on the ‘Authorize this application’ button.

Authorize application

This will take you to Tumblr where you will be asked to allow the app to connect with your account. Click on the Allow button to continue.

Allow app

Next, you’ll be redirected back to your WordPress site, and the importer will now show your Tumblr blogs. Simply click on the ‘Import this blog’ button next to the blog you want to import.

Import your Tumblr blog

The importer will now start importing your content from Tumblr to WordPress. This may take some time depending on how much content you have.

Once finished, you will see the success message.

Import finished

You can now visit the Posts and Pages sections of your WordPress blog to see your imported content.

You can also visit your WordPress website to see how the posts are displayed on your live website.

Redirecting Tumblr Visitors to Your New WordPress Blog

Now that you have imported the content, you would want your Tumblr visitors to be able to find your new blog.

To do this, you need to edit your Tumblr blog’s theme. First, go to the Tumblr settings page.

Tumblr Settings

After that click on your blog name to open its settings.

Select your blog

This will open your blog settings. On this screen, you need to click on the ‘Edit theme’ button to continue.

Edit theme

Next, you need to click on the ‘Edit HTML’ option under theme name. This will allow you to edit the HTML code of your Tumblr theme.

Edit HTML of your Tumblr theme

Tumblr will now show you the HTML code of the theme.

First, you need to paste this code snippet right after the <head> tag.

<!-- Inside head -->
<meta name="description" content="this is a legacy blog page, and will redirect to the same post on my new blog">
<script type='text/javascript'>
   var new_slug = window.location.pathname;
   var new_root = "http://example.com";
   var new_url = new_root + new_slug;
   document.write("<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"" + new_url + "\">");
</script>

Don’t forget to replace the example.com with the actual URL of your new WordPress blog.

After that, you need to paste this second piece of code right after the <body> tag.

<!--Inside of <body> -->
<script type='text/javascript'>
    window.location = new_url;
</script>

You can now click on the ‘Update Preview’ button and then click on the ‘Save’ to store your settings.

This code will send your Tumblr visitors to your WordPress site. However, users coming to a specific page or post will see a 404 error. That’s because the URL format of Tumblr and your WordPress site are different, so you will need to redirect users to correct posts.

Setting up Redirects in WordPress for Your Tumblr Posts

To set up redirects in WordPress, first, you need to install and activate the Redirection plugn. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit Tools » Redirection page to configure settings. Under the ‘Add new redirection’ section, you need to add redirection using regular expressions like this:

Source URL: .*/post/\d+/(.*)

Target URL: /$1

After that check the ‘Regex’ checkbox and then click on the ‘Add Redirect’ button to save your settings.

Setting redirection

That’s all, your Tumblr blog posts will now redirect to the correct article on your new WordPress blog.

Congratulations! You have successfully moved your blog from Tumblr to WordPress.

Things to do After Moving from Tumblr to WordPress

Now that you have moved your content from Tumblr to WordPress, you may want to explore WordPress, learn the basics, and take advantage of this powerful platform.

Following are a few pointers to help you get going.

Set up a WordPress theme

The first thing most users want to do after moving to WordPress is to change their blog’s design. WordPress comes with thousands of free and paid WordPress themes to choose from.

Here are some of our expert picks of the best WordPress themes for different kind of blogs.

  • Best free WordPress blog themes
  • Best WordPress magazine themes
  • Best free WordPress photography themes
  • Best Tumblr Style WordPress themes

Need help setting up a new theme? See our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress theme.

Installing WordPress plugins

Next, you would want to take advantage of WordPress plugins. WordPress plugins are like apps for your WordPress site and allow you add new features to your website like adding a contact form, installing Google Analytics, adding membership features, and more.

However, choosing the right plugins can be a bit overwhelming for new users. That’s why we have compiled a list of essential WordPress plugins that you can install.

Learning WordPress

WordPress is quite easy to use and manage. However, there is a learning curve involved whenever you start with a new platform. This is where WPBeginner can help.

WPBeginner is the largest free WordPress resource site for beginners. We have lots of helpful content which is created specifically for beginners, business owners, and bloggers.

Following are few of the helpful resources you will find on WPBeginner (all of them are completely free).

  • WPBeginner Blog – The central place for all our WordPress tutorials and guides.
  • WPBeginner Dictionary – Our WordPress glossary will help you quickly familiarize yourself with the WordPress lingo
  • WPBeginner Videos – New WordPress users can start with these 23 videos to master WordPress.
  • WPBeginner on YouTube – Need more video instructions? Subscribe to our YouTube channel with more than 120,000 subscribers and 11 Million+ views.
  • WPBeginner Blueprint – Check out plugins, tools, and services we use on WPBeginner.
  • WPBeginner Deals – Exclusive discounts on WordPress products and services for WPBeginner users.

Many of our users use Google to find answers on WPBeginner by simply adding ‘wpbeginner’ at the end of their search term.

We hope this article helped you move your blog from Tumblr to WordPress. You may also want to see our actionable tips to drive traffic to your new WordPress blog.

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.

200 Shares
Share
Tweet
Share
Pin
Popular on WPBeginner Right Now!
  • Revealed: Why Building an Email List is so Important Today (6 Reasons)

    Revealed: Why Building an Email List is so Important Today (6 Reasons)

  • How to Properly Move Your Blog from WordPress.com to WordPress.org

  • Error Establishing a Database Connection in WordPress

    How to Fix the Error Establishing a Database Connection in WordPress

  • Google Analytics in WordPress

    How to Install Google Analytics in WordPress for Beginners

About the Editorial Staff

Editorial Staff at WPBeginner is a team of WordPress experts led by Syed Balkhi. Trusted by over 1.3 million readers worldwide.

The Ultimate WordPress Toolkit

26 Comments

Leave a Reply
  1. Krishna says:
    Oct 9, 2019 at 5:58 am

    Hello,

    I have followed the above process and imported posts form Tumblr to my WordPress website (hosted in AWS server). I have 10,000+ posts in Tumblr with images.

    All the imported posts are having images in content area with URL “tumblr.com” how can I change this to my domain URL?

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Oct 9, 2019 at 10:30 am

      You can import external images using the method from our article here: https://www.wpbeginner.com/plugins/how-to-import-external-images-in-wordpress/

      Reply
  2. Jason gomes says:
    Jul 17, 2019 at 12:10 am

    Should i post the same article on my website and on Tumblr? Will it become plagarized content for my website?

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Jul 17, 2019 at 9:46 am

      If you have a post on both then it could be considered duplicate content by search engines which could hurt your SEO

      Reply
  3. Marieam Kimbro says:
    Dec 21, 2015 at 11:26 am

    Once I complete this set up how would I make a new blog post? Would I do it through Tumbler or WordPress and if I make a new post on Tumbler would it automatically update on WordPress?

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Dec 22, 2015 at 4:27 am

      No it will not. This tutorial will move your tumblr posts to WordPress and then you can use WordPress.

      Reply
  4. Tony Zeoli says:
    May 20, 2015 at 9:54 am

    First, this post needs to be updated because the screenshot of Tumblr setting screen is old and outdated.

    Second, I am trying to redirect from subdomain at Tumblr to subdomain at WordPress self-hosted. I used the code an inserted into HEAD and BODY, but it does not seem to work.

    Any ideas?

    Reply
  5. Sofia says:
    Feb 22, 2015 at 5:38 pm

    I was able to successfully move all of my posts from tumblr to my new wp site, however when i tried to redirect and follow all of the steps, it isn’t working! I have sofies-world.tumblr.com and my new site is http://www.sofies-world.com
    when I copied and pasted the html codes in the theme editor on tumblr, nothing changed. i do not understand html at all, so not sure if i’m doing something wrong? i currently put a temporary “i’ve moved” post to direct other users to my new site, but i’m desperate and need help!!!

    Reply
  6. Katie - cookbookmeals.com says:
    Jul 23, 2014 at 11:51 pm

    When I created my WordPress, I had the permalink set to default (?p=#). Is there still a way to redirect my old posts (www.yourdomain.com/post/2610988231/my-post) from Tumblr to my new WordPress?

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Staff says:
      Jul 24, 2014 at 12:46 am

      No it will not be possible.

      Reply
  7. Rachel says:
    Mar 26, 2014 at 11:45 am

    I completed all of these steps to move my tumblr blog to my WordPress website. I do not have a custom domain for my tumblr site so I had to paste in the html code in tumblr for the redirect, but I do not think I did this correctly. When I click “Update Preview” on my tumblr html page I get a 404 error on my website. I no absolutely nothing about coding so perhaps I pasted the code in wrong? Is anyone able to help me verify?

    Also it looks like none of my photos or videos were moved from my tumblr posts to my WordPress posts. Is there another step I need to take?

    Reply
  8. Stan Williams says:
    Jan 19, 2014 at 2:50 am

    Awesome! I can’t wait to try this
    , i have several self hosted wordpress installs. stans-songs.com being one, and 3 Tumblr blogs, 2 Tumblr blogs are using custom domain names and 1 isn’t.
    I will have fun trying i suppose…

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Jan 19, 2014 at 5:01 pm

      Good luck, let us know how it went.

      Reply
  9. Christina says:
    Dec 3, 2013 at 4:15 pm

    I imported my tumblr site {I had a custom domain} with the wordpress import {disabling the custom domain to import}. My site is functioning great and my images and content were imported. However I need to redirect my images from tumblr to wordpress because my older articles cannot be found with the old address. I did the “Redirecting Old Tumblr URLs to WordPress” for a custom domain and my links are not being forwarded. Its showing track 404s. Am I supposed to redirect every single link I have in order for it to work? Thanks.

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Dec 4, 2013 at 10:37 am

      Christina no you do not need to redirect every single link. Under Tools &requo; Redirection, you can define source URL with regular expressions. Check the screenshot above for an example.

      Reply
  10. hannah says:
    Jun 24, 2013 at 5:50 pm

    Is there a way to port a tumblr blog over to a free wordpress blog site? I’m interested in porting from tumblr to a site that would be myblog.wordpress.com, not a site with my own name. I don’t speak developer, so if someone could explain whether or not this is possible in simple terms, this would be quite helpful

    Reply
    • Editorial Staff says:
      Jun 27, 2013 at 10:25 am

      Yes that is possible. Go to WordPress.com and signup for a free account. Then go to Tools > Import and follow the same process mentioned here.

      Reply
  11. Krzysiek says:
    Mar 22, 2013 at 7:44 am

    Is this action is copying only posts or whole whole blog even with theme? I’m trying to move whole blog (even with theme) to WP and I realy don’t have any idea how.

    Reply
    • Editorial Staff says:
      Mar 26, 2013 at 8:10 am

      Moving the theme would require you to create a custom theme that matches your styling at Tumblr.

      Reply
  12. Glenn Dixon says:
    Mar 20, 2013 at 1:03 am

    Two items to be aware of:

    1 – If you are using your own domain name on Tumblr, you need to disable this before you start, otherwise you will have to do most of these steps all over again…

    2 – During the authorization process something went awry and I ended up with a bunch of extra characters in the URL. Here are the characters I had to manually replace before the authorization would complete…

    %25 is %
    %26 is &
    %3D is =
    %3A is :
    %3F is ?
    %2F is /

    Reply
  13. Matt Cromwell says:
    Mar 17, 2013 at 7:28 pm

    When I try to authorize the Tumblr app from the WP admin panel I get

    “The requested URL /oauth/http://www.mywebsite.com/wp-admin/admin.php?import=tumblr was not found on this server.

    (Where “mywebsite.com” is my domain of course). Any suggestions or how I can resolve this?

    Reply
    • Editorial Staff says:
      Mar 17, 2013 at 11:34 pm

      Really hard to tell what is going wrong. One possible cause is if your callback URL doesn’t match.

      Reply
    • Otto says:
      Mar 23, 2013 at 5:02 pm

      This appears to be a bug with Tumblr’s system at the moment. They’re not handling the callbacks correctly. It’s a bit annoying.

      Reply
    • Otto says:
      Mar 23, 2013 at 5:12 pm

      Nevermind, I found a fix. Tumblr made a change to their OAuth handling and didn’t document it anywhere. I’m releasing 0.8 of the Tumblr plugin to correct this issue.

      Reply
      • Matt Cromwell says:
        Mar 23, 2013 at 5:53 pm

        That’s great news. Thanks so much. Looking forward to the update. Lack of documentation!? Just another reason to ditch Tumblr.

        Reply
      • Editorial Staff says:
        Mar 26, 2013 at 7:57 am

        Thank you Otto. You are awesome. :)

        Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Thanks for choosing to leave a comment. Please keep in mind that all comments are moderated according to our comment policy, and your email address will NOT be published. Please Do NOT use keywords in the name field. Let's have a personal and meaningful conversation.

Over 1,320,000+ Readers

Get fresh content from WPBeginner

Featured WordPress Plugin
OptinMonster
OptinMonster
Convert website visitors into email subscribers. Learn More »
How to Start a Blog How to Start a Blog
I need help with ...
Starting a
Blog
WordPress
Performance
WordPress
Security
WordPress
SEO
WordPress
Errors
Building an
Online Store
Useful WordPress Guides
    • 7 Best WordPress Backup Plugins Compared (Pros and Cons)
    • How to Fix the Error Establishing a Database Connection in WordPress
    • Why You Need a CDN for your WordPress Blog? [Infographic]
    • 25 Legit Ways to Make Money Online Blogging with WordPress
    • Self Hosted WordPress.org vs. Free WordPress.com [Infograph]
    • Free Recording: WordPress Workshop for Beginners
    • 24 Must Have WordPress Plugins for Business Websites
    • How to Properly Move Your Blog from WordPress.com to WordPress.org
    • 5 Best Contact Form Plugins for WordPress Compared
    • Which is the Best WordPress Popup Plugin? (Comparison)
    • Best WooCommerce Hosting in 2019 (Comparison)
    • How to Fix the Internal Server Error in WordPress
    • How to Install WordPress - Complete WordPress Installation Tutorial
    • Why You Should Start Building an Email List Right Away
    • How to Properly Move WordPress to a New Domain Without Losing SEO
    • How to Choose the Best WordPress Hosting for Your Website
    • How to Choose the Best Blogging Platform (Comparison)
    • WordPress Tutorials - 200+ Step by Step WordPress Tutorials
    • 5 Best WordPress Ecommerce Plugins Compared
    • 5 Best WordPress Membership Plugins (Compared)
    • 7 Best Email Marketing Services for Small Business (2019)
    • How to Choose the Best Domain Registrar (Compared)
    • The Truth About Shared WordPress Web Hosting
    • When Do You Really Need Managed WordPress Hosting?
    • 5 Best Drag and Drop WordPress Page Builders Compared
    • How to Switch from Blogger to WordPress without Losing Google Rankings
    • How to Properly Switch From Wix to WordPress (Step by Step)
    • How to Properly Move from Weebly to WordPress (Step by Step)
    • Do You Really Need a VPS? Best WordPress VPS Hosting Compared
    • How to Properly Move from Squarespace to WordPress
    • How to Register a Domain Name (+ tip to get it for FREE)
    • HostGator Review - An Honest Look at Speed & Uptime (2019)
    • SiteGround Reviews from 1032 Users & Our Experts (2019)
    • Bluehost Review from Real Users + Performance Stats (2019)
    • How Much Does It Really Cost to Build a WordPress Website?
    • How to Create an Email Newsletter the RIGHT WAY (Step by Step)
    • 7 Best CRM Software for Small Businesses (Compared)
    • How to Create a Free Business Email Address in 5 Minutes (Step by Step)
    • How to Install Google Analytics in WordPress for Beginners
    • How to Move WordPress to a New Host or Server With No Downtime
    • Why is WordPress Free? What are the Costs? What is the Catch?
    • How to Make a Website in 2019 – Step by Step Guide
Deals & Coupons (view all)
WPEngine
WP Engine Coupon
Get 20% OFF on all WP Engine hosting plans or 4 months free on annual payment.
Visual Composer
Visual Composer Coupon
Get 20% OFF on Visual Composer WordPress page builder plugin.
Featured In
About WPBeginner®

WPBeginner is a free WordPress resource site for Beginners. WPBeginner was founded in July 2009 by Syed Balkhi. The main goal of this site is to provide quality tips, tricks, hacks, and other WordPress resources that allows WordPress beginners to improve their site(s).

Site Links
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • FTC Disclosure
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Free Blog Setup
Our Sites
  • OptinMonster
  • MonsterInsights
  • WPForms
  • SeedProd
  • Nameboy
  • RafflePress

Copyright © 2009 - 2019 WPBeginner LLC. All Rights Reserved. WPBeginner® is a registered trademark.

Managed by Awesome Motive | WordPress hosting by HostGator | WordPress CDN by MaxCDN | WordPress Security by Sucuri.