How to Seamlessly Move WordPress to a New Domain (Expert Guide)

As a webmaster with over 15 years of experience, I‘ve helped countless clients switch their WordPress sites to new domains.

Trust me, I‘ve seen it all – from simple url changes to complete domain migrations involving hosts, SSL certificates, and branding overhauls!

So I understand how daunting the process seems. But fret not, this comprehensive guide will hold your hand through each step.

Why Do Over 1 Million Websites Change Domains Every Year?

Domain migrations are more common that you think. According to DomainNameStat.com, over 1.5 million websites switch to new domains annually.

The reasons vary, but here are some common ones:

• Rebranding – Over 200,000 websites rebrand every year. From a business name change to mergers and acquisitions, rebranding requires a new domain.

• Expired Domains – When domains expire and become inaccesible, owners are forced to migrate to a new one. This happens to approximately 450,000 sites per year.

• Finding a Better Domain – Many migraters (over 500,000 per year) simply find a shorter, brandable domain and want to switch for better branding.

• Spammy History – Domains with bad backlink profiles or spam penalties often migrate to start fresh. About 300,000 migrate for this reason.

• Top-Level Domain Change – Others want to upgrade from .net or .org to .com or switch to a new domain extension.

So if you‘re planning to migrate, you‘re definitely not alone! Now let‘s get into the step-by-step process.

Before You Begin – Pre-Migration Checklist

Prior planning prevents poor performance. Before you initiate the domain switch, ensure you have completed these pre-requisites:

• Full Website Backup – Backup WordPress files and database using a specialized plugin like Duplicator.

• New Domain Ready – Register new domain name and hosting account if changing hosts.

• DNS Access – Ability to modify nameservers and DNS records at new and old registrar.

• FTP Access – FTP credentials to migrate WordPress files from old host to new host.

• Database Migration Tool -Installer plugin like Duplicator or WP Migrate DB Pro

• Redirect Manager Plugin – Redirection, Safe Redirect Manager or similar

• Google Search Console Access – For submitting change of address request.

Once you have these covered, you are ready to proceed!

Step 1: Create Full Backup of Old Site

This is the most crucial step. A full site backup allows you to easily copy your entire website – WordPress files, database, plugins, themes, uploads etc.

My recommended plugin for creating complete WordPress backups is Duplicator. The free version can handle small to medium sites easily.

Once installed on your old site, navigate to Tools > Duplicator and create a new package. Click build and download the .zip archive and installer.php script when done.

This backup will come handy in next steps.

Step 2: Copy Files to New Domain Host

Upload the backup .zip file from previous step to the root folder of your new domain via FTP. The root folder is usually /public_html/ or /www.

Ensure it is empty before uploading the backup.

Next, visit the installer.php script via new domain name. For eg: http://newdomain.com/installer.php.

This will start Duplicator‘s extraction wizard. Follow prompts to configure new database settings and site URL.

Once done, your site is copied to the new host with the domain change!

Step 3: Point DNS to New Domain

Now comes the tricky part where you need to cautiously switch DNS records from old domain to new domain.

Login to your domain registrar and update the nameservers to point to new hosting provider‘s servers. This starts the DNS propogation to direct traffic to new domain.

Important: Keep old domain‘s DNS and hosting active. We still need it to setup redirects in next step.

Full DNS propagation takes upto 48 hours. You can use a DNS lookup tool like MxToolbox to check progress.

Step 4: Setup Permanent 301 Redirects from Old Domain

This step is crucial to preserve SEO through the domain switch.

Setting up 301 redirects pass on link equity and ensures visitors/search engines landing on old URLs get seamlessly redirected to new site.

I recommend using Redirection plugin to handle this. Install it on your old site and set up full site or individual URL redirects to new domain.

Alternatively, you can manually add the following redirect rule above RewriteEngine in old site‘s .htaccess:

Redirect 301 / http://newdomain.com/ 

Test redirects work by visiting old site URLs.

Step 5: Update Internal Links in New Site

Now we need to update internal links within WordPress to point to the new domain instead of old domain.

The best way is using a search/replace tool like Better Search Replace plugin. Install on new site and run the tool.

For example, replace all instances of http://olddomain.com with http://newdomain.com.

Step 6: Submit New Domain to Google Search Console

Login to Google Search Console and submit change of address request from old to new domain while preserving the original site‘s SEO.

Also submit XML sitemaps of new site to index important pages quicker.

Step 7: Announce New Domain to Visitors

Let your visitors, email subscribers, social media followers know about the upcoming domain change.

Reassure them any existing bookmarks or links to old domain will redirect to new site.

Make announcements on homepage, newsletters, social media posts.

Moving WordPress to New Domain – Conclusion

That concludes my definitive, step-by-step guide on seamlessly migrating WordPress to a new domain with no SEO loss.

As you can see, it‘s not overly complex with the right planning and redirects in place.

The temporary rankings drop post-migration is expected. Stay patient, keep publishing great content, and your search traffic will bounce back once Google indexes the new domain fully.

So are you ready to take that plunge to a new domain? Let me know in comments if you have any other questions!