{"id":2318,"date":"2021-07-26T09:20:58","date_gmt":"2021-07-26T13:20:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/?p=2318"},"modified":"2021-07-26T09:23:52","modified_gmt":"2021-07-26T13:23:52","slug":"how-to-copy-wordpress-site-to-another-domain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/how-to-copy-wordpress-site-to-another-domain\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Copy a WordPress Site from One Domain to Another"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A common need among WordPress sites is changing the site URL\nor domain name while maintaining the website itself. Whether you\u2019re rebranding\nor want to make a staging (beta) version of your website to test changes, this\nis a helpful tool to have. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several things that need to happen to successfully move a WordPress site to another domain name, and various ways to accomplish them. There are a variety of free plugins available that take care of nearly all the heavy lifting, however, most of them have some form of limitation. These instructions will examine the plugin approach but will touch on a manual method as well, which assumes some level of technical acuity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Want some help? Schedule a free consultation<\/a> and let\u2019s see how we can partner on your website project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Free consultation available<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Step 1: Create a Backup<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Before starting to make any changes that could render your site inaccessible, it is important to create a backup. If you\u2019re comfortable with the technical details, you\u2019ll want to log in to your hosting panel and obtain a copy of your database to download all of your site files off of the server. That way, if anything goes awry, you\u2019ll have what you need to get back to working order. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re not sure how to create a backup, you can download\nand install the UpdraftPlus\nWordPress Backup Plugin<\/a> by logging into WordPress, hovering over Plugins,\nclicking Add New, then searching for Updraft. Click Install Now, wait for the\ninstallation to complete and then click the Activate button that appears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"create <\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It will take you through a tutorial from there. Make sure to\ndownload a copy of the backup it creates so you can upload it back to the\nserver if necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 2: Prepare for Changes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With a backup in place, changes can be made safely with the\nability to revert the site back to its current state if anything goes wrong.\nBefore moving forward, check to make sure you have a few critical things\nalready set up:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Make sure you own the domain name you are moving\nthe site to.<\/li>
  2. Make sure the DNS\nis configured<\/a> for that domain so that it\u2019s pointing to the IP of your web\nserver.<\/li>
  3. You\u2019ll need login information to your hosting\npanel (Plesk, cPanel, etc. \u2026) or contact information for whoever manages that.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    \"DNS <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Once the next step is taken the site will become\ninaccessible on its current domain until you enter the hosting panel and update\nthe domain name on the server level. It is critical that the above is done\nprior to continuing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Free consultation available<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Step 3: Update URL\u2019s<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You will need to modify every instance of the old site URL\nor address everywhere it exists in the database. The database stores all the\ncontent on every page through the WordPress editor, plugin settings, and more.\nIf there are instances of the old site address anywhere else (hardcoded in\nfiles), those will need to be changed manually. If someone manages your\nwebsite, be sure to work with them on this process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Go <\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    We\u2019ve helped many businesses successfully migrate their\nWordPress site from one domain to another. Give us a\ncall<\/a> if you need assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In this step, you\u2019re going to install another plugin, so\nrepeat Step 1 but choose the Go Live Update Urls<\/a>\nplugin. Once activated, head to Tools \u00e0\nGo Live to get to the plugin page. All you need to do is enter your old website\naddress in the \u201cOld URL\u201d field, and the new one in the \u201cNew URL\u201d field below\nit. Once you click the \u201cUpdate Urls\u201d button, the site will become inaccessible\nat the old address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you\u2019re more technically inclined, you can download a copy\nof the database via phpMyAdmin or whatever your hosting panel uses for database\nmanagement. Use a tool like Sublime Text to Find and Replace all instances of\nthe old address and replace them with the new one. Then upload this new copy of\nthe database to the server. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Step 4: Update Hosting Panel Address<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    For your website to be visible at the new address, you need\nto adjust the domain name configured at your web host. How to do this changes\ndepending upon the hosting environment, but they are generally similar. Login\nto your hosting panel and, under your Hosting Settings, there should be the\nability to change the domain name associated with your hosting package. If you\u2019re\nunable to find it, there should be some documentation available with your host.\nContact their customer service, or whoever manages your website. Once you find\nit, update the domain to what you entered in the \u201cNew URL\u201d field of the Go Live\nplugin page. Assuming everything outlined in Step 2 was done properly, you\nshould see your site appear right away at your new URL once that change saves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you intend to keep your old site address as a forwarding\naddress, you will likely need to add that as a Domain Alias in your hosting\npanel set to Redirect.  We recommend you\ndo this. Any links on the site pointing to the old URL will still work with this\nredirect in place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Step 5: Test!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Any time you\u2019re making a significant change like this to a\nwebsite, testing is vital. If you have any forms that users can submit, make\nsure those still work and are sending their emails properly. Review every page\nand all links to make sure none were missed. Any other dynamic functionality \u2013\nanything beyond static content displayed on the page \u2013 should be run through to\nensure nothing broke during the migration process. If everything went properly,\nyou shouldn\u2019t notice any problems at all!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Obviously, there are a lot of additional details that could\nbe explored and case-by-case scenarios that could be specific to your website,\nso we highly encourage working closely with whoever manages your website when\nperforming this process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Sharp Innovations provides all of the access required to\nmake these changes to the sites we host, though traditionally this is something\nthe staff takes care of on clients\u2019 behalf. If you are looking to move your\nhosting elsewhere or potentially re-brand as part of your domain change, Sharp\nInnovations would love to help! Start a\nconversation with us today<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A common need among WordPress sites is changing the site URL or domain name while maintaining the website itself. Whether you\u2019re rebranding or want to make a staging (beta) version of your website to test changes, this is a helpful tool to have. Several things that need to happen to successfully move a WordPress site…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":2323,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[481,482,480,470,484,483],"class_list":["post-2318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-websites","tag-new-domain","tag-site-migration","tag-website-migration","tag-website-redirects","tag-wordpress-migration","tag-wordpress-site"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Copy a WordPress Site from One Domain to Another<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Several things need to happen to successfully move a WordPress site to another domain name. Sharp Innovations explains what this kind of site migration entails.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/how-to-copy-wordpress-site-to-another-domain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Copy a WordPress Site from One Domain to Another\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Several things need to happen to successfully move a WordPress site to another domain name. Sharp Innovations explains what this kind of site migration entails.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/how-to-copy-wordpress-site-to-another-domain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sharp Innovations Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-26T13:20:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-07-26T13:23:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/s-migrate-wordpress-site-to-new-domain.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Greg Lauver\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/s-migrate-wordpress-site-to-new-domain.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Greg Lauver\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/how-to-copy-wordpress-site-to-another-domain\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/how-to-copy-wordpress-site-to-another-domain\/\",\"name\":\"How to Copy a WordPress Site from One Domain to Another\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-26T13:20:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-26T13:23:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7e285939a1a02b1249b1867935d1fc9e\"},\"description\":\"Several things need to happen to successfully move a WordPress site to another domain name. 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