The Essential 16-Step Website Migration Checklist for a Seamless Transition

Are you planning to migrate your WordPress site but unsure if you’re fully prepared?

Migrating a website can be complex due to numerous factors to consider. Utilizing a checklist can help ensure that you complete all necessary steps and minimize errors.

In this article, we will provide you with a comprehensive website migration checklist and outline the essential steps you need to take.

Here’s a brief overview of the topics we will discuss in this guide. You can click the links below to navigate directly to any section:

Understanding Website Migration

Website migration on a WordPress site can involve various tasks, such as upgrading technology, redesigning the site, reorganizing content, or relocating to a different server or hosting environment.

There are several motivations for migrating a WordPress site. You may want to switch to a more efficient content management system (CMS) for enhanced performance and security, or you might need to change hosting providers to accommodate your growing site and business.

For instance, you might want to transfer your site from platforms like Blogger, Shopify, Squarespace, Joomla, Gumroad, and others to WordPress.

Check out our comprehensive WordPress migration guide for detailed information on transferring your site from various blogging platforms.

Migration can also occur during a site redesign aimed at improving user experience, or when updating the site’s structure and navigation. Additionally, transitioning your site from HTTP to HTTPS necessitates careful WordPress migration.

Another reason to migrate your WordPress site is if you’re changing your domain name. For example, if you’re rebranding and adopting a new website name, you will need to perform a site migration.

Let’s explore how website migration can influence your search engine rankings.

How Does Website Migration Affect WordPress SEO?

Migrating your WordPress site is a significant change that can impact your SEO (search engine optimization).

When executed properly, migration can enhance your site’s performance. For instance, transitioning to a faster hosting provider can improve WordPress speed and elevate your keyword rankings.

Conversely, even minor errors can result in various SEO issues such as broken links, lost rankings, and missing content.

This is where a comprehensive website migration checklist becomes invaluable. You can follow it step by step to ensure everything functions correctly.

Let’s review each step in the website migration checklist.

Website Migration Checklist: Preparing Your Site for a Successful Migration

Before initiating a website migration, there are several important factors to consider.

Here are some essential checklist items to review before transferring your WordPress site.

1. Plan Your Migration and Notify Your Users

When planning to migrate your WordPress website, it’s crucial to prepare in advance and select an appropriate time for the transition.

Start by establishing your objectives. For instance, ask yourself why you are migrating your website and if all preparations are complete.

Next, choose a specific time to transfer your website assets. Ideally, this should occur during periods of low traffic. Expect a brief outage during migration, which may lead to a temporary decrease in visitors.

For this reason, it’s advisable to avoid migrating your website during peak traffic hours. You can utilize a plugin like MonsterInsights to track website traffic and identify the optimal time for migration.

Once you’ve determined the migration schedule, it’s also wise to notify your users. This ensures your audience is aware of the site’s temporary unavailability, helping to foster trust and credibility.

To inform users about the migration, consider sending an email, displaying a popup notice on the website, or issuing push notifications.

2. Activate Maintenance Mode on Your WordPress Site

Before initiating the migration, it’s essential to enable maintenance mode on your website. This will notify visitors that your site is temporarily unavailable and will be back online soon.

There are multiple methods to activate maintenance mode on your site.

You can utilize SeedProd to design a custom maintenance mode page and activate it when you’re ready to begin the migration.

SeedProd is a top-notch WordPress theme and landing page builder, featuring pre-designed templates and a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface. It also provides various customization options for your maintenance mode page.

For detailed instructions, please refer to our comprehensive guide on enabling maintenance mode for your WordPress site.

3. Back Up Your WordPress Website

A crucial step in the website migration checklist is to create a current backup of your site. This ensures that if any issues arise during the migration, you’ll have an up-to-date version of your website.

Backing up your WordPress site safeguards your essential data and facilitates restoration in the event of a migration failure.

There are multiple methods to back up your website, with the simplest being the use of a plugin like Duplicator. This is the top backup plugin for WordPress and is user-friendly. Just create a new package, choose your storage location, and select the files you wish to back up.

You can also manually create backups by utilizing the cPanel provided by your WordPress hosting, backing up databases, or accessing site files through an FTP client.

For a comprehensive overview of how to back up your WordPress site, please refer to our detailed guide.

4. Conduct a Comprehensive SEO Audit

Before migrating your website, it’s essential to assess its SEO health. This evaluation will identify any potential issues that could arise during the migration.

For instance, an SEO audit can uncover problems such as missing SEO titles on your pages or images that lack alt attributes. These mistakes can negatively impact your SEO after the migration.

You can perform an SEO audit directly from your WordPress dashboard using the All in One SEO (AIOSEO) plugin. This is the leading SEO plugin for WordPress, designed to facilitate a thorough SEO audit and highlight critical issues that require attention.

Alternatively, you can use the CanadaCreate SEO Analyzer tool, which is completely free and helps identify significant errors on your site.

You might also find our comprehensive guide on the WordPress SEO audit checklist helpful for improving your search rankings.

5. Disable Caching, Firewall, and Redirect Plugins

A crucial step in the migration process is to deactivate any caching, firewall, and redirection plugins. These tools can create complications during the migration.

For example, failing to disable these plugins may result in 403 Forbidden errors or 500 Internal Server errors. Additionally, a firewall plugin could block requests made during the migration, leading to further errors.

In WordPress, navigate toPlugins » Installed Pluginsand simply select the ‘Deactivate’ option for these plugins.

For more information, check out our guide on how to easily deactivate WordPress plugins.

6. Prevent Search Engines from Indexing Your New Site

If you are relocating your site to a new domain or a different content management system (like WordPress), it’s essential to prevent search engines from indexing the new site before the migration is complete.

This ensures that Google and other search engines do not display both versions in search results.

In WordPress, go toSettings » Readingand uncheck the ‘Search Engine Visibility’ option.

Additionally, you can prevent search engines from indexing certain pages and posts by utilizing an SEO plugin such as AIOSEO.

It provides Robots.txt settings for each piece of content, allowing you to activate the ‘No Index’ feature.

For comprehensive instructions, refer to our guide on preventing search engines from crawling a WordPress site.

Website Migration Checklist: Initiating the Migration Process

Once you have prepared your website for migration, the next step is to initiate the migration process.

Here are the essential checklist steps to follow during the migration phase.

7. Confirm Your Domain is Directed to the New Web Host

If you are transferring your website to a new web hosting provider, you will need to redirect the domain to the new host.

To accomplish this, you must modify the DNS (Domain Name System) records. These records link your domain name to the new servers that will host your site.

The specific steps for updating the DNS settings will vary based on your hosting provider or domain registrar.

For further information, please consult our guide on how to easily change domain nameservers.

8. Ensure WordPress is Installed on Your Website

Most WordPress hosting providers will have WordPress pre-installed when you migrate your website.

If your hosting plan does not include WordPress, you can easily install it yourself.

Keep in mind that the installation steps for WordPress may vary depending on your hosting provider. You can use auto-installers or manually install it via cPanel or an FTP client.

For more information, please refer to our comprehensive guide on how to properly install WordPress.

9. Configure and Test Redirects When Moving to a New Domain

If you have changed to a new domain, it’s essential to set up redirects.

This ensures that when users enter the old website URL, they will be automatically redirected to the new one.

A straightforward way to set up 301 redirects in WordPress is by using All in One SEO (AIOSEO), which features a robust redirection manager for creating redirects and performing full site redirects.

You may also want to check out our guide on how to create 301 redirects in WordPress.

10. Ensure Your New Site is Indexable and Crawlable

As you approach the end of the migration process, be sure to eliminate any barriers that could prevent users and search engine crawlers from accessing your new website.

If you have set your new domain to ‘noindex’ or any other option that prevents search engines from discovering it, be sure to remove that setting. This will allow search engines to crawl and index your site, making it visible in search results.

To verify if your site is being crawled, you can utilize Google Search Console.

The tool provides a Crawl Stats report that displays the crawl requests made to your site. If you notice a decline in these requests, investigate your site’s settings that may be hindering the crawling of your pages.

Website Migration Checklist: Monitoring and Testing Post-Migration

After completing the website migration, it’s essential to monitor the changes and assess their effects.

Here are key items to include in your website migration checklist to review after relocating your site.

11. Verify the Overall Functionality of Your Site

Once the migration is finalized, ensure that all aspects of your site are functioning correctly.

For example, if you have redesigned your site, check that all buttons, links, navigation menus, and other components are operating as intended.

Additionally, test various WordPress forms to confirm that all fields are working properly. Also, try leaving comments on blog posts to ensure that this feature is functional.

If you operate an online store, make sure to add products to your cart, complete the checkout process, view each product page, and click on all links to ensure everything is functioning correctly.

12. Identify 404 Errors

A frequent issue that may arise after migrating your website is encountering 404 errors.

A 404 error indicates that a user cannot access a webpage because it no longer exists. This typically occurs when you migrate to a new content management system (CMS) or hosting service, rendering the old domain inactive.

An effective method to monitor 404 errors is by utilizing the AIOSEO plugin. Its redirection manager allows you to track 404 errors and swiftly resolve them by implementing redirections.

For more information, please refer to our guide on tracking and redirecting 404 pages in WordPress.

13. Conduct a Speed Test to Evaluate Performance

The next item on your website migration checklist is to assess the performance of your WordPress site. This is especially important if you have switched to a new hosting service aimed at enhancing loading speeds.

For instance, you should notice a speed improvement if you’ve upgraded to a high-performance hosting provider.

There are various website speed testing tools available to help you get started. For example, Google provides a free tool called PageSpeed Insights to evaluate your site’s speed.

You might also find our comprehensive guide on enhancing WordPress performance helpful for additional tips on optimizing your site speed.

14. Conduct a Follow-Up SEO Audit to Identify Issues

After completing the migration, it’s essential to perform another SEO audit of your website.

This ensures that you identify any problems that may have arisen during the migration process.

For instance, you may discover broken links that require repair, missing SEO titles, or other technical issues that need attention.

15. Monitor Keyword Rankings, Traffic, and Conversions

Once your site has transitioned to a new CMS or web hosting service, it’s important to assess the keyword rankings, traffic, and conversions of the new site.

Keeping track of keyword positions will help you determine if there has been an increase or decrease in rankings.

Numerous SEO rank tracking tools are available, such as Semrush, which allows you to monitor keyword positions and provides insights into changes and other key metrics.

16. Confirm Closure of Your Previous Hosting Account

With the migration finalized, the last step is to ensure that your old domain hosting account is closed. This informs Google and other search engines that this is the new site to index.

Before closing your old hosting account, ensure that your 301 redirects are properly set up and functioning. If any redirect isn’t working correctly, you can easily resolve the issue.

Once you are satisfied with the migration, feel free to close your old hosting account.

Your website has now been successfully migrated, and all content is accessible to users.

We hope this article has provided you with valuable insights into the website migration checklist and the necessary steps involved. You might also find our comprehensive WordPress migration guide for beginners helpful, as well as information on when managed WordPress hosting is truly necessary.

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