I’ve made a decision that I know is going to involve a LOT of work. Probably some nail biting. Certainly some sleepless nights. I‘m going to move my self-hosted WordPress blog to a new domain, www.lisasnotebook.com, ideally without losing any SEO. Sounds very scary, no? So, just how do you move your blog to a new domain, without losing your SEO?
Why the move to a new domain?
The main reason for wanting/needing to move my blog is that, as a freelancer, I need a more corporate and professional profile that explains who I am, what I do, whom I’ve worked with, and what I can offer clients. At the moment, when clients click on www.lisasnotebook.com, they can’t find that information easily. I absolutely want to keep my blog going because I love it, and because it’s also a showcase of my copywriting, content creation, social media, and web skills (or at least it will be if I manage to migrate it successfully …)
How to move your blog to a new domain – site migration checklist
This is super scary because I’ve never moved a WordPress site to a new domain before and a quick Google search has alerted me to how very easily it can all go wrong! Google also pointed me in the direction of lots of “how to” articles, some of which were helpful, some of which were just downright confusing. So, before I start on my own move, I thought I’d share my checklist* of what (I think!) I need to do.
*Although numbers 3, 11, 13, 14, 15 are self-hosted WordPress specific steps, all the other steps are relevant for moving any site if you don’t want to lose your SEO.
- Buy new domain (done)
- Add hosting (done)
- Add a database (done)
Current blog domain
- Set up a 404 page which suggests users visit my new domain (done)
- Create a sitemap of my current blog
- Register and verify my current blog AND my new domain with Google Webmaster Tools
- Submit my sitemap to Google
- Fill out the Change of Address form in Google Webmaster Tools
- Take a backup copy of my current blog
- Export my database
- Set up a 301 redirect page to my new domain
New blog domain
- Upload the backup copy of my old blog to my new domain
- Import my old database
- Update the site URL and home in the wp_options table in the new database
- Update the connection details in wp-config file
- Check the site works on the new domain
- Fix any broken permalinks
- Fix any broken image links
- Notify Google of change via Google Webmaster Tools, verify the new domain
- Create a new sitemap and submit it to Google
- Wait for Google Webmaster Tools to update and fix any errors it indicates in the Diagnostics section
- Update Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn
- Pinterest – update the URLs on the “Best of Lisa’s Notebook” Pinterest board
- Bloglovin’ – claim the new blog domain and then move my followers to it
- Notify all my users/followers via social media and via my blog on its new domain
And finally…
Pour myself a H U G E gin and tonic!
Anyway, this is the theory but before I put it into practice, have any of you done this before? And if so, have you got any tips for me before I start? Is there anything I’ve left out? All suggestions very gratefully received, thank you!
Post update – did I manage to move my blog to a new domain?
Yes, yes, I did, and it all worked out beautifully! 🙂
This is so so helpful thanks for sharing, I’ve been looking for a way to do the change of 404 address so this has changed my world haha x
Kayleigh Zara ?www.kayleighzaraa.com
You’re welcome! Things could all go horribly wrong next week but fingers crossed! The 404 plugin I used was “404page – your smart custom 404 error page” and it was really simple to use. x
I bought myself a new domain recently but my god, that was stressful! I’d love to go self-hosted but I think I’m a long way off! I can’t wait to see how your move works out; I’m sure it will be perfect!
Sian x
Oh thank you! I hope this post was useful, I’m kind of looking forward to having a go at doing it myself – I’m sure there will be something I’ve forgotten or that doesn’t work but then I can just update this post 🙂