How To Move WordPress To a New Domain Name

You can follow this tutorial if you want to change your domain name, site address, directory or URL to your WordPress blog.

There’s several ways to change your WordPress address however i believe the easiest & safest method is using a migration plugin.

In this step by step tutorial, you’ll learn how to create a full backup of your WordPress files & databases which you can then restore to the new domain on your current server or a new hosts server.

Choose a New Website Domain

Here’s a few tips i think you’ll find helpful when choosing a domain name that brings more traffic to your site.

Point Domain Name Servers to Your Web Server

Once you have chosen and acquired your new domain, point the DNS – Domain Name Servers to the web server you wish to host your site on.

This is the domain you will be moving your site to which may be hosted on the same server as your old domain.

Here’s a step by step guide about how to change your domains namerservers (DNS).

Create an Addon Domain

If you already host another site on this web server i suggest you create an addon domain for your new domain name.

This will create a new directory folder your your new domain name where you will move your WordPress installation to.

If you already own the domain, then you can make sure the directory for that domain exists and is ready to receive your WordPress files.

Here’s a step by step guide about how to create an addon domain in cPanel.

Create a Database

Create a new database for the new domain and take note of the:

• Database name
• Database Username
• Database Password

Here’s a step by step guide about how to create a new database.

Create a Full Backup of Your WordPress Site

Using  a backup plugin, create a full backup of your WordPress installation which includes all files and databases.

Upload Backup to Your New Directory

Upload the backup zip file with the importbuddy.php file to the new directory you have created for the new domain name.

You may use the directory created by the addon domain, or any other empty directory you have created for the purpose of changing domains for your WordPress site.

Restore WordPress Using Import Script

Enter yourdomain.com/importbuddy.php in your browser and follow the restoration process.

You’ll need to enter the new databases details plus the address for the New Domains directory location.

Redirect Old Domains Links To New Site

Once you have completed the restoration of your files and database, you will want to make sure all the links from your old domain redirect to exactly the same url’s on your new domain.

The easiest way to do this is to paste the code below at the very beginning of your .htaccess file located in your old domains root directory:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.newdomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Simply replace the new domain.com text in the code above with your own and save the changes to the file.

This code will create a permanent 301 redirect so your links work exactly the same as they did on your previous domain and don’t break.

Change of Address In Webmaster Tools

You should also submit a notification of change of address to the search engines using Google Webmaster Tools and Bing Webmaster Tools.

Free Migration Service

WP Sites also offer a WordPress migration service to Blue Host and WPEngine.

Related Tutorials

• 2 Ways to Redirect Old Domains URL’s to New Domains URL’s