3 steps to migrate your WordPress website to another hosting provider

Have you ever wondered if there is a better, cheaper or faster way to host your WordPress website? How great is it if you can migrate your website, zonder downtime and loss in visitor numbers. A SEO website migration can be complicated, but when using the same CMS - in this case WordPress - a website migration can go very smoothly. With the right tools, such as a redirection plugin, and the right preparation, you will ensure that a WordPress migration to another hosting provider is successful. 

What is a WordPress website migration? 

Before we go into how to migrate a WordPress site, we need to understand how a website migration works. Website migration is the process of transferring and/or sharing data between one or more websites. Ideally, the process is automatic and requires no user input during the transfer. 

Simple or complex?

Migration can be applied to a variety of data, whereonder web pages, images, videos and even user account information. Depending on the type of migration, the process can be as simple as copying or as complex as transferring data between two or more different hosting environments. Want to know more about our SEO services we perform before, during and after migration? Then visit our SEO services page, or check out our SEO migration checklist.

Migrating WordPress to a new hosting provider

To migrate a WordPress site to another hosting provider, start by backing up your current WordPress site. You can use a WordPress backup plugin to export your WordPress site data and store the data outside your website. If you don't have a backup plugin, you can also use an online backup service to back up your website, or manually export everything yourself. Depending on the migration strategy, the next step is to prepare the new hosting environment. You can think about buying the hosting, with the right storage space. But also creating the database and making sure everything is in place. 

Step 1: Export WordPress website data

The first step for migrating your WordPress website is to export your WordPress website data. Exporting website data, also known as a backup, allows you to store your website data outside your website so that you can restore the data if needed. We recommend using a WordPress backup plugin to export your WordPress website data and store the data outside your website. If you don't have a backup plugin, you can also use an online backup service to back up your website. You can also arrange this through your current hosting provider/web developer. 

Step 2: Import exported data to the new hosting environment

The next step is to prepare your current hosting environment and the new hosting environment. Migration can be a time-consuming process, depending on the size of your website, so it is best to start preparing your current hosting environment and the new hosting environment before you actually migrate the site. All data must be imported into the new hosting environment. 

Step 3: Change DNS settings and visit your WordPress website

After you have prepared your current hosting environment and the new hosting environment, it is time to migrate your WordPress website. First, you need to change your DNS settings so that visitors are directed to the new hosting provider. After you have changed your DNS settings, you can visit your website with the new url. Sometimes you can already customise your website and create new content during the migration. We are happy to give SEO advice On how to make your migration successful. 

Migrating WordPress website? Get a proper SEO migration!

Migrating your WordPress website to your new hosting provider can be challenging, but the process doesn't have to be difficult. With the right strategy and preparation, you can migrate a website in a few days. This only applies to small websites, though. More often, we find that we have to migrate websites with tens of thousands of urls and have to set up a redirect file for this. This is very important because you don't want to lose SEO traffic. Want to know more about the steps we take during a SEO migration? Then quickly go to the SEO migration page. On this page, we explain in detail how the SEO specialists from SEO agency Onder tackling a SEO migration. Wondering what we can do for you? Then do a live Live SEO analysis