WordPress Migration Checklist: What to Check Before, During and After the Move

A WordPress migration is a sequence, not a single action. Most problems people discover after a move were preventable with a check that should have happened earlier: a backup that was never tested, a TTL that was never lowered, a form that was never submitted on the new server. This checklist puts every check in the order it needs to happen.

It works whatever method you use, whether manual, WP-CLI, a plugin or your host’s migration service. For the method itself, see how to migrate a WordPress site to a new host.

The checklist at a glance

A safe WordPress migration has six phases: prepare, copy, test, switch, verify and clean up. The site stays live on the old host until the test phase is complete, and the old host stays available for at least a week after the switch.

1. A week before: plan and inventory

• Decide whether the domain or URLs change. If yes, also follow the domain change guide, which adds redirects and Search Console steps.
• Measure the site: uploads folder size, number of files, database size. Large sites need the large site approach.
• Record PHP, MySQL or MariaDB, and WordPress versions on the old host.
• Confirm the new host offers the same PHP version or newer, enough disk space (about twice the site size), and SSL.
• List everything outside WordPress: mailboxes, cron jobs, subdomains, custom server rules, SFTP users, DNS records such as MX, TXT and SPF.
• Export a crawl of current URLs, or download the sitemap, so you can compare after the move.
• Choose a quiet time window and tell anyone who edits content.

2. The day before: back up and lower TTL

• Take a full backup of files and database and store it off both servers.
• Test the backup: open the archive, check the SQL file is complete, confirm you know how to restore it.
• Lower the TTL on the domain’s A or AAAA records to around 300 seconds, so the DNS switch takes effect quickly.
• Install WordPress on the new host (needed for plugin-based migrations) and set up SSL there.
• Remove what you do not need to move: old backups inside wp-content, caches, spam comments, unused plugins and themes.

3. During the copy

• Pause content edits, comments and, for stores, consider a short maintenance window for the final step.
• Copy files and database to the new host.
• Keep the new host’s own wp-config.php database details, or update them to the new database.
• If any URL changes, rewrite it with a serialization-safe tool, never a plain text replace, and leave the guid column unchanged.
• If the table prefix differs, make sure user roles still work (the prefix is also stored inside the usermeta table).
• Keep the migration log until you have finished testing.

4. Before switching DNS: test on the new server

Point your own computer at the new server by editing your hosts file, so you test the real domain without affecting visitors. Then:

• Log in to wp-admin with the old site’s username and password.
• Open the homepage, a few posts, pages, category archives and search results.
• Check images, video, downloads and fonts load without mixed-content warnings.
• Resave permalinks once (Settings → Permalinks → Save) if any page returns a 404.
• Submit every contact form and confirm the email arrives.
• For stores: add to cart, run a test checkout, check payment gateway callbacks and order emails.
• Compare the latest post, order and user IDs with the old site to confirm nothing was missed.
• Check the PHP error log on the new host.
• Make sure the new host’s firewall or DDoS protection does not block Googlebot.
• Confirm the site is not set to “Discourage search engines” in Settings → Reading.

5. Switch DNS and verify

• Update the A or AAAA record (or nameservers) to the new host.
• Check SSL on both the bare domain and www.
• Visit the site from a phone on mobile data to confirm it resolves to the new server.
• Watch error logs and uptime for the first few hours.
• Recheck forms and checkout on the live domain.
• Confirm Search Console verification still works (verification files or tags must exist on the new host).
• For a domain change only: set up 301 redirects from every old URL and use Search Console’s Change of Address tool. Do not use that tool for a same-domain host move.

6. The first week after the move

• Clear page, object and CDN caches.
• Recreate cron jobs and confirm scheduled posts, backups and emails run.
• Set up backups on the new host and test one restore.
• Monitor Search Console’s Pages and Crawl stats reports. A brief dip in crawl rate after a hosting change is normal.
• Crawl the site and compare the URL list with the one you saved before the move.
• Once everything checks out, delete the rollback copy on the new host and cancel the old hosting.

The SEO part of the checklist

For a same-domain host move, SEO risk comes from downtime, errors and accidental blocking, not from the move itself. For a domain change, redirects carry the weight. In both cases, the most useful post-move habit is checking the same things you would in a technical SEO audit: indexation, status codes, canonicals, internal links and Core Web Vitals on the new server.

If you want the move monitored by specialists, our technical SEO services cover migrations and the weeks that follow. All migration guides are collected in our WordPress migration guide.