Website downtime during a migration can be detrimental to your online presence, especially if your WordPress site is a key part of your business. Whether you’re changing hosting providers for performance, pricing, or support reasons, executing a seamless migration is crucial. Below is a step-by-step guide developed to help you migrate your WordPress website to a new hosting provider without any downtime, ensuring both your visitors and search engines experience a smooth transition.
To smooth comms and cut prep time, use AI Bud WP to draft your maintenance notice, migration checklist, and post-move QA copy right inside WordPress—and spin up a quick chatbot to answer “Are you down?” or “Where’s my account?” during the cutover.
Why Care About Downtime?
Even a short period of downtime can have serious consequences:
- Loss of revenue: Especially critical for eCommerce or membership sites.
- Damaged brand credibility: Visitors may lose trust in your business.
- Negative SEO impact: Google may penalize frequently unreachable sites.
Fortunately, with the right preparation and meticulous execution, you can mitigate these risks.
Pre-Migration Checklist
Before initiating the actual migration process, ensure that the following tasks are completed:
- Access to current hosting provider and new hosting account.
- Domain registrar login credentials, if DNS records need updating.
- Admin access to your WordPress dashboard.
- Backup plugin such as UpdraftPlus, Duplicator, or All-in-One WP Migration installed.
Double-check these resources to avoid running into problems mid-migration.
Step 1: Back Up Your WordPress Website
Begin by creating a full backup of your website. There are several plugins available for this:
- UpdraftPlus: Ideal for scheduled backups and cloud storage integrations.
- Duplicator: Best for creating installation packages useful in migration.
- All-in-One WP Migration: Simple interface with one-click export and import functions.
Ensure your backup includes both files and databases. Download the backup archive to your local machine or cloud storage.
Step 2: Set Up Your New Host Environment
Prepare the new web hosting environment before uploading any content:
- Create a new MySQL database along with an associated user and grant them necessary permissions.
- Install a fresh copy of WordPress if your migration tool requires it (i.e., for All-in-One WP Migration).
- Use cPanel or a file manager to access file structure or consider using SFTP for more secure file transfers.
Having a fresh, clean environment to work with will ensure that the old site’s data is cleanly integrated.
Step 3: Update Your Hosts File for Testing
Before pointing your domain to the new host, you’ll want to make sure everything is working perfectly. Modify your local hosts file so you can preview the site on the new server:
192.168.1.100 yourwebsite.com www.yourwebsite.com
Replace 192.168.1.100 with the IP address of your new server. This step allows you to access the site on the new host through your browser, while the world continues to see the old one.
Step 4: Upload Your Site to the New Host
This step varies based on the backup method you used:
- Using Duplicator: Upload the
installer.phpand archive file to the root directory. Then open the installer in your browser and follow the instructions. - Using UpdraftPlus or others: Install the same plugin on the new WordPress setup, and use the import function to restore from your backup files.
Confirm all files and database tables are imported correctly.
Step 5: Test the Site Thoroughly
Because the DNS hasn’t been updated yet, only you can access the new site via your modified hosts file. This is your chance to:
- Navigate through every page of the website
- Check dynamic content, forms, and functionality
- Ensure images and internal links are working
- Run speed performance checks
Make sure that media files (e.g., images and videos) are loading correctly and that there are no broken links before finalizing the migration.
Step 6: Update DNS Records
Once you’re satisfied with the site’s functionality on the new server, it’s time to update the domain’s DNS records to point to the new hosting provider:
- Log in to your domain registrar account.
- Update the A Record of your domain to the IP address of the new host.
- If using nameservers, update those instead.
DNS changes may take up to 24–48 hours to fully propagate, though in many cases it updates within a few minutes to a couple of hours.
Step 7: Monitor the Transition
Monitor your site’s uptime and performance closely during the DNS propagation period. Use tools like:
- Uptime Robot — to monitor site availability
- Pingdom — for performance and speed testing
- GTmetrix — for deep performance diagnostics
Keep both the old hosting environment and the database unchanged until the migration is fully complete and stable. This serves as a fallback in case anything goes wrong.
Optional: Configure Email Services
If your email was previously hosted on your old web host, you’ll need to migrate or reconfigure your email services as well:
- If your email is tied to your domain via cPanel, copy over email accounts and forwarders.
- Consider using a reputable third-party email provider like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 for better deliverability.
Be sure to run tests using various email clients and ensure deliverability from your contact forms post-migration.
Avoiding Common Mistakes
Here’s a quick list of potential pitfalls to steer clear from during migration:
- Not creating a full backup: Always safeguard your current site beforehand.
- Neglecting to test the new environment: Use the
hostsfile method to ensure the site is fully functional before DNS changes. - Not allowing time for DNS propagation: Inform users of potential delays if service disruption happens.
- Forgetting media files: Some migration tools may omit folders like
wp-content/uploads.
Conclusion
Successfully migrating your WordPress site to a new host without downtime is not only possible—it is achievable with careful planning and execution. The key lies in methodical backup, thorough testing, and strategic DNS updates. By handling each step diligently, you protect your SEO rankings, user experience, and ultimately your brand’s credibility during the transition.
When done right, your users won’t even notice that anything changed—except perhaps that your site is now faster, more reliable, and better supported by your new web host. Happy migrating!