Yes, you can change your WordPress domain, and if you do it in the right order you keep almost all of your rankings. The order is: back up, change the two URL fields under Settings, General, replace the old domain everywhere in the database, put a 301 redirect on the old domain, then tell Google with the Change of Address tool in Search Console. Skip the redirects or the Search Console step and the site keeps working while the traffic quietly halves. The whole job takes an afternoon on a small site; the part that takes months is Google catching up, and this post says what to expect from that too.
What actually changes when you change a WordPress domain?
Two settings and thousands of stored links. WordPress keeps the site’s address in the siteurl and home options, which appear as WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL) under Settings, General; the WordPress migration documentation explains the difference. Changing those two makes WordPress answer at the new domain. But every image, internal link and page builder setting was saved with the old domain in it, so the site then loads with broken images and links that bounce visitors back to the old address. That is why step three exists.
How do you change the domain, step by step?
- Back up files and database and download the copy. Where your host keeps backups tells you whether you already have one.
- Point the new domain at the hosting: add it in the hosting panel and set its DNS. Wait for it to resolve before touching WordPress.
- Change the two URLs. Settings, General, replace both fields with
https://newdomain.com(no trailing slash) and save. You will be logged out; log in at the new address. - Search and replace the database. Use the free Better Search Replace plugin, or
wp search-replace https://olddomain.com https://newdomain.comon WP-CLI. Run it as a dry run first; it handles serialised data (theme and builder settings) that a plain SQL replace corrupts. - Redirect the old domain with a 301 to the matching path on the new one, either in the old domain’s
.htaccessor through the host’s redirect tool. Keep the old domain registered for at least a year. - Search Console: add and verify the new domain as a property, then in the old property open Settings, Change of Address, and submit the move. Submit the new sitemap.
- Update everything that hard-codes the domain: Google Analytics, Business Profile, social bios, email signatures, ad campaigns, and any licence keyed to the domain.
How do you keep your rankings?
Rankings belong to URLs, so the rule is one-to-one: every old URL redirects to the same page at the new domain, not to the home page. Keep the slugs identical. If you are also redesigning, do the domain change first and the redesign later, so a traffic drop can be blamed on one thing. Questions to ask before a website redesign covers that separation.
| Do | Do not |
|---|---|
| Redirect page to page with 301s | Redirect everything to the new home page |
| Keep the old domain live and redirecting for a year or more | Let the old domain expire after a month |
| Use Change of Address in Search Console | Assume Google will notice on its own |
| Keep URLs, titles and content the same during the move | Change domain, design and content in one go |
| Update internal links so none point at the old domain | Leave old links to be redirected on every click |
Google’s site move guide says a well-executed move on a medium-sized site usually settles within a few weeks, while larger sites take longer; expect a dip in the first two to four weeks while both domains are in the index, then recovery to roughly the old level if the redirects are clean. A move that never recovers almost always has redirects pointing to the home page or old URLs returning 404.
What if WordPress is on wordpress.com?
Different product, different steps. On a wordpress.com site you buy or transfer the domain within the account, set it as primary under Upgrades, Domains, and wordpress.com handles the redirect from the old address; there is no database to search. The Search Console step is the same. This post is about self-hosted WordPress, which is what most business sites run.
Common problems after a domain change
| Problem | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Mixed content warnings, padlock gone | Image or script URLs still on the old domain or on http | Run the search-replace again including the http version; check the theme’s hard-coded URLs |
| Redirect loop | Site Address and WordPress Address disagree, or the old domain redirects to itself | Set both fields to the same https address; remove any old redirect rule from the new domain |
| Cannot log in after changing the URL | You are still on the old address | Log in at newdomain.com/wp-admin; clear cookies if it loops |
| Traffic drops and stays down | Old URLs 404, or all redirects go to the home page | Crawl the old domain with a free tool such as Screaming Frog and fix every non-301 result |
| Google still shows the old domain weeks later | Change of Address not submitted, or old domain not redirecting | Submit it; test a few old URLs in a private window |
Because the same thing on Squarespace is a settings screen with no database to touch, changing a Squarespace domain is a shorter read. On WordPress the search-replace and redirect steps are where sites get hurt, and doing them properly is part of every migration I take on as a WordPress website developer.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Change the WordPress Address and Site Address under Settings, General, search and replace the old domain in the database, redirect the old domain with 301s, and submit a Change of Address in Google Search Console.
Expect a dip of two to four weeks while Google processes the move. With page-to-page 301 redirects, identical URLs and the Change of Address tool, rankings usually recover to about the previous level.
Keep every slug the same, redirect each old URL to its exact new URL, keep the old domain live and redirecting for at least a year, submit Change of Address and the new sitemap in Search Console, and do not redesign at the same time.
Yes. Images, links and builder settings store the full old URL. Use Better Search Replace or WP-CLI search-replace, which handle serialised data safely; a raw SQL replace can corrupt settings.
A few weeks for a small or medium site once redirects and Change of Address are in place; larger sites can take months. Traffic that never recovers points to broken redirects.
Yes. Add the new domain under Upgrades, Domains, set it as primary, and wordpress.com redirects the old one. There is no database step; you still submit the change in Search Console.
