Redirecting Your WordPress Site: A Guide

As a WordPress user, you may find yourself in a perplexing situation where you need to redirect your site to another domain. This could happen when you change your domain name or migrate your site. However, you need to handle the process correctly to avoid losing website traffic or ruining your site’s SEO.

What is a Redirect?

A redirect is the process of burstitiously forwarding one URL to another. When a user clicks on a link, they are taken to a new web page instead of the original page they were trying to access. It can be useful in various situations such as moving your site from one domain name to another.

There are several types of redirects, but the most common ones are 301 and 302 redirects.

301 Redirect

This is a permanent redirect that is used when you need to redirect website traffic permanently from one URL to another URL. A 301 redirect is preferable when you want to transfer the existing SEO value of the original URL to the new URL.

302 Redirect

This redirect is temporary and should be used with caution. It is used when you need the original URL to return in the future. This type of redirect should not be used for site migrations or domain name changes.

Setting Up a 301 Redirect in WordPress

Before setting up a redirect, you need to have the new domain name that you want to redirect your site to. You will also need access to your site’s files through FTP or your site’s control panel.

Step 1:

Backup your site’s files before you make any changes to avoid losing any data.

Step 2:

Login to your WordPress dashboard as an administrator and go to Settings > General. Locate the WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL) fields, and update them with the new domain name that you want to redirect your website to. Save your changes.

Step 3:

To redirect your site to the new domain, you need to add a 301 redirect rule to your site’s .htaccess file. The .htaccess file is located in the root directory of your site:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^olddomain.com [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.olddomain.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://newdomain.com/$1 [L,R=301,NC]


Replace olddomain.com and newdomain.com with your site’s old domain name and new domain name, respectively. Save your changes and close the .htaccess file.

Step 4:

Test the redirect to ensure that it’s working correctly by opening your site’s old URL in a web browser and hitting enter. Your site should automatically redirect to the new URL. If not, go back and double-check the .htaccess file for errors.

Step 5:

Notify Google of the domain change by opening Google Search Console and going to the old domain property. Click on the settings icon at the top right-hand corner and select “Change of address.” Follow the prompts to verify your new domain and submit the change of address request.

In conclusion, redirecting your WordPress site to another domain can be a stressful process, but with the correct steps and best practices, you can ensure that the process goes smoothly. Always backup your site’s files and test the redirect to ensure that everything is working correctly. If you encounter any issues, seek assistance from your hosting provider or a WordPress developer.