WordPress migration seems straightforward\u2014export your site, upload to a new server, import, done. But in reality, migrations can go wrong in countless ways, from broken links to corrupted databases to complete data loss.<\/p>\n
After helping thousands of users migrate their WordPress sites with Migratico Lite, we’ve identified the most common mistakes\u2014and more importantly, how to avoid them.<\/p>\n
The Mistake<\/strong><\/p>\n You’re so focused on moving to the new server that you forget to create a proper backup of your current site. Then something goes wrong during migration, and you realize you have no way to restore your original site.<\/p>\n Real-World Example<\/p>\n Tom decided to migrate his e-commerce store to a new host. He exported the database using phpMyAdmin and downloaded his files via FTP. During the import on the new server, the database import failed halfway through, corrupting the data. When he tried to restore the original site, he realized his FTP client had deleted files during the download process. His store was offline for 3 days while he tried to recover data.<\/p>\n How to Avoid This<\/p>\n Before starting any migration:<\/p>\n 1. Create a complete backup using Migratico Lite or your preferred backup plugin Pro tip: Create two backups\u2014one immediately before migration, and one from a few days earlier. This gives you multiple restore points if something goes wrong.<\/p>\n How Migratico Lite Helps<\/p>\n Migratico Lite creates a complete, verified backup that includes: The Mistake<\/strong><\/p>\n You update your DNS records to point to the new server before the site is fully set up and tested. Visitors start hitting the new server while you’re still configuring things, seeing errors or a broken site.<\/p>\n Real-World Example<\/p>\n Sarah migrated her blog to a new host and immediately updated her DNS. She didn’t realize the new server’s PHP version was incompatible with one of her plugins. For the next 6 hours (while DNS propagated), some visitors saw her working site (old server) while others saw a white screen of death (new server). She lost traffic and received complaints from readers.<\/p>\n How to Avoid This<\/p>\n The correct DNS update sequence:<\/p>\n 1. Complete the migration on the new server Testing without DNS:<\/p>\n Option A: Hosts File Method Option B: Temporary URL Use this to test before updating DNS.<\/p>\n How Migratico Lite Helps<\/p>\n Migratico Lite’s installation wizard works with any URL, so you can: The Mistake<\/strong><\/p>\n You migrate to a new server without verifying it has compatible PHP and MySQL versions. Your site breaks because the new server is running PHP 7.4 but your site requires PHP 8.0+, or vice versa.<\/p>\n Real-World Example<\/p>\n Mike’s WooCommerce store ran perfectly on his old host (PHP 8.1). He migrated to a budget host that only offered PHP 7.4. After migration, his store displayed fatal errors. He had to either upgrade his hosting plan (more expensive) or downgrade his plugins (losing features). The store was offline for 12 hours during the fix.<\/p>\n How to Avoid This<\/p>\n Before migrating:<\/p>\n 1. Check your current PHP version: 2. Check your current MySQL version: 3. Verify the new host supports these versions: 4. Check plugin requirements: Compatibility checklist: How Migratico Lite Helps<\/p>\n The installation wizard includes an automatic environment check that verifies: If anything is wrong, you’ll know before the migration starts.<\/p>\n The Mistake<\/strong><\/p>\n You manually update URLs in the database using a simple SQL REPLACE command or a basic search-replace plugin. This breaks serialized data, corrupting widget settings, theme options, and plugin configurations.<\/p>\n Real-World Example<\/p>\n Emma migrated her site from `oldsite.com` to `newsite.com`. She used phpMyAdmin to run:<\/p>\n sql Her posts looked fine, but all her widgets disappeared, her theme settings reset, and several plugins stopped working. The problem? WordPress stores some data in serialized format, where string lengths matter. Her simple replace changed the URLs but didn’t update the string lengths, corrupting the data.<\/p>\n How to Avoid This<\/p>\n Never use simple find-replace for WordPress URLs.<\/p>\n WordPress stores data in serialized format like this:<\/p>\n a:2:{s:4:”name”;s:4:”John”;s:3:”url”;s:18:”http:\/\/oldsite.com”;}<\/p>\n Notice the numbers? `s:18` means “string of length 18”. If you change `oldsite.com` (11 chars) to `newsite.com` (11 chars), it’s fine. But if you change to `mynewsite.com` (13 chars), the length is wrong and WordPress can’t unserialize the data.<\/p>\n The right way:<\/p>\n Use a tool that: Recommended tools: How Migratico Lite Helps<\/p>\n Migratico Lite uses a Duplicator-inspired search-replace algorithm that: The Mistake<\/strong><\/p>\n You migrate your site, see the homepage loads, and assume everything is fine. You don’t test other pages, forms, or functionality. Days later, you discover the contact form doesn’t work, checkout is broken, or images don’t load.<\/p>\n Real-World Example<\/p>\n David migrated his membership site. The homepage looked perfect, so he updated DNS and announced the migration. Three days later, members complained they couldn’t log in. Turns out the login URL had hardcoded references to the old domain that weren’t updated. He lost 50 members who thought the site was broken and canceled their subscriptions.<\/p>\n How to Avoid This<\/p>\n Complete post-migration testing checklist:<\/p>\n Basic Functionality: WordPress Admin: Forms and Interactions: E-commerce (if applicable): Membership (if applicable): Performance: SEO: Pro tip: Create a testing checklist specific to your site and save it. Use it for every migration.<\/p>\n How Migratico Lite Helps<\/p>\n After installation, Migratico Lite provides a verification report showing: This gives you confidence that the technical migration succeeded, but you still need to test functionality.<\/p>\n The Mistake<\/strong><\/p>\n After migration, you don’t check or set proper file permissions. This causes issues like: Real-World Example<\/p>\n Lisa migrated her site successfully, but when she tried to upload a new blog post image, she got “Unable to create directory” errors. She spent hours troubleshooting before realizing the wp-content\/uploads directory had incorrect permissions (777 instead of 755).<\/p>\n How to Avoid This<\/p>\n Correct WordPress file permissions:<\/p>\n – Directories: 755 (or 750) How to set permissions:<\/p>\n Via FTP: Via SSH: Set file permissions Secure wp-config.php Via cPanel: Never use 777 permissions – it’s a security risk.<\/p>\n How Migratico Lite Helps<\/p>\n Migratico Lite preserves file permissions during export and restore when possible. However, different servers may require different permissions, so always verify after migration.<\/p>\n The Mistake<\/strong><\/p>\n Your theme or plugins have hardcoded URLs that don’t get updated during migration. Links break, images don’t load, or functionality stops working.<\/p>\n Real-World Example<\/p>\n Chris migrated his site and everything looked fine except the logo wouldn’t display. After investigation, he found the theme had a hardcoded logo URL in a custom CSS file:<\/p>\n css The migration tool updated database URLs but couldn’t update hardcoded URLs in files.<\/p>\n How to Avoid This<\/p>\n Common places for hardcoded URLs:<\/p>\n 1. Theme files: 2. Plugin files: 3. wp-config.php: 4. .htaccess: How to find hardcoded URLs:<\/p>\n Method 1: Grep (SSH) Method 2: Better Search Replace Plugin Method 3: Manual Review How Migratico Lite Helps<\/p>\n Migratico Lite updates all database URLs automatically. For file-based hardcoded URLs, you’ll need to update them manually after migration. The installation wizard warns you about this and provides guidance.<\/p>\n The Mistake<\/strong><\/p>\n Your old server had email configured (SMTP, mail server, etc.), but the new server doesn’t. After migration, your site can’t send emails\u2014password resets fail, contact forms don’t work, and order confirmations don’t send.<\/p>\n Real-World Example<\/p>\n Rachel migrated her WooCommerce store. Everything worked perfectly except customers weren’t receiving order confirmation emails. She lost several customers who thought their orders failed. The problem? Her old host had SMTP configured, but the new host required explicit SMTP plugin configuration.<\/p>\n How to Avoid This<\/p>\n Before migration:<\/p>\n 1. Document your email setup: 2. Export email plugin settings: After migration:<\/p>\n 1. Test email immediately: 2. If emails don’t work: Recommended email solutions: How Migratico Lite Helps<\/p>\n Migratico Lite migrates your email plugin settings along with everything else. However, you may need to reconfigure SMTP credentials if they’re server-specific.<\/p>\n The Mistake<\/strong><\/p>\n You migrate, test briefly, and then forget about it. Days or weeks later, you discover issues that could have been caught immediately with proper monitoring.<\/p>\n Real-World Example<\/p>\n Paul migrated his blog and everything seemed fine. Two weeks later, he checked Google Search Console and saw 500+ 404 errors. Turns out his permalink structure changed during migration, breaking all his old URLs. He’d lost two weeks of SEO value and traffic.<\/p>\n How to Avoid This<\/p>\n Post-migration monitoring checklist:<\/p>\n First 24 Hours: First Week: First Month: Tools for monitoring: How Migratico Lite Helps<\/p>\n Migratico Lite ensures a clean migration, but monitoring is your responsibility. Set up monitoring tools before migration so you can catch issues immediately.<\/p>\n The Mistake<\/strong><\/p>\n You migrate without a plan for what to do if something goes catastrophically wrong. When disaster strikes, you panic and make things worse.<\/p>\n Real-World Example<\/p>\n Kevin migrated his site and immediately updated DNS. An hour later, he discovered a critical plugin incompatibility that broke his entire site. He had no rollback plan. He tried to fix it on the fly, making things worse. His site was down for 18 hours while he frantically tried to recover.<\/p>\n How to Avoid This<\/p>\n Create a rollback plan before migrating:<\/p>\n Plan A: Keep Old Server Active Plan B: Have Backup Ready Plan C: Know How to Revert DNS Rollback decision matrix:<\/p>\n Minor issues (broken plugin, styling problems): Major issues (site completely broken, data loss): Critical issues (security breach, data corruption): How Migratico Lite Helps<\/p>\n Migratico Lite makes rollback easy: The Bottom Line<\/p>\n WordPress migration doesn’t have to be risky. By avoiding these 10 common mistakes, you can ensure a smooth, successful migration:<\/p>\n 1. \u2713 Create proper backups Ready to migrate without mistakes? Download Migratico Lite and follow our proven migration process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" WordPress migration seems straightforward\u2014export your site, upload to a new server, import, done. 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\n2. Download the backup to your local computer
\n3. Verify the backup by checking file sizes and testing a restore on a local server
\n4. Keep the backup until you’ve confirmed the migration is 100% successful<\/p>\n
\n– Entire database (compressed)
\n– All files (split into manageable chunks)
\n– Installation wizard for easy restoration
\n– Automatic verification of all exported files<\/p>\nMistake 2: Forgetting to Update DNS Too Early<\/h3>\n
\n2. Test thoroughly using the server’s temporary URL or by editing your hosts file
\n3. Fix all issues before updating DNS
\n4. Only then update DNS to point to the new server
\n5. Monitor the site during DNS propagation (24-48 hours)<\/p>\n
\n1. Edit your hosts file (C:\\Windows\\System32\\drivers\\etc\\hosts on Windows, \/etc\/hosts on Mac\/Linux)
\n2. Add: `123.45.67.89 yoursite.com` (use your new server’s IP)
\n3. Save and test your site
\n4. Remove the entry after testing<\/p>\n
\nMost hosts provide a temporary URL like:
\n– `http:\/\/123.45.67.89\/~username\/`
\n– `http:\/\/temp.yourhost.com\/`<\/p>\n
\n1. Install using the temporary URL
\n2. Test everything thoroughly
\n3. Update DNS only when ready
\n4. The site automatically works with the new domain (no reinstallation needed)<\/p>\nMistake 3: Not Checking PHP and MySQL Versions<\/h3>\n
\n– WordPress Admin > Site Health > Info > Server
\n– Or install a plugin like “Display PHP Version”<\/p>\n
\n– Same location in Site Health<\/p>\n
\n– Contact new host’s support
\n– Check their documentation
\n– Look for version selector in cPanel<\/p>\n
\n– Some plugins require specific PHP versions
\n– WooCommerce, for example, requires PHP 7.4+<\/p>\n
\n– \u2713 PHP version compatible
\n– \u2713 MySQL version compatible
\n– \u2713 Required PHP extensions available (ZipArchive, PDO, etc.)
\n– \u2713 Memory limit sufficient (128 MB minimum, 256 MB recommended)
\n– \u2713 Max execution time adequate (30 seconds minimum)<\/p>\n
\n– PHP version meets requirements
\n– MySQL version is compatible
\n– Required extensions are available
\n– Disk space is sufficient
\n– Memory limit is adequate<\/p>\nMistake 4: Using Simple Find-Replace for URLs<\/h3>\n
\nUPDATE wp_posts SET post_content = REPLACE(post_content, ‘oldsite.com’, ‘newsite.com’);<\/p>\n
\n1. Detects serialized data
\n2. Unserializes it
\n3. Updates the values
\n4. Updates the string lengths
\n5. Reserializes it<\/p>\n
\n– Migratico Lite (automatic during migration)
\n– Better Search Replace plugin
\n– WP-CLI’s search-replace command
\n– Interconnect\/it’s Search Replace DB script<\/p>\n
\n– Automatically detects serialized data
\n– Properly updates all string lengths
\n– Handles nested serialization
\n– Processes all URL variants (http:\/\/, https:\/\/, \/\/)
\n– Updates JSON-escaped URLs
\n– Preserves data integrity<\/p>\nYou don’t have to do anything\u2014it’s all automatic.<\/h3>\n
Mistake 5: Not Testing After Migration<\/h3>\n
\n– \u2713 Homepage loads correctly
\n– \u2713 All menu links work
\n– \u2713 Blog posts display properly
\n– \u2713 Pages load without errors
\n– \u2713 Images display correctly
\n– \u2713 Search functionality works<\/p>\n
\n– \u2713 Can log in to admin
\n– \u2713 Can create\/edit posts
\n– \u2713 Can upload media
\n– \u2713 Plugins are active
\n– \u2713 Theme settings preserved<\/p>\n
\n– \u2713 Contact form submits
\n– \u2713 Comment form works
\n– \u2713 Newsletter signup functions
\n– \u2713 Search returns results<\/p>\n
\n– \u2713 Products display correctly
\n– \u2713 Add to cart works
\n– \u2713 Checkout process completes
\n– \u2713 Payment gateway connects
\n– \u2713 Order emails send<\/p>\n
\n– \u2713 Login\/logout works
\n– \u2713 Registration functions
\n– \u2713 Password reset works
\n– \u2713 Member-only content restricted
\n– \u2713 Subscription status correct<\/p>\n
\n– \u2713 Page load times acceptable
\n– \u2713 No PHP errors in logs
\n– \u2713 No JavaScript console errors
\n– \u2713 SSL certificate working<\/p>\n
\n– \u2713 Robots.txt accessible
\n– \u2713 Sitemap.xml loads
\n– \u2713 Meta titles\/descriptions present
\n– \u2713 Canonical URLs correct<\/p>\n
\n– Number of files extracted
\n– Number of database tables imported
\n– URLs updated count
\n– Any warnings or errors<\/p>\nMistake 6: Ignoring File Permissions<\/h3>\n
\n– Can’t upload media
\n– Can’t install plugins
\n– Can’t update WordPress
\n– Security vulnerabilities<\/p>\n
\n– Files: 644 (or 640)
\n– wp-config.php: 440 or 400 (most secure)<\/p>\n
\n1. Right-click directory\/file
\n2. Choose “File Permissions” or “CHMOD”
\n3. Set appropriate number
\n4. For directories, check “Recurse into subdirectories”<\/p>\n
\nbash
\nSet directory permissions
\nfind \/path\/to\/wordpress -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \\;<\/p>\n
\nfind \/path\/to\/wordpress -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \\;<\/p>\n
\nchmod 440 wp-config.php<\/p>\n
\n1. File Manager > Select files\/folders
\n2. Permissions button
\n3. Set appropriate permissions<\/p>\nMistake 7: Not Updating Hardcoded URLs<\/h3>\n
\n.site-logo {
\nbackground-image: url(‘http:\/\/oldsite.com\/logo.png’);
\n}<\/p>\n
\n– header.php
\n– footer.php
\n– functions.php
\n– Custom CSS<\/p>\n
\n– Configuration files
\n– Custom code<\/p>\n
\n– WP_HOME and WP_SITEURL constants<\/p>\n
\n– Redirect rules
\n– Rewrite rules<\/p>\n
\nbash
\ngrep -r “oldsite.com” \/path\/to\/wordpress<\/p>\n
\n1. Install “Better Search Replace”
\n2. Search for old URL
\n3. Check “Search in all files” option
\n4. Review results<\/p>\n
\nCheck these files manually:
\n– wp-config.php
\n– .htaccess
\n– Theme’s functions.php
\n– Custom CSS in theme options<\/p>\nMistake 8: Forgetting About Email Configuration<\/h3>\n
\n– Are you using SMTP?
\n– What are the SMTP settings?
\n– Which email plugin are you using?<\/p>\n
\n– Most email plugins have export functions
\n– Save the configuration<\/p>\n
\n– Send a test email from WordPress
\n– Try password reset
\n– Submit a contact form<\/p>\n
\n– Install WP Mail SMTP or similar
\n– Configure with your email provider
\n– Test again<\/p>\n
\n– WP Mail SMTP – Works with Gmail, SendGrid, Mailgun, etc.
\n– SendGrid – Free tier for 100 emails\/day
\n– Mailgun – Free tier for 5,000 emails\/month
\n– Amazon SES – Very cheap, very reliable<\/p>\nMistake 9: Not Monitoring After Migration<\/h3>\n
\n– Monitor server error logs
\n– Check Google Analytics for traffic drops
\n– Watch for user complaints
\n– Test all critical functionality multiple times<\/p>\n
\n– Check Google Search Console for errors
\n– Monitor page load times
\n– Review server resource usage
\n– Test backups on new server<\/p>\n
\n– Compare traffic to pre-migration levels
\n– Check search rankings
\n– Review conversion rates
\n– Analyze any unusual patterns<\/p>\n
\n– Google Analytics – Traffic monitoring
\n– Google Search Console – SEO issues
\n– Uptime Robot – Downtime alerts
\n– Pingdom – Performance monitoring
\n– New Relic – Server performance<\/p>\nMistake 10: Not Having a Rollback Plan<\/h3>\n
\n– Don’t cancel old hosting immediately
\n– Keep it active for 30 days after migration
\n– If new site fails, simply revert DNS<\/p>\n
\n– Create backup before migration
\n– Test the backup
\n– Know exactly how to restore it
\n– Have restoration instructions written down<\/p>\n
\n– Document current DNS settings
\n– Know how to change them back
\n– Understand DNS propagation time
\n– Have old server’s IP address handy<\/p>\n
\n– Fix on new server
\n– Don’t rollback<\/p>\n
\n– Rollback immediately
\n– Fix issues offline
\n– Migrate again when ready<\/p>\n
\n– Rollback immediately
\n– Restore from backup
\n– Investigate thoroughly before trying again<\/p>\n
\n1. Keep your backup files
\n2. If migration fails, you can restore to old server in minutes
\n3. Or try migration again on new server
\n4. The backup is your safety net<\/p>\n
\n2. \u2713 Update DNS at the right time
\n3. \u2713 Verify server compatibility
\n4. \u2713 Use proper URL replacement
\n5. \u2713 Test thoroughly
\n6. \u2713 Set correct file permissions
\n7. \u2713 Update hardcoded URLs
\n8. \u2713 Configure email
\n9. \u2713 Monitor after migration
\n10. \u2713 Have a rollback plan<\/p>\n