What is website migration?

What it means

A website migration is any big move of your site. It is like moving house: some things pack neatly into boxes, some have to be taken apart, and a few get left behind.

There are four common kinds:

• Host move: same site, new server (for example, one WordPress host to another).
• Platform move: new website builder or CMS (for example, Wix to WordPress).
• Domain change: new address for the same business.
• Restructure: new page addresses or a redesign on the same platform.

Each one can be done alone. Doing two at once adds risk.

How it works

1. Take inventory. List every page address, especially pages that get search traffic or links.
2. Back up and export. Pull out whatever the old platform lets you export, and save your own copies of images and text.
3. Rebuild or import on the new platform.
4. Set up 301 redirects. A 301 redirect is a permanent forward from an old address to its new one. It sends visitors and search engines to the right page and passes along most of the old page’s search value.
5. Switch the domain. Update DNS at your registrar to point at the new platform.
6. Test and watch. Click through key pages and forms, then watch search traffic for a few weeks.

Tip: a day before the switch, lower the TTL (time to live) on your DNS records. TTL controls how long the old address is cached around the internet, so a short TTL makes the change spread faster.

Why it matters when you build a site

The platform you pick today decides how hard your next migration will be. Some builders let you take everything; others keep the design, the blog or the store. Our exit scores rate this from 0 to 10:

Code-based AI builders score high too: v0 10/10, Lovable and Bolt 9/10. You get the code, but you need a developer to run it elsewhere.

How the big builders handle it

• WordPress (self-hosted). A host move is a copy of files plus the database. Some hosts include it; SiteGround’s page lists free site migrations. We move WordPress sites regularly, and the redirect map is the part that takes thought.
• Squarespace. The export is a WordPress XML file with basic pages and one blog. Store, portfolio and index pages, styles and custom CSS stay behind, and images download one at a time.
• Wix. Its help center says sites must run on Wix’s servers and blog posts cannot be exported. Plan to copy text and images by hand.
• Shopify. Product CSVs include image links, not the images, and those links stop working if the store closes. Save images before you cancel.
• Webflow. The static export works, but CMS pages, forms, search and the store stop working outside Webflow.
• Hostinger. A semi-automatic export to WordPress moves pages, text and images, but not styles, layout, the store, forms or SEO settings.

Common mistakes

• No redirect map. Old links break, and search rankings can drop.
• Changing platform and domain at once. If traffic falls, you will not know why.
• Canceling the old plan too early. Keep it until the new site is live and checked.
• Forgetting email. DNS changes can break mail if MX records are not copied.
• Losing images. Exports often reference images by link instead of including them.

Related terms

• Website backups: your safety net before any move.
• Staging site: a private place to build the new version.

Step-by-step help: moving your website and leaving your website builder.