Member Avatar for chetanbhasin

Well! So here is what my problem is. Initially, I started my blog (running of wordpress cms) with a .asia domain. Now, I believe any .com domain would attract more people than any domain name that is targeted to one continent.

So, I purchased a domain name with same name but .com extension.
However, I do not know how can I change my domain name without loosing content and traffic.

I also want to change my web hosting provider which would require change of server. How can I set-up the new blog on a totally new server and redirect all my previous traffic to my new blog with new domain name?

I am not an advanced user or SEO genius so I need help as novice - in details.
Pleas help me guys.

  • 2 Contributors
  • 1 Reply
  • 295 Views
  • 6 Hours Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by JorgeM

Dani AI

Generated

Short, practical checklist for (building on ’s point about server redirects). The move has three priorities: preserve your files and database, replace the old URLs safely (serialized WP data), and put permanent 301 redirects in place so search engines and users land on the right pages. Back everything up first and keep the old host serving redirects for a while. (it.wordpress.org)

Backup + copy to the new host:

  • Export the database and archive the wp-content folder. Example commands:

    mysqldump -u DBUSER -p DBNAME > site-backup.sql
rsync -avz --delete /path/to/old/public_html/ user@newhost:/path/to/new/public_html/

  • Edit wp-config.php on the new server for the new DB credentials or temporarily set WP_HOME/WP_SITEURL while testing. Test the new server by editing your local hosts file before changing DNS. (it.wordpress.org)

Replace old URLs safely (serialized data):

  • Use a serialized-safe tool. With WP-CLI run a dry-run first, then apply:

    wp db export before-move.sql
wp search-replace 'http://old.example' 'https://new.example' --all-tables --skip-columns=guid --dry-run
wp search-replace 'http://old.example' 'https://new.example' --all-tables --skip-columns=guid

  • Plugins exist if you don’t have WP-CLI, but avoid blind SQL replaces that break serialized arrays. (packagist.org)

Redirects, Google, and post-move fixes:

  • On the old host put 301 redirects for every old URL -> new URL (preserve structure if possible). Example .htaccess rule:

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

  • Tell Google about the move (Change of Address), submit the new sitemap, and keep redirects in place for at least a year to transfer signals. Clear caches, fix mixed-content (HTTPS) and update Analytics/links. Test with Search Console’s URL Inspection. (developers.google.com)

Troubleshooting tips: keep the old host running redirects until logs show traffic dropped, check for broken images/links (search-replace misses hard-coded URLs), flush CDN, and use the hosts-file test to validate before DNS changes. If anything looks wrong, restore the DB copy and re-run the serialized-safe replace after reviewing the differences. (developer.wordpress.org)

Member Avatar for JorgeM

You are going to need to do some research with your new provider. If you plan on moving all of our content and maintain the same exact folder structure, then your new provider simply needs to be able to redirect the hostname portion of hte URL.

for example, they would need to redirect blog.domain.asia/2012/09/01/blogname --> blog.domain.com/2012/09/01/blogname.

This isnt a big deal if this was a typical website and having access to manage the web server. For Apache, you would leverage the .htaccess file and for IIS you would use the URLRewrite Module to create your redirect rules.

Here is an example of how I've done redirects using IIS/URL Rewriting...

Old URL:
New URL: http://www.itgeared.com/articles/1075-how-to-pass-parameters-to-vbscript/

If you click on the old link, it will redirect you to the new link.

Notice that I do not only change the domain portion of the URL, but also have changed the structure. This is all done using re-write rules.

Again, check with your new provider for options...

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.