Manual WordPress Migration: A Step-by-Step Guide

WordPress site transfers are often required for a variety of reasons, such as changing hosting providers, redesigning or developing a website, changing domain names, merging multiple sites, backup and disaster recovery planning, testing in a staging environment, troubleshooting a server or hosting problem, or upgrading to a more powerful server or hosting plan. These transfers involve updates to WordPress settings, database entries, and redirects and ensure optimal performance as the website grows.

a) Export your database

1. Log into PHPMyAdmin. (You can get your PHPMyAdmin URL inside your cPanel or Plesk.)

2. Then, select your database and click the Export button. Select  “Quick” as the Export method and select “SQL Format“. Click “Go” to export the database, which will be automatically downloaded as a SQL file and compressed into a zip file.

b) Transfer your site files to the new server

1. After exporting your database, connect to the site using FileZilla and enter the hostname, username, password, and port number.

2. After that, click “Quickconnect” and navigate to the public_html folder. Download all core files, including major folders like wp-admin, wp-content, and wp-includes, and hidden files like .htaccess. FileZilla compresses these files into a single zip file, making it easy to upload them to a new server after transferring them to your computer.

3. Next, open the file manager for your new website and locate the public_html folder, similar to your old site, and delete all contents in that folder. You can go to the cPanel File Manager page to know more about the cPanel file manager features .

4. Then, unzip the zip file and upload the original file to your new website by clicking the Upload button in the cPanel file manager, and your files should be successfully uploaded.

c) Create a new database

1. After transferring your site files to the new server, create a new database. Log into cPanel and navigate to the Databases section, or search for the MySQLDatabases tool in the search bar to explore your cPanel file manager.

2. To create a new database, simply name it and click on the “Create Database” button.

3. To add a new user, enter the new username and password in the MySQL Users section.

4. Link the new user to the newly created database and select it under the “Add user to database” section.

d) Import your original database

1. After creating a new database, open phpMyAdmin and click the Import page. Select the database you added, click Choose File, upload the compressed file, and click “Go” to import the original database.

e) Edit the wp-config.php File

1. After importing your database, navigate to public_html » wp-config.php and delete the old database name, user, and password by finding the lines with DB_USER, DB_NAME, and DB_PASSWORD. Add the new information and update the DB_HOST value to reflect your new host.

2. Finally, save the file, and your WordPress website should be up and running from your new hosting account.