There are times when you may want to change domain name of your WordPress website. Many companies and blogs undergo name change and hence have to change their domain name. In other cases, when switching from a sub-domain to a top-level domain, you’d have to change the domain name. In this article, learn step-by-step how you can change domain name of your WordPress website.
Step-by-Step Process
Before you begin, ensure that you have secured the new domain name, have a hosting account, and have admin access to your current WordPress website. Once that’s out of the way, follow the following steps:
Update DNS Settings of New Domain
To get started, you need to focus on the DNS settings of the new domain. You have to point the DNS record of the website to the name servers of your hosting account. The name servers start with the ‘ns’ prefix (ns1.xyz.com) and can be obtained from your hosting provider. So contact them if you don’t have these.
Updating the DNS server can take 48 hours or more to propagate. Therefore, get these done well in advance.
After that, go back to the cPanel and then into ‘Addon Domains’. Here add the new domain to the list. For those who have hosted their website on a VPS with no GUI have to create a new virtual host. Then, reference the new domain name.
Update Domain Name of Your Existing WordPress Website
Next thing to do is updating the domain name of the old website. So head over to the admin section of your website by logging in. Click on the Settings >> General. Here, you’d have to replace the old domain name with new one. Once done, click on Save Changes to apply the changes made.
Now if you go back to the browser and visit the new domain, you’ll see the 404 error page. That’s because you haven’t moved the files from to the new domain. To move the files, go to cPanel file manager and click on ‘Move’. Follow the instructions and move the files.
Update the Permalinks
The last thing you need to do is update the permalinks. For this, log in to the admin section of your WordPress website but use the new domain name. Now go into Settings >> Permalinks. Update the links and click on ‘Save changes’. If there are broken links on your website, you can fix them by using a plugin like ‘Search and Replace’.
Now visit your WordPress website using the new domain name and check if everything is working as intended.
So that’s how you change domain name of your WordPress website. For more assistance, get in touch with the customer support team.
Step-by-Step Process
Before you begin, ensure that you have secured the new domain name, have a hosting account, and have admin access to your current WordPress website. Once that’s out of the way, follow the following steps:
Update DNS Settings of New Domain
To get started, you need to focus on the DNS settings of the new domain. You have to point the DNS record of the website to the name servers of your hosting account. The name servers start with the ‘ns’ prefix (ns1.xyz.com) and can be obtained from your hosting provider. So contact them if you don’t have these.
Updating the DNS server can take 48 hours or more to propagate. Therefore, get these done well in advance.
After that, go back to the cPanel and then into ‘Addon Domains’. Here add the new domain to the list. For those who have hosted their website on a VPS with no GUI have to create a new virtual host. Then, reference the new domain name.
Update Domain Name of Your Existing WordPress Website
Next thing to do is updating the domain name of the old website. So head over to the admin section of your website by logging in. Click on the Settings >> General. Here, you’d have to replace the old domain name with new one. Once done, click on Save Changes to apply the changes made.
Now if you go back to the browser and visit the new domain, you’ll see the 404 error page. That’s because you haven’t moved the files from to the new domain. To move the files, go to cPanel file manager and click on ‘Move’. Follow the instructions and move the files.
Update the Permalinks
The last thing you need to do is update the permalinks. For this, log in to the admin section of your WordPress website but use the new domain name. Now go into Settings >> Permalinks. Update the links and click on ‘Save changes’. If there are broken links on your website, you can fix them by using a plugin like ‘Search and Replace’.
Now visit your WordPress website using the new domain name and check if everything is working as intended.
So that’s how you change domain name of your WordPress website. For more assistance, get in touch with the customer support team.
