Migrating off WordPress without drama
A migration plan that keeps search rankings, keeps editors working, and does not require a content freeze.
Most WordPress migrations fail in one of two ways: organic traffic drops because redirects were an afterthought, or the editorial team loses three weeks to a content freeze that was never in the plan.
Start with the URL inventory#
Export every URL that has received an organic visit or an external link in the last twelve months. That list, not the sitemap, is the thing you must preserve. Map each entry to its destination before writing a single template, and treat any URL you cannot map as a decision requiring a person, not a wildcard rule.
We keep the mapping in a CSV in the repository. It becomes the redirect configuration, and it is reviewable by people who do not read code.
Migrate content mechanically, then review#
Write a script that converts posts to Markdown or pushes them into the new CMS. Run it repeatedly. Manual cleanup during migration is how you end up unable to re-run it, which is how you end up with a content freeze.
Expect three things to need hand work: inline shortcodes, tables that were pasted from Word, and images referenced by absolute URL to the old domain.
Run both systems briefly#
Point a subdomain at the new build and let editors work in both for a week. They will find the field you forgot within a day. This is cheaper than discovering it after cutover.
Cut over quietly#
DNS change, redirects live, and monitoring on 404s and Core Web Vitals for the following month. On the last four migrations we ran, organic traffic was flat or up within six weeks, and hosting cost fell by between 70 and 98%.
The unglamorous conclusion: a migration is a redirect project with a rebuild attached, not the other way round.