Let’s examine the procedures you may follow to manually migrate your WordPress website. We’ll go over everything you need to do to manually move a WordPress site to a new host in the sections below.
Step 1: Select A New Host For Your WordPress Website
Naturally, registering a new domain (if you intend to change your domain name) and selecting a new web server are the first steps you must take when moving your WordPress website. In most cases, it is advisable to choose a managed hosting service provider so that you won’t have to worry about running and maintaining your website daily.
Numerous web hosting companies offer the highest caliber hosting, exceptional security, and customer service. If you haven’t chosen a new web host, search for the top WordPress hosting companies using Google.
Step 2: Back Up Your Website & Export The Database
The next thing you must do is create backups of the database and files on your website. This stage is crucial, especially if you have a website with a lot of information or one that has been online for a while. You can encounter unforeseen problems while moving your website. As a result, if you move a WordPress website to a new server, it is always a good idea to have a safe and secure backup.
When you wish to move a WordPress website to a new server, plenty of sophisticated backup and security plugins are available. You can even manually back up your WordPress website if you’d like.
You would need to sign into the control panel (cPanel) offered by your current web host to achieve this. The ‘cPanel’ is the most popular web server management tool provided by hosting companies.
You can then search for the ‘phpMyAdmin‘ option. Under the database area of your cPanel, you will find administrative choices for web hosting in this place. You may build, download, and back up your website database from here.
All you need to do is enter phpMyAdmin, select the ‘Export’ option, and select the format in which you wish to export your database. It would be best if you typically exported your database in SQL format.
Step 3: Create New SQL Database & Import Your Files
In this step, You must import the database backup files from your old WordPress into the new database you create on your new web server. In this manner, you’ll be able to maintain your WordPress website’s data and content on your new web server.
You only need to connect to your cPanel and go to the Databases area if your new web server also uses it. You must then select the “MySQL Databases” option.
Make a new database and add a username and password to access it. Please take note of the username you created because you will need it in the next step.
Afterward, access the new database by returning to the phpMyAdmin option. The SQL file you exported in the preceding stage of this guide should now be uploaded by going to the ‘Import’ tab.
Step 4: Upload Your Website File To Your New Host
Although this process is straightforward, it will take a lot of time. You will upload the files for your website to your new web server in this phase. As you could need to upload hundreds of files, this could take up to several hours. But if you have a little patience, your website migration will be almost finished.
Using an FTP software like FileZilla, log into your new web host server and then go to the root folder. From this point, select “Upload” to add all the files and content for your website.
Step 5: Update Your Website Domain Name Server
You must access the WordPress root directory in this step to update the “wp-config.php” file. The name of your database, the name of the database user, and other important details are contained in this essential WordPress file.
The following three lines must be changed when editing the “wp-config.php” file:
define(‘DB_NAME, ‘db_name’);
define(‘DB_USER, ‘db_user’);
define(‘DB_PASSWORD, ‘db_pass’);
You may have noticed that the values in these lines point to your previous database. Enter the credentials for your new database in place of the lowercase variables, then save your changes. Your WordPress website should appear exactly as it did before migration.
This is how you can quickly and easily move a WordPress website to a new server without using plugins or other tools.
But if you want to simplify the procedure, there are plugins available to help you in WordPress website migration.