Do you want to learn how to update the URLs of a WordPress website ? Ce WordPress tutorial will show you step by step.
It can be quite time consuming to manually edit each post or page just to replace old URLs. Fortunately, there are WordPress plugins that help you automate the process of updating old URLs.
In this article, we'll show you how to easily update URLs when moving your WordPress website.
But before, if you have never installed WordPress discover How to Install a WordPress Blog in 7 Steps et How to search, install and activate a WordPress theme on your blog
Then back to why we are here.
When and why do you need to update URLs?
Suppose you have migrated a WordPress website to a new domain name. You can then change the WordPress address and website URL by visiting the page Settings » General from your WordPress dashboard.
However, this does not modify the URLs that you have previously added in your articles and pages. It also does not change the URLs of images you have added to your WordPress website.
Changing all these URLs manually in each blog post and page can be time consuming. Also, there will always be a chance that you miss some URLs, which can lead to broken links On your website.
That's why it's important to update your URLs when you move your WordPress website.
This helps provide a User experience fluid to your users, because they will easily find the page they are looking for. Updating URLs also improves your WordPress SEO and allows search engines to find new content for indexing.
Finally, you should also ensure that there is a proper configuration of 301 redirects from your old domain to the new domain, so that users are always redirected to the right place.
This is extremely important as there are likely other websites linked to your old domain, including articles on social media, Google, etc.
That said, let's see how you can quickly and easily update URLs when migrating your WordPress website.
Update URLs after moving a WordPress website
The easiest way to update old links on your website is to use the WordPress plugin Go Live Update Urls . It's a free WordPress plugin that allows you to update the URLs of your posts, pages, images, snippets, widgets, etc.
However, make sure you have a full backup of your WordPress site before update all links. This will allow you to easily roll back if something goes wrong during the update process.
Then you will need to install and activate the plugin Go Live Update Urls on your website. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on la way to install a WordPress plugin.
After activation, you can access Tools » Go Live from your WordPress admin panel.
After that, you can update the URLs of your articles, comments, options, user data and other areas of your website by checking the options of the base tables of WordPress plugins.
WordPress database tables are where all of your website data is organized and stored. For example, the wp_comments table will contain all information about comments on your website as well as data about the person who is commenting.
In addition to that, Go Live Update Urls also allows you to update old URLs in data used by different plugins on your website. However, this is an optional step and you can skip it.
Then you need to scroll down to the section to update old links to new URLs. Go ahead and enter the old URL and the new URL in the respective fields.
Once done, simply click on the “Update URLs” button. The plugin will now update all your website URLs to the new domain.
Redirect posts and pages after updating URLs
After updating all of your website URLs, you now need to set up 301 redirects for your entire website to the new domain. This will preserve links from websites that were linked to your old domain and prevent 404 errors.
The easiest way to perform a full website redirect is to use the plugin All in One SEO (AIOSEO). It's the best WordPress plugin of SEO with more than 3 million professionals who trust it.
AIOSEO offers a powerful redirect manager that allows you to redirect old URLs to new ones with just a few clicks. The plugin also helps track 404 errors on your website, so you can quickly find and fix any broken links.
For this tutorial we will use the AIOSEO Pro version as it includes redirect manager and other features like sitemaps, custom breadcrumb and others. You can also try the free version of AIOSEO to begin.
The first thing you need to do is install and activate the AIOSEO plugin on your website.
Upon activation, you must access the All in One SEO Dashboard from your WordPress admin panel. Now click on the “Launch Setup Wizard” button to configure the plugin.
All you have to do is follow the steps of the installation wizard.
1. Setting up website redirects
This method is very useful when you are merging two separate WordPress websites into one, or if you are going to set up a new installation of WordPress for a new domain, as it will handle the complete website redirect without adding any code.
Just go to All in One SEO -> Redirect from your WordPress admin area and click the " Activate Redirects ».
When activating, you need to go to the " Full Site Redirect » and activate the toggle button « Relocate Site". Then you can enter your new domain name in the option “ Relocate to domain ».
After entering your new domain URL, don't forget to click the " Save Changes to save your settings. AIOSEO will now redirect all links on your website to the new URL.
2. Configuring redirects for articles or pages
AIOSEO also offers different types of redirect methods that you can use to set up post or page redirects. We recommend that you select the redirect type “ 301 Moved Permanently because it tells your browser that the page is moved to a new destination permanently and you don't want to move it.
Once you have filled in these details, simply click on the “ Add Redirect».
If you want to see the various redirects you have created, just scroll down and view the logs.
You can see the URLs, the number of people who visited the link, the type of redirect you have set and also choose to enable or disable the redirect.
In the tab 'Settings' under Redirects , you can also choose to set up server level redirects which are much faster. The default method is set to PHP, which is the easiest way to redirect old URLs, and it requires no server-side configuration.
But you can select 'web Server ' as the redirect method, then choose Apache or NGINX as the web server. We will not recommend this method for beginners as it requires technical knowledge.
Bonus: Track Broken Links on Your Website
When updating your URLs to a new domain, it's also essential to keep an eye out for broken links. These are links that no longer exist and display a 404 error page. They can occur if a URL has not been updated correctly.
To get started, you can head to All in One SEO » Redirects from your WordPress dashboard.
Then go ahead and click on the “ Settingsunder Redirects, then click the toggle to enable the options " 404 Logs" and " Redirect Logs ».
Using AIOSEO, you can choose the period of time to keep your 404 error logs. We recommend selecting no more than one month for smooth and optimal WordPress performance.
Once you have enabled these options, click on the “ Save Changes at the top to store your settings.
You should now see a new '404 Logs' tab appear under Redirects in AIOSEO. It is under this tab that the plugin will track and display 404 error pages on your website.
One important thing to note is that you won't see any data under the 404 Logs tab at first. The plugin will only start recording broken links after enabling the settings.
However, once the setting is active, go ahead and click on the “ 404 Logs". You will see a list of broken links under the URL column, the number of visits under the Hits column, and the date of last access.
To fix any broken links, simply click on the “Add Redirect” button for the respective URL. AIOSEO will display options to configure the redirect for the 404 error URL.
Go ahead and enter the new link under the 'Target URL' field and select '301 Permanently Removed' as the redirect type from the drop-down menu.
Next, you will need to click on the “Add Redirect” button to fix the broken link on your website.
To check if the redirect is working, just visit the old URL. If you are redirected to the new URL, it means you have successfully fixed the 404 error pages.
Other recommended resources
We also invite you to consult the resources below to go further in the grip and control of your website and blog.
- How to Use Multiple WordPress Themes on One Website
- How to Display YouTube Videos in WordPress
- How to Display a PDF on Your WordPress Blog
- Using different backgrounds WordPress
- How to manage the URLs of the images of your WordPress blog
Conclusion
There ! That's it for this tutorial. We hope this article helped you learn how to update URLs after migrating your WordPress website.
However, you will also be able to consult our resources, if you need more elements to carry out your projects of creation of Internet sites, by consulting our guide on the WordPress blog creation.
But, in the meantime, don't forget to leave us your Comments and suggestions in the dedicated section.
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