Definitive Guide to WooCommerce Migration

You’ve decided it’s time for a change. Your WooCommerce store needs a new home. Maybe your shop has outgrown the old host. Or the current infrastructure is weak. A rebrand or redesign might be needed. Whatever the reason, you’re ready to move.

But WooCommerce migration is hard. You worry about losing products or customer data. Things can break without warning. Will everything work on the new host? Can your site’s SEO stay intact?
Don’t worry. We’re here to help. You’ll learn to migrate your site smoothly. We’ll cover the entire process, so you don’t lose a single order, product, or user.

TL;DR: Use Migrate Guru to transfer your WooCommerce site seamlessly from one host to another. It is 100% risk-free, zero downtime, and guarantees all your data moves without errors. Plus, it’s completely free.

Migrating a WooCommerce store from one host to another

WooCommerce migration can be simple with the right steps and tools. It helps you manage the process better.

Your migration might include a domain transfer. If you change domains, plan carefully. If you only switch hosts, focus on connection quality. 

📝 Migrating a WooCommerce store is not like moving from Shopify or Magento. Those platforms have different systems. Here, you remain within WordPress; just change the web host.

Step 0: Preparing for a WooCommerce site migration

Even before you touch your online store, there are things you need to put into place. 

⚡️ Ensure a smooth WordPress site move with a complete migration checklist.

These steps are the difference between migrating WooCommerce to another host, or having to build it from scratch if the migration fails. They are the difference between success and failure.

For real.

📝 Check with your old host regarding your domain. If it was included in your hosting plan, find out if you can separate the domain from the hosting. You might need to transfer it or buy a new one.

Step 1: Set up your store for migration

Preparation is the key to any successful site migration. You want to have everything ready to go, so you don’t have to stop in the middle of the process to look for… things. 

WooCommerce migration is essentially WordPress migration with one key difference: the data is dynamic. 

Data in a WooCommerce store changes every minute. New users, new orders, products changing inventory, transactions going through, emails being sent. You don’t want to lose any of that. 

📝 Don’t worry about being on an older version of PHP just yet. After migrating WooCommerce, you can upgrade PHP on the new host directly. As a general rule, it is best to stick to one complex site operation at a time.

Step 2: Migrate WooCommerce site 

There are a few ways to move your WordPress site:

1. Use a migration plugin
2. Use the web host’s service
3. Do it manually

Each option has its ups and downs. But after trying the manual way (specifically for this article), we can’t recommend it. It was awful. 
We strongly suggest using a migration plugin, specifically Migrate Guru. It works every time. We know because we built it.

Option 1: Using a WooCommerce migration plugin

The simplest method to migrate WooCommerce is by using a WordPress migration plugin. 

We recommend Migrate Guru. Not only is Migrate Guru developed by the expert team here at BlogVault, it also is the power behind the migration plugin of most popular hosts. Migrate Guru effortlessly handles even large ecommerce stores and can transfer them to any host or server. Absolutely free of charge.

1. Install and activate Migrate Guru on the current WooCommerce website, and the one on your destination web host. 

2. Enter an email address, then click on Migrate Site.

3. This will lead to the dashboard, where you select the destination host. If the destination host isn’t listed, choose FTP to proceed.

4. On the next page, enter the FTP details for the destination server, then click Migrate. The migration process will start immediately. 

Alternatively, you can grab the migration key from the destination site, and paste it into the form instead. Migrate Guru will pick up the important details automatically. 

That’s it! You’ve migrated your WooCommerce store.

Option 2: Using the web host’s services

⚡️ If any of these plugins look familiar, it is because it is a white-labeled Migrate Guru.

Option 3: Manually migrate your WooCommerce store 

To migrate a WooCommerce site manually, the starting point is understanding the structure of a site. 

Then, there are two major operations: 

1. Transferring the files
2. Transferring the database

That being said, when trying to migrate a WooCommerce site to a new destination, you want to minimise risks. That’s why we always recommend Migrate Guru; and discourage manual migrations. 

Migrate Guru has been battle-tested for years and continually gets better as more people use them to transfer their WooCommerce sites.

Having said that, if you enjoy doing things yourself, then give the manual method a shot.

1. Back up your website

The way we’ll back up our WooCommerce website is to connect to its server in FileZilla and then download the root folder of our WordPress installation to our hard disk. The local copy will serve as a backup of your WordPress files.

1. Open FileZilla and enter the FTP credentials of your WooCommerce site at the top. Use 22 as the port number to connect via SFTP (a secure version of FTP) if your web host supports it. Click Quickconnect to connect to the server. You can also use Site Manager to connect to it.

2. A popup will appear with the message that the server’s host key is unknown. Check the box to always trust the host and click OK.

3. If the connection is successful, you’ll see a confirmation in the messages area just below the FTP credentials. A directory listing of your site will appear in the right-hand area labeled “Remote site.” (In an FTP connection, your computer is called the local host/site while the other machine, which is usually a server, is called the remote host/site.)
4. Next, navigate to the directory on your computer where you’d like to back up your WordPress files from the “Local site” area. Then, locate the directory where WordPress is installed on your site from the “Remote site” area, which is usually public_html. Download it to your local directory on your hard disk.

2. Export your WordPress site database

Your site’s database is a critical component, containing everything from user data to settings. For a WooCommerce site, in particular, the database contains products, orders, refunds, coupons, and so on in addition to the usual stuff of posts, pages, comments, tags, etc. Hence, for a successful migration, you’ll have to export the database of your current WooCommerce site to the new site.

1. In your WordPress dashboard, go to Tools > Export.

2. Choose ‘All content’ and click on Download Export File. Choose a name for the XML file and download it to your machine.

📝 You may be tempted to download a part of the database, but don’t do that. WooCommerce sites store their data across multiple tables in the database, and cherry-picking tables will cause the data migration to fail. Always backup and restore WooCommerce databases in full. 

3. Upload your WordPress files to your new server/domain

1. Connect to your WooCommerce website via FTP.
2. Navigate to the directory where you backed up your website in Step 1. Enter it, select all, and then upload them to the root directory of your new site.

4. Import your WordPress database

1. Go to the dashboard of the site to which you are moving content and click on Tools > Import.

2. Under WordPress, click on Install Now to install the WordPress importer.

3. Run the importer you just installed by clicking on Run Importer.
4. On the next page, click on Choose File and select the XML file you downloaded in Step 2.
5. Click Upload file and import to import the database.

6. On the next page, you’ll be asked to map the authors in the XML file to the current users of your new site. For each author, you can either choose to map to an existing user on the site or create a new user. When you’re done, click Submit.

5. Make changes to your database to reflect your new URL

Although the WooCommerce migration process is technically complete, you have to make your database point to the new URL of your live site. This makes sure that your WooCommerce store actually shows up at the new URL.

To illustrate this step, I’ll be using a popular database management tool called phpMyAdmin. The steps should largely be the same regardless of which database management tool you use.

1. Log in to the phpMyAdmin dashboard for your database and then select the wp-options table to view it.

2. On the following page, edit the option_value field of the siteurl and home options by replacing the old URL with the new one.

define('DB_NAME', 'new database name here');
define('DB_USER', 'new MySQL database username');
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'password for the new database');
define('DB_HOST', 'new MySQL hostname');

6. Edit the wp-config.php file

The wp-config.php file is a critical file of your WordPress installation, and just like we did in the previous step, we need to make some changes that reflect the change of destination of our WooCommerce site.

Download the file from the ‘Remote site’ area of FileZilla. Modify the following lines of code with the new server’s MySQL database credentials:

Next, add the following lines of code below the line that says “That’s all, stop editing! Happy publishing.”, replacing “newdomain.com” with the correct domain of your WooCommerce site:

define('WP_HOME', 'http://newdomain.com');
define('WP_SITEURL', 'http://newdomain.com');

Save the file and re-upload it to the root directory of your remote site in FileZilla.

Step 3: Configure the domain for migrated WooCommerce

Sometimes, you might change your domain at the same time as switching hosts. This often happens when making a site live after working on it elsewhere. Or a rebrand.

If you’re not changing the domain, you can skip this part.

a. Update links to the new domain

You’ll need to change all site links to mention the new domain. 

This step is critical, and getting it wrong can cause a lot of problems. Broken links and images are just the tip of the problem iceberg. 

Don’t do it manually. There are technical reasons (data serialisation) that mean that database entries may break with a simple search and replace on the database management system. 

It’s best to use a plugin like Velvet Blues Update URLs or Better Search Replace instead.

b. Set up the new domain

You also need to update site URL settings from wp-admin. 

1. Go to Settings on the left sidebar, then General.
2. Change the WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL) to your new domain.

You can also do this directly in the database. Look in the wp_options table and update the siteurl and home fields with your new URL.

Step 4: Change DNS records

Changing the DNS settings for your domain means that when people type in the address in their browsers, they are taken to your site. This is what you want. 

Now that your site is on a new server, you’ll need to update your domain settings. This also applies if you’re changing your domain name.

Don’t be alarmed with the tech jargon. It is actually quite simple. 

a. Get DNS details from your web host

You’ll need the DNS records from your hosting provider. These records direct your domain to the correct server. Your web host will have this information available. Copy the DNS details from their dashboard.

b. Update DNS with your domain registrar

A domain registrar is where you purchased your domain name. You’ll need to update the DNS records here to point to your new server. 

Each registrar has specific instructions for this. Updates can take a few hours to a day to show, so don’t worry if your site doesn’t load immediately.

📝 If your old host provided a free domain with your hosting plan, check how the migration affects your domain. You might need to look for standalone domain services with the old host or consider transferring the domain to another registrar.

Step 5. Set up redirects on your old site

Now that you’ve migrated your WooCommerce site to its new location and performed a search-and-replace operation on the database, the only thing left to do is to make your old URL redirect to your new one. The most common way to do so is to set up a 301 redirect at your old URL. 301 redirects are essential for your SEO performance and your visitors’ experience. They ensure that when someone visits a page on your old URL, they’ll be redirected automatically to the same page on the new URL.

1. Connect to your old domain via FTP.
2. Download the .htaccess file to your hard drive. You can find it in the root directory of your WordPress installation. 
3. Open the .htaccess file in a text editor and add the following lines at the very top:

#Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.newsite.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Replace ‘www.newsite.com’ with your actual domain name. Save the changes.

That’s it! If you visit your old URL now, you should be automatically redirected to the new URL.

Step 6: After migrating your WooCommerce site

Congratulations, your WooCommerce migration is complete and your store is now settled in its new location! You’re almost finished.

Even though you’ve followed the process to a T, things may have changed a little. Best to verify. 

• Disable maintenance mode to allow users back into your store. 
• Log into your new site with the same credentials as before. Look for any errors on the dashboard, like plugin or theme conflicts.
• Clear all caches, including WordPress, browser, and plugin caches. These might still hold old data, especially if your domain changed.
• Test major parts of your store, like the homepage, product pages, and checkout process.
• Definitely run a few test transactions on your payment gateway. You don’t want to find out about issues there when customers are involved. 
• Check all links, particularly if you have a new domain. Focus on menus and interconnected pages. If paths are broken, use a Search & Replace tool to fix them.
• Verify your theme and plugin licenses. They might be linked to your old domain, so contact support to transfer them if needed.
• Re-enable SSL on your new site. The Really Simple SSL plugin can help with this.
• Preserve your SEO by setting up redirects on your old site. Consider other SEO measures to maintain visibility.

If applicable, you might want to run both the new and old hosting accounts for a short time to catch any lingering issues. Eventually, you can close the old account once everything is stable.

Troubleshooting WooCommerce migration issues

The major concern for WooCommerce migrations is the loss or corruption of data. Let’s look at some of the common issues that crop up. 

Data loss

Sometimes, important information like product catalogs, order histories, or customer records doesn’t transfer correctly. This might happen because of the use of unreliable tools. Unreliable tools might omit or lose information during the transfer.

If you tried a manual migration, or any other plugin apart from Migrate Guru, our solution is to retry the migration with Migrate Guru. 

Data corruption

If fields aren’t matched correctly, customer orders might show wrong product details. Also differences in file formats can cause problems, like broken links in product images.

The solution here is to retry migration. Migrate Guru doesn’t cause errors of this sort, so best to retry with it.

Conclusion

Moving your WooCommerce site can seem overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. Just be prepared and double-check everything to keep things smooth. Avoid losing data by using a solid tool. Migrate Guru makes the whole process easy, taking care of the tough stuff. For a simple, stress-free move, let Migrate Guru help your store settle into its new home.

FAQs

How do I migrate WooCommerce orders to a new site?

Use a plugin like Migrate Guru to transfer WooCommerce orders properly. This tool ensures all order data moves correctly. 

How do I migrate users in WooCommerce?

Use a plugin to export and import users. This will transfer all user data between sites. Follow the plugin prompts to finish the migration.

How can I move my WooCommerce site to a new domain?

Update the URL settings in WordPress and use a plugin like Better Search Replace. Ensure all links point to the new domain. Test your site to confirm the changes.

What is the best way to migrate WooCommerce site?

Use a trusted migration plugin like Migrate Guru. Migrate Guru automates the process and reduces errors. It handles complex tasks efficiently.

What is the best solution to migrate WooCommerce store to another host?

Migrate Guru is best for moving a store to a new host. It simplifies the process and maintains data integrity. 

How can I minimise downtime during a WooCommerce migration?

Plan the migration for low-traffic times and use a reliable tool like Migrate Guru. This keeps downtime to a minimum. Make sure to test everything quickly.

What are the best practices to prevent data loss during migration?

Always back up your site before migrating. Use reliable migration plugins to ensure data integrity. Check the migrated store by verifying all critical data.

How do I ensure my WooCommerce site’s SEO remains intact after migration?

Set up redirects from old URLs to new ones. Confirm that meta tags and site maps are correct. Use an SEO plugin to monitor and adjust settings as needed.

What tools are recommended for a secure WooCommerce migration?

Migrate Guru is highly recommended for secure migration. It handles data transfer efficiently and reduces errors. 

How can I test my WooCommerce site’s functionality before going live on a new host?

Use a staging environment to test functionality. Check key features like checkout, product display, and user login. Make adjustments based on testing results.

How can I verify the completeness of my data after a migration?

Compare data on the old and new sites. Check product listings, orders, and user accounts for accuracy. Use reports and tools to verify data integrity.