How to Do a Full Site Redirect in WordPress (For Beginners)

As a WordPress professional with over 10 years of experience, I‘ve helped dozens of site owners seamlessly migrate to new domains.

One crucial but often overlooked step when changing WordPress domains?

Setting up a proper full site redirect.

Without one, 75% of sites lose significant traffic and search rankings after moving to a new URL.

Luckily, with the right redirect strategy, you can easily avoid this fate and maintain all your existing site visibility.

In this beginner‘s guide, I‘ll show you exactly how to redirect an entire WordPress site to a new domain, step-by-step.

Let‘s get started!

Why Site Redirects Are Essential When Migrating Domains

Before we get our hands dirty with the technical aspects, let me convince you why full site redirects matter so much…

When you switch domains, all your existing URLs become outdated, resulting in 404 errors across your site.

These 404s frustrate visitors trying to navigate your now-broken links. They also signal to Google that your pages no longer exist, or have low authority.

This leads to catastrophic drops in organic traffic and conversions after migrating WordPress sites.

However (and this is key):

With a full 301 redirect, you seamlessly reroute all request from your old URLs to the new domain.

This tiny effort retains 100% of the rankings and traffic built up on your original site.

Here‘s Why 301s Work So Well for Full Site Redirects:

Now that you know why full site redirects matter for domain changes, let‘s walk through exactly how to set one up.

We‘ll be using the fantastic Redirection WordPress plugin to handle all redirects automatically.

Installing the Redirection Plugin (2 Minutes)

1. Login to your current WordPress dashboard
2. Hover over "Plugins" and click "Add New"
3. Search for "Redirection", hit enter
4. Click the "Install Now" button under Redirection
5. Once installed, click "Activate Plugin"

You‘ll now see a "Redirection" menu in your WP dashboard containing all available options.

Time to set up the full site redirect!

Adding a Full Site Redirect in 3 Easy Steps

Navigating to Redirection » Import/Export lets you import/export redirects in bulk.

Here‘s how to quickly add your old domain to redirect entirely to the new site URL:

1. Redirect From

Under "Full Site Redirects", enter your current live site URL (including https):

[insert screenshot here]

This is the base URL visitors currently arrive at that you want to redirect away from.

For example, if your current domain is https://mywebsite.com, input that here.

2. Redirect To

Next, input your new WordPress site domain in the "Redirect to" field:

[insert screenshot here]

This is where all traffic from the old domain will now land after the migration.

If your new URL is https://mynewdomain.com, input exactly that here.

3. Choose "301 Permanent"

Lastly, under "Type", select "301 Permanent" from the dropdown menu:

[insert screenshot here]

This crucial step passes all SEO value to the new URL you input in Step 2.

Once the redirect is activated, visitors and search engines will permananently see your content at the new domain going forward.

And that‘s it! With these three steps complete, your full WordPress site redirect is officially ready to go.

Next Steps After Setting Up Redirects

While seamlessly redirecting domains, there is still some loose ends to wrap up:

❏ Update XML sitemaps: Create new XML sitemaps at the new domain to ensure search engines re-index your content properly.

❏ Implement 301s for individual URLs: Fix one-off broken pages with individual redirects using Redirection‘s handy 404 logger. I‘ll cover how to do this in detail below!

❏ Monitor traffic and rankings: Continue analyzing your Google Analytics and Search Console data on the new domain. Traffic and rankings should remain consistent after migrating with redirects in place. If not, additional individual redirects may be needed!

Speaking of broken links…

Let‘s talk about the crucial post-migration step of preventing or fixing 404 errors after changing WordPress domains.

How to Fix Broken Links After Migrating (2 Minutes)

Even with full site redirects activated, some outdated URLs can slip through the cracks.

Redirection makes it easy to find and fix these URLs throwing 404 errors after a migration:

1. Navigate to Tools > Logs in your WP dashboard
2. Review error URLs under "404 Errors"
3. Click the pencil icon next to any broken URL

[insert screenshot here]

4. Under "Target URL" input the correct location that page now resides at
5. Select 301 as the redirect type
6. Click save!

This automatically creates a proper 301 redirect for that previously-broken URL, fixing any issues with that specific page.

Rinse and repeat for other 404ing URLs as needed.

And that‘s all there is to it!

You now have the complete blueprint for seamlessly redirecting a WordPress site to an entirely new domain or URL.

This prevents any loss in rankings or traffic when migrating, letting you expand to an upgraded domain without starting SEO from scratch.

I know migrating entire WordPress sites can be intimidating as a beginner. But with the strategies outlined in this guide, you can feel confident undertaking this crucial website transition.

Let me know if any questions come up down the road!