Exporting the full list of URLs from your WordPress site is an incredibly useful technique for webmasters and developers. In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll explore common use cases, walk through the export process from start-to-finish, and share tips for advanced URL management.
Why You Need to Export Those URLs
Here are three of the most popular reasons for exporting your WordPress URLs along with real-world examples:
1. Website Migrations
According to recent stats from WP Engine, over 58% of webmasters migrate their WordPress sites at some point. When migrating to a new domain, exporting your list of live URLs makes it easy to set up proper redirects to preserve SEO value.
For example, if you‘re moving your blog from oldsite.com to a new domain newsite.com, exporting the URL list helps you redirect:
http://oldsite.com/sample-blog-post/ => http://newsite.com/sample-blog-post/2. Eliminating Broken Links
34% of webmasters cite broken links as one of their top website issues according to Hubspot. By exporting your URLs before moving content or revamping your site‘s permalink structure, you have a reference point to check for 404s and fix broken links.
3. SEO Analysis and Tracking
SEO tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Moz rely on a website‘s full list of URLs for tracking rankings, analyzing backlinks opportunity, and planning content optimization.
Instead of manually entering hundreds of URLs, you can export the list from WordPress and upload it directly to your favorite SEO platform.
A Step-by-Step Guide to Exporting URLs
The easiest way to export URLs from WordPress is by using the Export All URLs plugin. Simply install, activate, and configure the plugin based on what data you need.
Follow along with the step-by-step process below:
Step 1: Install and Activate the Export All URLs Plugin
First, login to your WordPress dashboard, hover over "Plugins > Add New", search for Export All URLs, and click the "Install Now" button:
After installation completes, click "Activate" to enable the plugin.
Step 2: Access the Plugin‘s Settings
Next, go to Settings > Export All URLs from your WordPress sidebar. You‘ll see the main settings screen that allows you to configure your export:
Step 3: Select Desired Options
The settings page lets you choose exactly what data gets exported:
- Post types – Select which types of content to include (posts, pages, products, etc).
- Data exported – Choose whether to export URLs only or add additional data like titles, tags, dates, authors, etc.
- Output format – Pick between displaying the results directly on the page or exporting to a CSV file.
Set your preferences accordingly.
Step 4: Export URLs
Once your settings are configured, click the blue "Export" button to extract the URLs based on your chosen options.
Step 5: Access Exported URLs
If you selected to export directly to a CSV file, you‘ll get a prompt to download the file containing your URLs with all additional data in a structured format.
You can easily open this universal CSV file in any spreadsheet program like Google Sheets or Excel.
Alternatively, if you chose to display results on screen, you would simply scroll down to view the exported URL list within the plugin dashboard.
And that‘s it! With those 5 simple steps, you can use the Export All URLs plugin to easily generate a plaintext list of URLs from your WordPress site.
Comparing Plugin Options for Exporting URLs
The Export All URLs plugin we covered above is great for basic URL exports, but there are a couple other popular options for more advanced use cases:
All in One WP Migration
This all-in-one migration plugin has an "Export Site" feature that lets you export URLs, media files, database tables, plugins settings and other content from WordPress in a ZIP archive.
It‘s the most comprehensive WordPress migration tool available. With over 1 million active installs, All in One WP Migration enables full website backups and exports well beyond just a list of URLs.
WP Ultimate CSV Exporter
The extremely powerful WP Ultimate CSV Exporter plugin exports all your WordPress data to a CSV not just URLs.
It can extract info from posts, pages, metadata, taxonomies, files, users, comments, custom fields, navigation menus and more. With predefined templates and advanced customization options, this plugin is perfect for developers needing to export complex WordPress data to CSV.
Both of these plugins have free and paid versions depending on your needs.
Recap and Key Takeaways
Here‘s a quick recap of what we covered in this guide:
- Why you should export URLs – Migrate websites, fix broken links, share data with SEO tools.
- Step-by-step export directions – Using the Export All URLs plugin.
- Plugin comparisons – From basic to advanced export options.
Some key takeways:
- Export your WordPress URLs before migrations to properly handle redirects or before revamping permalinks.
- Shared URL lists help SEO tools analyze and track website data.
- Start with the free Export All URLs plugin for most basic exports then explore advanced options as needed.
Now that you know how to easily extract your WordPress URLs, you can utilize this data for smarter website management.
Let me know if you have any other questions!
