Moving a WordPress website is never easy. You will need to find a new web host, cancel your old web host, check scripts, check links, and update your URLs. Changing URLs can be a very tedious task if you do it manually. Not only is it tedious, but you are probably going to miss or make a mistake on more than one URL. If you need to change URLs in WordPress, don’t stress.
There are two solutions to consider when you want to change URLs in Word Press. The first way is to see if your new web host will update all of your URLs for you. It is certainly more convenient and less stressful to let your new web host handle this. The second option is to run a plugin that will help you update all of your URLs. This could save you money and is not as hard as people believe it is.
Why Do You Need to Update Your URLs
Today I’m going to demonstrate how to update your URLs. There are many reasons why this needs to be one of your biggest priorities when switching web hosts.
If you move your site, you need to update the URLs so people can find it. This change will not update URLs like posts, pages and the images on your site. That is why it is extremely important to update your URLs. There isn’t any point to making great content if no one is going to see it.
Before you begin making major changes to your WordPress website it is extremely important that you backup your WordPress website. This will ensure that if you mess up you can just load your backed up version to fix the mistake and try again.
I will show you how using Velvet Blues Update URL plugin can help you make this transition easier to manage. Velvet Blues Update URL is the most popular WordPress URL changing plugin available.
How to Install and Use Velvet Blues Update URL Plugin
Go to the plugins area of WordPress and click on the “Add New” button.
Search for Velvet Blues Update URL Plugin in the available search box. This will pull up many similar plugins.
Scroll down until you find Velvet Blues Update URL plugin and click the “Install Now” button and activate the plugin for use.
Now that Velvet Blues is activated, click on Tools and select the Update URLs option to enter the settings page.
You will now be on the main setting page of the Velvet Blues Update URL plugin. This is where you will be making all of the changes to the URLs on your website.
Begin filling out the appropriate information into the “Old URL” and “New URL” sections. Make sure the information is correct, you do not want to send visitors to other sites.
Now select what URLs you need to update under the “Step 2” section. Simply check all the boxes that apply. Remember you want to make sure you select all the options that apply to your website.
Once you are sure that all the information is correct and have chosen all appropriate updates to make, click on “Update URLs NOW” button to begin the process.
Congratulations, you have successfully set up the Velvet Blues Update URLs plugin.This plugin will now start to automatically update all of the URLs you previously selected to the new URL. Visit the website to make sure that everything is working as intended. If it is not and you took my recommendation to backup your WordPress website, then revert to the old version and try again.
Another Useful Plugin for Updating URLs
Like all of the plugins on WordPress, there are always alternatives when using WordPress. Here is another plugin I can recommend you try using when you want to change URLs in WordPress. It is very similar to Velvet Blues and might better help you.
Go Live Update URLs
Go Live Update URLs is a very straightforward and easy to use plugin. Its main feature is, of course, its ability to update the entire sites URLs including posts, pages, image URLs, excerpts, post meta data, custom post types, widgets and widget data, site settings, and anything else you would want to update a URL for. Give this plugin a try when moving to a new site.
Always Keep Your URLs Up-To-Date
It is crucial for any website to have all of its URLs up-to-date. Just imagine how many times you’ve used Google to search for something and click on a link that doesn’t work. That is a lost visitor and it is imperative that you avoid it. By updating all of your URLs you can assure that this and any links or images on your website will work properly.
Not only is it important to update URLs when moving sites, it can also save money if you do it yourself, depending on what packages your web host offers. Using the Velvet Blues plugin for WordPress is very simple and quick and will help alleviate the work involved.
Do you find Velvet Blues to be an easy to use plugin? Was moving your website made easier by using the Velvet Blues plugin for WordPress? Did you backup your WordPress website to ensure you could fix any mistakes?