How to Migrate WordPress Content from an Old Site to a New One

Moving content from an old WordPress site to a new one is simple. WordPress has built-in tools that let you do it in just a few minutes. Depending on how much content, how many images and videos you have, the transfer can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few dozen minutes.

Export content from the old site

1. Dashboard -> Tools -> Export

2. Each website has a different data structure, theme and plugins, so the types of content you can export will vary. To move everything, choose All content. Or choose Posts and Pages for your important posts and pages. Posts and Pages are the basic content types and the ones used most.

   If you export a specific post type, you can filter it by the criteria that suit you.

3. Click Download Export File to download the file, in .xml format

Import content into the new site

1. Dashboard -> Tools -> Import -> WordPress

2. If you have never used this feature before, the site will ask you to install a plugin. Click Install now

3. Click Run Importer to start the import

4. Click Choose File and select the .xml file you downloaded

5. Click Upload file and import

   • Assign an author to the imported posts
   • If you don’t have too many images, tick Download and import file attachments to automatically download and upload images and videos from the old site
   • If you have a lot of images, leave this option unticked. Move the images via FTP or through your hosting

Finish up

Once the transfer is complete, review your posts and images under Posts and Pages. Adjust categories, tags or images to fit the new site’s setup.