How to Do a Full Site Redirect in WordPress (Beginner’s Guide)

Moving your website to a new domain can feel scary. One wrong move, and you risk losing your hard-earned traffic and search engine rankings.

We have helped thousands of users successfully redirect their sites without a glitch. The secret is setting up a proper full site redirect so your visitors always land in the right place.

In this guide, we will show you how to easily do a full site redirect in WordPress.

Why Do a Full Site Redirect in WordPress?

A full site redirect allows you to move your entire website to a new location without losing traffic or search engine rankings. When a user enters the old URL of your website in their browser, they will be automatically redirected to the new domain.

It also helps you keep all the backlinks you’ve built over the years and direct them to your new website domain name. Your users can easily find all your existing content on the new domain.

A full site redirect also prevents broken links or 404 errors from occurring, which can be bad for your WordPress SEO and user experience.

From a technical point of view, a complete site redirect is a 301 redirect. This type of redirect tells search engines that the web page has permanently moved to the new location.

This is the most beneficial type of redirect for your keyword rankings and traffic, and it helps pass the SEO authority of your old domain to the new domain.

That said, let’s see how you can set up a full site redirect in WordPress.

How to Do a Full Site Redirect in WordPress

The easiest way to set up a full site WordPress redirect is by using All in One SEO (AIOSEO). It’s the best SEO plugin for WordPress and is used by over 3 million professionals.

AIOSEO helps you optimize your website for search engines without the need to hire an expert. Plus, it offers a powerful redirection manager that allows you to properly redirect users to a new domain without losing SEO rankings while also tracking 404 errors.

For this tutorial, we’ll be using the AIOSEO Pro version because it includes the Redirection Manager. There is also an AIOSEO free version that has all the basic features you need to start optimizing your WordPress website to get more search engine traffic.

First, you need to install and activate the AIOSEO plugin on your old website (the one you are moving away from). For more details, please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you can head over All in One SEO » General Settings from your WordPress dashboard and enter the license key. You can find the key in your AIOSEO account area.

To set up AIOSEO on your website and optimize your site for search, you can launch the setup wizard and follow the onscreen instructions. For more details, please see our guide on how to set up AIOSEO in WordPress.

Next, you can head over to All in One SEO » Redirects from the WordPress admin panel and then click the ‘Activate Redirects’ button.

Once the addon is active, you can go to the ‘Full Site Redirect’ tab under Redirects.

After that, click the ‘Relocate Site’ toggle to display more options.

You’ll now see a field where you can enter the domain URL of your new website.

Simply enter the new URL in the ‘Relocate to domain’ field and click the ‘Save Changes’ button. The plugin will automatically redirect everything except the WordPress login page and admin.

To check if your redirection is working, simply visit your old URL in a new browser tab. It should automatically redirect you to the new domain. We also recommend testing a specific page (like oldsite.com/contact) to make sure it redirects to the correct page on the new site.

Track and Fix Broken Links in WordPress

When you move to a new domain name, it’s possible that some links could break. Since your old site is now redirecting traffic, you should set up broken link tracking on your new website to catch any issues.

Simply install and activate AIOSEO on your new website. Then, head over to All in One SEO » Redirects and click the ‘Settings’ tab. Next, enable ‘404 Logs’ and ‘Redirect Logs’ by clicking the toggles.

Once you enable this feature, AIOSEO will start recording 404 errors on your website. Do note that at first, there will be nothing in the logs. It only starts recording 404 errors after you’ve enabled the option.

Once anyone has triggered a 404 error on your WordPress site, you can view the logs by going to the ‘404 Logs’ tab under Redirects.

To fix any broken link, simply click the ‘Add Redirect’ option. Then enter the new location under the ‘Target URL’ field and choose your Redirection Type.

After adding these details, simply click the ‘Add Redirect’ button.

For more details, you can follow our guide on how to track and fix broken links in WordPress.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Full Site Redirects

Below are some of the most common questions we get about doing full site redirects in WordPress. These should help clear up any remaining confusion about the process.

1. Will a full site redirect hurt my SEO rankings?

When done correctly, a full site redirect using 301 redirects should preserve most of your SEO value. Search engines understand that websites sometimes need to move, and they’ll transfer the ranking power from your old URLs to your new ones. However, you may see a temporary dip in rankings for a few weeks as search engines process the changes.

2. How long does it take for a full site redirect to take effect?

The redirect itself works immediately once you implement it. However, it can take search engines anywhere from a few days to several weeks to fully process all the redirected URLs and update their indexes. Most users will see the redirect working right away, but SEO benefits may take 4-6 weeks to fully materialize.

3. Can I redirect my WordPress site without a plugin?

Yes, you can set up full site redirects using your .htaccess file or your hosting control panel. However, using a WordPress redirect plugin is easier for beginners. Just remember that if you use a plugin, you must keep the WordPress installation on your old domain active for the redirect to work.

4. What’s the difference between 301 and 302 redirects for full site moves?

A 301 redirect tells search engines that the move is permanent and transfers SEO value to the new location. A 302 redirect indicates a temporary move and doesn’t pass SEO benefits. For full site redirects, you almost always want to use 301 redirects to preserve your search rankings.

5. Do I need to redirect every single page individually?

No, a full site redirect can be set up to automatically redirect all pages from your old domain to your new domain while maintaining the URL structure. This means if someone visits oldsite.com/about, they’ll automatically be sent to newsite.com/about without you having to set up individual redirects for each page.

6. How do I test if my full site redirect is working properly?

You can test your redirect by visiting your old URLs in a private browser window to see if they properly redirect to the new location. There are also online redirect checker tools that can verify your redirects are working correctly and confirm they’re using the right redirect type (301 vs 302).

We hope this article helped you learn how to do a full site redirect in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on how to redirect a page or URL in WordPress or our expert pick of the best WordPress redirect plugins.

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