How Do I Migrate Content Into WordPress?
The Real Scope of a CMS Migration
Moving the actual content is often the more straightforward part, especially for well-supported source platforms with existing WordPress import tools. The parts that genuinely determine whether a migration succeeds or quietly damages the site's search visibility are URL structure mapping, redirect implementation, and thorough content verification after the transfer.
What a Proper Migration Needs
- A complete map of old URLs to their new WordPress equivalents, built before the migration goes live, covering every indexed page, not just the obvious main content.
- 301 redirects for every old URL, implemented and tested before the old site goes offline, to preserve both search rankings and any existing external links pointing to the old URLs.
- Image and media migration, which some import tools handle automatically and others don't, requiring manual attention to avoid broken images across the migrated content.
- Metadata preservation (publish dates, author information, categories/tags) that a naive content copy might lose if not specifically mapped during the import process.
- Thorough post-migration verification, checking a representative sample of migrated content for formatting issues, broken internal links, and missing media before considering the migration complete.
Planning the Migration
- Map the complete old-to-new URL structure before starting any content transfer.
- Use an appropriate import tool or custom script for the specific source CMS, verifying it handles media and metadata correctly.
- Implement and test 301 redirects for every old URL before the old platform goes offline.
- Thoroughly verify migrated content before considering the project complete.
Need a CMS migration handled properly, with SEO value preserved? See WordPress bug fix.