How to Change Website URL in WordPress | 2026

Switching your website URL can feel like moving to a new home you are excited about the change but a little worried about losing stuff along the way. I have been there too. Once, I rebranded a blog and had to change the website URL in WordPress overnight. It was scary but the process turned out smoother than I expected. If you are wondering how to change website URL in WordPress without breaking links, traffic or SEO, lets walk through it together. 

Why Would You Change Your WordPress URL? 

Sometimes you just outgrow your old domain maybe your business got a shiny new name or you finally grabbed that perfect .com that matches your brand. Other times you just need to switch from http to https for better security and Google ranking. Whatever the reason, knowing how to change the domain name of your WordPress website properly is crucial. 

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Updating the URL Inside WordPress Settings 

The easiest way to update your website address is straight from your WordPress dashboard: 

• Head to Settings then select General. 

• You will see two fields WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL). 

• Replace the old URL with your new one in both boxes. 

• Hit Save Changes and boom your WordPress website will now run on the new URL.

Personal tip: I usually keep the old domain active for at least 6 months and set up proper redirects, it gives search engines and users enough time to adjust. 

Updating URLs in the Database 

Now, here is where most people forget a step. If you have used your old domain in posts, images or internal links those links may still point back to the old address. 

You can fix this with a plugin like Better Search Replace or by running an SQL query in phpMyAdmin: 

UPDATE wp_options SET option_value = ‘https://newdomain.com’ WHERE option_name = ‘siteurl’; 

UPDATE wp_options SET option_value = ‘https://newdomain.com’ WHERE option_name = ‘home’; 

Just be careful here always back up your site before touching the database. 

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Redirecting From Old Domain to New Domain 

This is where SEO can take a hit if you skip the step to make sure visitors and Google know your content has simply moved, set up 301 redirects from your old website to the new one. 

If your website runs on Apache add this code to your .htaccess file: 

• RewriteEngine On
• ‎RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^oldsite\.com [NC,OR]
• ‎RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.oldsite\.com [NC]
• ‎RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://newsite.com/$1 [L,R=301,NC]

This tells browsers and search engines Hey, the party’s moved over here.

Don’t Forget SSL and Mixed Content 

If your new URL includes HTTPS, make sure your SSL certificate is installed and active otherwise users might see those annoying Not Secure warnings. 

You can also install the Really Simple SSL plugin to automatically fix mixed content where some files still load from HTTP instead of HTTPS. 

Updating Google Search Console & Analytics 

• Changing your site URL does not stop at WordPress, Google needs to know too. 

• Add the new property in Google Search Console. 

• Update your website settings in Google Analytics. 

• Submit a new sitemap plugins like Rank Math or Yoast SEO make this easy. 

That way search engines can re crawl your site faster and transfer rankings to the new domain. 

A Quick Case Example 

On one site I worked on the owner switched from exampleblog.net to exampleblog.com. We updated the URLs in WordPress set up 301 redirects in .htaccess and re-submitted the sitemap in Search Console wiithin a month, traffic was stable again and the new domain even ranked higher thanks to HTTPS So yes it works. 

Final Thoughts 

Learning how to change website URL in WordPress is not complicated once you know the flow. Update it in WordPress settings, fix internal links, set up redirects and tell Google. Done right, your website won’t lose SEO power and your brand gets the fresh start it deserves. 

FAQs: How to Change the URL of a Website in WordPress