How to Change Domain Name on WordPress

If you want to display your WordPress website on another domain, you will need to make the appropriate adjustments to the website.

There are several ways to do this, for example:

1. Change the website domain manually – in this case, please read the instructions below.
2. Use a plugin to transfer the WordPress website to another server, some of which also allow you to change the website domain at the same time (e.g. Duplicator; you can check the instructions for use here).

This may lead to an error. In this case, you can restore the website at any time from the backup copies that are made on the server on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. However, if you have already made changes to the website or received new orders during the day, we advise you to make your own backup copy of the website’s database before doing so.

You can find out how to back up your database here (read: “Database backups”).

You can check which database belongs to your website in the main folder of this website, in the file “wp-config.php” (check the line “define(‘DB_NAME’, ‘DATABASE_NAME’);”).

1. Changing the domain

There are 2 ways to change your website domain:

a) Change in the WordPress administration

You can change the domain in WordPress Administration -> Settings -> General -> change WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL) to:

a) If you are using an SSL certificate:
https://vasadomena.si (or https://www.vasadomena.si) *

b) If you do not use an SSL certificate:
http://vasadomena.si (or http://www.vasadomena.si) *

In any case, we advise you to install an SSL certificate on the website. You can read more about why this is recommended here.

* Enter your new domain instead of vasadomena.si

b) Database change

You can also change the domain directly in the database of your website. In cPanel -> phpMyAdmin, select the appropriate database and in the “wp_options” table change the domain name in the 1st and 2nd rows (siteurl and home).

NOTE: tables can also have different prefixes (for example “icg_options”, etc.).

2. Changing the path in the database

When the domain of your website is changed, you can access the administration of your website via the new domain.

It is also necessary to correct the database paths of your website (enter your actual domain).
Example of a domain change from nasadomena.si to vasadomena.si:

• from http://nasadomena.si correct the paths to http://vasadomena.si
• from http://www.nasadomena.si correct the paths to http://www.vasadomena.si

If you also have an SSL certificate installed, change the following:

• s https://nasadomena.si fix routes to https://vasadomena.si
• s https://www.nasadomena.si fix routes to https://www.vasadomena.si

The easiest way to do this is to use the Better Search Replace plugin.

Once everything is sorted, you can deactivate and uninstall the Better Search Replace plugin.

In this case, you have completed the change of the website domain and no further steps are required. If you want to make sure that all parts of the website are now transferring from the new domain, please read the section below: How to check if all parts of the website are transferring from the new domain.

If the website is not yet working properly, or if certain parts of the website are not yet being transferred from the new domain, check the following points (point 3 and, if necessary, point 4).

How do I check that all parts of the website are being transferred from the new domain?

You can check this by pressing the F12 button on your keyboard in your browser (e.g. Firefox or Chrome) when you have the page you want to check open and open Developer Tools. You will see an additional window below (or to the right or separately) with more options.

Select the Network tab and tick the Disable cache option so that it will always show you updated results. Then refresh the web page to reload it (click ” Refresh” in your browser or press the F5 button) and display all the links of the web page. Under the ” Domain” section, check from which domain each part of the page is loading. If this section is not available, right-click on the options bar above the links and click on “Domain” to tick it.

If any parts of the domain are being transferred via another domain despite emptying the cache and viewing the page when you are logged in to the administration and the site cache is empty, you are advised to follow the instructions below (point 3 and, if necessary, point 4).

• Example of how to display a route in Firefox:

• Example of displaying a route in Chrome:

3. Do you use a “builder” (Elementor, WPBakery) or specific themes such as Divi or Avada?

For certain websites that use builders, additional modifications are sometimes necessary because certain parts of the page (usually paths to images or only to certain images) are not recorded in the database in the usual format and cannot be found and replaced with the tool.

Some examples where you may encounter problems are, for example, certain popular themes such as Divi and Avada. Similar problems can also occur when using the WP Bakery (formerly called Visual Composer) and Elementor builders.

Elementor

If you are using Elementor, you can get help with this using the built-in tools in the builder itself. You can do this by searching for Elementor in the left-hand menu in the WordPress administration and then going to Tools -> Replace URL tab.

Here you can enter the old and new URL of the website. We advise you to enter the old URL both with and without WWW to edit the change for each individual URL. If you are also using an SSL certificate, edit both for HTTPS to capture any addresses that are written.

For example, you have renamed a website from https://www.nasadomena.si to https://www.vasadomena.si

In this case, edit 4 changes:

• from “http://nasadomena.si” to “https://www.vasadomena.si”
• from “http://www.nasadomena.si” to “https://www.vasadomena.si”
• from “https://nasadomena.si” to “https://www.vasadomena.si”
• from “https://www.nasadomena.si” to “https://www.vasadomena.si”

* Spell URLs without quotation marks and instead of “nasadomena.si” and “vasadomena.si” enter your actual domains.

You can check the official Elementor instructions here.

Also as before, after editing , empty your website’s cache and check the performance. If everything is not yet properly edited, follow the instructions below.

Other

When using other themes or plugins, we advise that if not all parts of the page are loading through the correct domain, or if it’s just a single element (such as the background), you edit the change manually. In case of a problem with multiple elements, the developers recommend using one of the WordPress website download plugins where you can change the domain at the same time, such as the aforementioned Duplicator(instructions), or the domain change plugin recommended by the developers of the Divi theme – Velvet Blues Update URLs.

If you are using the Avada theme, we advise you to empty the theme cache before doing so. You can do this by selecting Avada -> Theme Options -> Advanced -> Dynamic CSS & JS -> Reset Fusion Caches in the WordPress administration on the left.

Just as before, after editing , empty your website’s cache and check the functionality. If everything is not yet properly edited, follow the instructions below.

4. Change the paths in the files

For some websites, the domain is also written in the website files. In this case, you can download the website files to your computer and use Notepad++ to find and change the domain.

As with databases, if you have already made changes to your website during the day, make and save a backup copy of your website files. You can find out how to back up your website files here (read: “Backing up files and folders”).

Once the files have been uploaded to your computer, you can change the domain that is written in them. In Notepad++, select ” Find” in the menu and then click on ” Find in files”. This way you can change the searched for in all files located in that folder.

You can then upload the changed files back to the server instead of the previous ones.

As before, after editing , empty your website’s cache and check the performance.

We are also always available by phone or email for any further questions.