Website Migration Services: WordPress to Payload
Change platform without walking away from the search traffic you've built. We plan every URL, move your content and watch the results after launch.
Will I lose my Google rankings if I migrate?
Expect some movement, and be wary of anyone who promises none. Google's site move guidance says rankings settle down over time, and that a medium-sized site can take a few weeks or more. Permanent redirects from each old URL to its new one are what protect you.
Should you leave WordPress at all?
Not always. If the real problem is a heavy theme and too many plugins, a cleanup might be enough, and it costs far less. Moving makes sense when plugin updates keep breaking things, security alerts keep coming, or your content has grown into something WordPress handles badly. We'll tell you which situation you're in before you commit.
If you do move, Payload CMS is our usual recommendation for teams with developer support. We also handle Shopify to Payload, for brands that want more control over their content, and moves onto Shopify for stores.
How we run a migration
- List everything. Every URL, plugin and form, and which pages bring in traffic and links.
- Plan the mapping. Each old URL gets a new home, and each plugin feature gets rebuilt, replaced or dropped.
- Build and move. We create the new site, then transfer posts, pages, media and custom fields, with scripts where we can.
- Test before launch. Redirects, page titles, descriptions, forms and tracking.
- Launch and watch. We submit the new sitemap and check Search Console for errors in the weeks after.
What usually goes wrong
The classic failure is sending every old URL to the homepage. It's quick, and it throws away what those pages had earned. Others are subtler: a staging site's noindex tag left on at launch, redirects that hop through several addresses, a contact form nobody tested. Google also recommends keeping redirects for at least a year, so they shouldn't be switched off once traffic looks normal.
Migration questions
What happens to my plugins?
WordPress plugins don't carry over. We go through them one by one, because many turn out to be unused. The rest get rebuilt or replaced by another service.
How long does a website migration take?
It depends on the number of URLs and plugins, and on whether you're redesigning at the same time. The first step gives us what we need for a realistic timeline.
Should I redesign at the same time?
It's tempting, and sometimes it's the point of the project. It does make it harder to tell what caused any change in traffic, so we plan for that. Our UI/UX design team can work alongside the move.
Thinking about moving your site?
Send us the link. We'll tell you if a move is worth it.