Move my WordPress site automatically to Managed Hosting for WordPress
If you already have a WordPress website and you want to host it on GoDaddy Managed Hosting for WordPress, you can migrate the site in just a few clicks. There's no need for extensive technical knowledge since our automated system will do all the heavy lifting for you.
- Your website is publicly reachable via browser, and it remains accessible throughout the process
- Your site is not in maintenance mode
- No security protection is blocking our connection tools
- You have your WordPress admin credentials ready
- You are switching to a GoDaddy Managed Hosting for WordPress plan
To ensure a smooth migration, consider changing the following items temporarily before starting the migration:
- Disable plugins on the origin website (especially security plugins) and switch to a default theme. This is especially important if your origin site is using an older version of WordPress, as Managed Hosting for WordPress uses the latest versions
- Turn off CAPTCHA verification to avoid authentication issues
- Avoid using custom WordPress login URLs (for example, hidden wp-admin pages)
- Disable Firewall/CDN settings to prevent connectivity conflicts
This migration process will simply copy your existing site to GoDaddy Managed Hosting for WordPress, making no changes to the live site beyond installing the plugin used to complete the process.
- Purchase a GoDaddy Managed Hosting for WordPress plan.
- After purchase, you'll reach a page with your Confirmation #. Select Continue.
- When prompted about how you want to start, select Import an existing WordPress site.
- Enter your website URL and then select Continue. It's best to copy the URL directly from your browser to make sure it's entered correctly.
- We use the ManageWP Worker plugin to migrate your website. Choose how you want to install the plugin:
- Select Automatic installation if you want us to install the plugin for you. Then, enter your WordPress login credentials (username and password) and select Continue. This step may take a few minutes to complete.
Note: We don't store your login credentials. They're just used to install the plugin.
- Select Manual installation to install and activate the ManageWP Worker plugin manually. Then, copy the connection key, enter it when prompted, and select Continue.
- Select the data center location from the dropdown menu and then select Start Migrating. We recommend choosing a data center located near your customer base to ensure the fastest loading times for that region.
Depending on the size of your site, the migration can take anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours. If the migration is not yet complete, and you want to exit the page with the progress bar, copy the URL so you can return and recheck the progress if needed.
Upon a successful migration, you'll receive an email notification. After that, you can use a temporary domain that we assigned to your hosting plan to preview the website.
Related steps
- Once you have previewed your website on GoDaddy's Managed Hosting for WordPress servers, you should edit an A record to connect your domain to the new IP address.