Testing WordPress site migrations is an important step after completing the process that ensures your website’s functionality, performance, and user experience remain intact after moving to a new WordPress Hosting provider or server. Whether you’re transferring a small blog or a complex ecommerce store, doing thorough post-migration testing helps identify and resolve issues before they can affect your visitors, visibility, and business. This step-by-step guide will take you through the testing process with practical tips and the tools to help you so you can confirm a successful WordPress site migration.
Table of Contents
Why Test Your Site Post-Migration?
Testing WordPress websites post-migration is how you can confirm a smooth transition prevent any issues that could negatively affect your user experience and site performance and verify that all your data has been transferred correctly and is accessible.
Firstly, it confirms all essential core features are working as expected and that all plugins and themes are compatible with the new WordPress hosting environment. This also includes all content, including images, videos, and text, being displayed correctly and the site’s appearance and layout is consistent after the migration.
At the same time, you can find and address technical issues, such as database connection issues, server configuration problems, or software conflicts. Testing lets you identify and fix internal server errors and broken links that can lead to poor user experience and negative SEO.
Similarly, to ensure the migration hasn’t negatively impacted your website’s search engine ranking you can measure page load times and see if users can easily navigate the site and find the information they need. It also allows you to optimize your WordPress hosting performance.
What To Do Before Testing WordPress Site
Before diving into testing, like preparing for a migration, the best practice is to create a checklist of what needs to be covered and the tools you’ll need. This helps ensure you cover all the necessary areas and should include the following:
- Functionality: Verifying that all site features, new plugins, and WordPress themes are working as expected.
- Content: Check that all content, including images, videos, and blog posts, is displayed correctly.
- Navigation: Ensuring that all links and menus are functioning properly.
- Forms: Testing form submissions and that the data collected is being stored correctly.
- Performance: Measuring page load times and server responsiveness.
- Responsiveness: Check how the site looks and functions on different browsers, mobile devices, and screen sizes.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Seeing that your meta tags, URLs, permalinks, and sitemaps are intact.
- Security: Scan for malware and vulnerabilities and ensure proper security features are in place and working.
Document Your Current WordPress Website
Before making any changes, make note of the current configuration of your WordPress site. This includes the exact versions and settings of your active theme, plugins, and any third-party integrations. Note your web pages’ layout, important content, and its placement as well as any custom code, settings, or configurations.
Most importantly, create a full backup of your entire live website’s files and database in case you need to revert to its previous version. Many WordPress hosting providers offer automated backups or you can use backup plugins.
Use a Staging Environment
To avoid affecting or even damaging your active website, it’s highly recommended that you set up a testing environment. Known as a staging site, it is an exact copy of your website where you can test changes before deploying them, allowing you to work offline without affecting the live version.
Functionality Testing
Functionality testing ensures that all features of your WordPress website are working as intended after the migration. Here are the main areas to focus on in this stage:
Core Functions
Test all navigation elements, including menus and internal links, to ensure they function properly and lead users to the correct pages. Verify that the search functionality is working correctly and returning the relevant results.
Additionally check your contact forms, account registrations, and comments, to ensure they submit data correctly. Finally, run tests on any new features, custom functionalities, and interactive elements that have been added to your website.
Plugins and Themes
Test all installed WordPress plugins to ensure they are functioning as expected and compatible with the new environment. Verify that your current or new theme is fully compatible with the migrated website’s WordPress version and that all elements, such as layouts, styles, and widgets, are displaying correctly.
Check for any conflicts or errors affecting their performance on your live site. It is best practice to do the above in a testing site along with checking any third-party integrations and custom code.
Content and Layout
Check all your site content including all images, design elements, and other media appears as it should and that text formatting, including headings, paragraphs, and lists, renders correctly. If your website uses dynamic content, such as blog posts or news articles, ensure it is being generated and displayed correctly.
Don’t worry about a long, complicated site transfer.
Our WordPress Hosting website migration team will make sure your site is fully functional as fast as possible.
Performance Testing
After migrating your WordPress site, performance testing is necessary for analyzing site speed performance metrics, and responsiveness and can even allow you to improve it. Performance issues can lead to higher bounce rates, less user engagement, and lower search engine rankings.
Page Load Speed
Use speed testing tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, and Pingdom to measure the loading times of your website’s key pages. If you notice slower site loads, investigate potential causes such as unoptimized images, too many or resource-heavy plugins, or inefficient caching settings.
Compress images to reduce their file size and improve load times. Minify CSS and JavaScript to remove unnecessary characters from them to reduce their size. Enable browser caching to store static content locally, reducing the need to download them from the server every time a user visits your site.
Server Response Time
Server response time, or Time to First Byte (TTFB), indicates how quickly your new server processes requests. Monitor this performance metric and check response times, especially for load testing and your site’s speed during peak traffic periods.
If you notice a high response time affecting your site’s performance, review the server configuration settings, and check you have enough server resources (CPU, RAM, storage) available on your hosting plan. Also, check your database is running correctly and optimize it as needed. Additionally, look at implementing or adjusting your caching on the backend.
A Content Delivery Network(CDN) can help improve website load times by caching static content closer to your users.
Database Performance
Your WordPress database performance directly influences your website’s speed. The best way to optimize slow queries is by creating indexes on frequently searched database columns to speed up query performance. Monitor and optimize database connection times and check that your website isn’t making too many connections at the same time. Similarly clean up database bloat by deleting old post revisions, spam comments, and transients which can slow down performance.
Security Testing
Post-migration safety testing helps keep your WordPress site and web server protected against security vulnerabilities and unauthorized access. It maintains user trust while helping prevent potential breaches and data theft.
SSL Certificate
Proper SSL encryption is essential for secure data transfers between your server and visitors’ web browsers. Check your SSL certificate has been correctly installed and configured and make note of its expiration date. You can do this through your web host’s user interface.
User Role Permissions
Correctly assigning user roles helps prevent unauthorized access and human error, especially for the WP Admin dashboard. It’s a good idea to audit all usernames, credentials, email addresses, and permissions and check role-based access to make sure users only have the rights to perform the necessary tasks.
This includes administrator, editor, and author roles, WordPress file upload permissions, site editing, and new theme and plugin management for WordPress users.
Security Features
Test all built-in and additional security measures are working correctly after the migration. This includes checking that any security plugins, malware scanning and removal tools, and firewalls are all active with the correct settings. Additionally, ensure regular updates and backups are running as scheduled and are being stored correctly along with your site restoration methods in your WordPress test site to prevent security issues.
SEO Testing
SEO testing after a migration is essential to maintaining your search engine rankings. This helps prevent losing your hard-earned organic traffic and your site’s visibility in search results.
URL Structure
Use tools like Broken Link Checker to identify any broken links that may have occurred during the migration. Ensure that all redirects from the old URLs to the new URLs are working correctly as well as using 301 redirects to permanently redirect from your existing site to the corresponding new ones for your website visitors.
Metadata
Check your site’s title tags and meta descriptions have been migrated correctly and accurately reflect your page’s content. The same goes for making sure your header tags (H1, H2, etc.) are used correctly to structure the content and improve SEO.
XML Sitemap
Create a new XML sitemap for the migrated website and submit it to Google Search Console (GSC) and Bing Webmaster Tools for crawling and indexing in the new environment. Use tools like GS’s XML Sitemap Checker to validate the sitemap and identify any errors.
Tools to Test WordPress Sites Post-Migration
As we’ve covered, after migrating your WordPress website, you need to thoroughly test it to ensure everything is functioning correctly to maintain your SEO and provide a positive user experience. Here are some tools that can help you with automated testing, especially for website owners with limited technical knowledge.
Website and SEO
- Google Search Console: This free tool from Google helps you monitor your website’s search performance and Core Web Vitals. It provides insights into indexing, crawl errors, and search queries.
- Google PageSpeed Insights: This tool analyzes your website’s performance and provides recommendations for improvement, such as optimizing images, reducing CSS and JavaScript, and enabling browser caching.
- W3C Markup Validation Service: This online tool validates your HTML and CSS code for errors that might affect how your website renders in different browsers.
- Broken Link Checker: A plugin or standalone tool that scans your website for broken links, which can negatively impact user experience and SEO.
Performance
- GTmetrix: This tool measures your website’s page load time, provides a waterfall chart to visualize performance bottlenecks, and offers detailed recommendations for improvement.
- Pingdom: Similar to GTmetrix, Pingdom analyzes your website’s performance from different locations worldwide, helping you identify global performance issues.
- WebPageTest: This tool conducts comprehensive performance tests, including waterfall charts, video recordings, and detailed analysis of various performance metrics.
Functionality
- Selenium: A powerful automation tool that can be used to test multiple website elements, like form submissions, logins, and menu navigation, for different browsers and devices.
- Cypress: Cypress: A JavaScript testing solution specifically designed for web applications. It offers a user-friendly interface with real-time results, which is best suited for WordPress developers with advanced technical knowledge.
- Behat: A behavior-driven development (BDD) tool that allows you to write tests in plain text, making it easier for beginners to understand and contribute to testing.
Security
- Sucuri Security Scanner: This powerful tool to secure your WordPress site that scans for malware, vulnerabilities, and blacklisting, helping you identify and address potential security threats.
- Wordfence Security: A popular WordPress security plugin that provides real-time protection against hacking attempts, malware, and brute force attacks.
- WPScan: A vulnerability scanner specifically designed for WordPress websites. It can identify known vulnerabilities and provide recommendations for fixing them.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- By conducting thorough testing post-migration, you can identify and address any potential issues before they impact your users and how your site works.
- A structured approach to preparation and setting up a test environment ensures comprehensive coverage and makes the testing process more efficient and effective.
- Testing site functionality, speed, plugins, and themes is fundamental to ensuring a seamless user experience and maintaining performance post-migration.
- Performance testing helps identify potential bottlenecks and ensures your migrated site maintains or improves upon previous performance metrics.
- Thorough security testing protects your site and data while maintaining trust with visitors and improving SEO.
- Maintaining SEO elements and analytics tracking is vital for preserving search rankings and continuing to monitor site performance.
- Using the right WordPress testing tools is the easiest way to assess core functionality, content display, navigation, and performance after migration, and can help ensure a smooth, seamless user experience and consistent SEO.
FAQS
How do I test my WordPress site?
Test your WordPress site by checking core and plugin functionality, page loading speeds and navigation, forms and user interactions, content display and formatting, mobile responsiveness, and security features using the right tools.
How to test a WordPress site before going live?
To test before going live, set up a staging environment that is an exact copy of your main site. Perform content checks, and test all functions, features, and security measures along with user roles and permissions. Conduct performance and load tests and verify mobile responsiveness.
Can I test WordPress for free?
Yes, most essential testing can be done without paid tools. You can test using free staging environments provided by some Managed WordPress hosts’ control panels, tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, and the built-in Site Health tool in the WordPress dashboard.
How to test WordPress locally?
You can test WordPress locally by installing local development software like XAMPP or MAMP and the WordPress software. Import your site content and configure local server settings to test functionalities offline without affecting your live site.
How long should testing a WordPress site take?
Testing time depends on new site size complexity and can take anywhere from a few hours for small sites to a few days for larger ones like ecommerce platforms. It’s always a good idea to allow extra time for bug fixes and retesting after the first time.
Other Articles of Interest
– A Clear Guide To Migrate WordPress Sites Seamlessly
– Optimizing Your Site: SEO Hosting Advantages of Managed WordPress
– Website Migration Costs Associated With WordPress Websites
– WordPress Hosting Performance Optimization Strategies
– WordPress Migration and Hosting: Tips and Best Practices
- About the Author
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Rhett isn’t just a writer at Hosted.com – he’s our resident WordPress content guru. With over 6 years of experience as a content writer, with a background in copywriting, journalism, research, and SEO, and a passion for websites.
Rhett authors informative blogs, articles, and Knowledgebase guides that simplify the complexities of WordPress, website builders, domains, and cPanel hosting. Rhett’s clear explanations and practical tips provide valuable resources for anyone wanting to own and build a website. Just don’t ask him about coding before he’s had coffee.