Tips for migrating PrestaShop store to another domain

Migrating the PrestaShop website to another domain, migrating data is of interest to many store owners, especially when PrestaShop releases new versions.

Search volume for keywords, tips on moving PrestaShop to another domain increased. It proves that many store owners have a need and want to find ways to move data quickly, safely, and effectively for their website.

Let me explain a little bit! As you can see, science and technology are evolving daily to fulfill ever-increasing demand and a constantly changing market.

After a period of operation, different internet business models will draw their advantages and disadvantages and require distinct changes.

One of the most essential things driving those modifications and improvements is the needs of customers. Even if a sales website contains aspects that need to be addressed (adding or eliminating necessary features) to make it easier for clients to utilize, such a website will progressively fall behind.

Therefore, it is essential for websites to update to new versions on online sales platforms. Direct application on the PrestaShop platform, every time the market demand changes, PrestaShop will synthesize and release a new version to meet those needs. Stores are also encouraged to update to new versions to take advantage of the best features.

However, upgrading the version or moving the Prestashop to another domain is also a big concern for website owners. With a large number of products, huge data sources, data migration is not a small thing.

There may be some problems in this process that should be avoided by being well prepared for the smooth migration.

If you're concerned about this issue, this post will present you with some best practices for a secure and smooth PrestaShop migration to another domain.

1.    Set up a detailed migration plan

The first step when you are about to do anything is to have a specific plan for it. It is an extremely important and indispensable step. Especially, with a big thing like moving the PrestaShop store to another domain, it requires even more careful planning.

• Refer to the reviews of other users who have experienced similar work

With something you have never experienced, the best way is to consult reviews and learn from people who have experience.

It's like previewing a process demo for what you're going to do next. From there, have the best preparation as well as anticipate the problems that you may encounter.

Besides, refer to all the problems that may arise and also the ways to solve them of those who have experience, gather/take notes to have a quick solution, and not be embarrassed if you encounter the same issue when transferring your PrestaShop store to another domain.

• Check the basic hosting requirement

This is an equally important thing that you may have also seen mentioned when referring to the reviews of people who have migrated PrestaShop websites to another domain.

It is necessary to check the hosting requirement. You need to understand the basic requirements such as website server, PHP, SQL... when you want to migrate your website to make sure your store is compatible and can operate stably after migration.

• Time and estimated duration

Estimating website migration time doesn't sound necessary, and I know many people may not care about it. Just make the move, when it's done, it's done. Well, if you believe that, you're making a big mistake.

You need to estimate the time it will take to move your site (you can also refer to the experience of those who have gone before), if it takes much longer than expected then it is very likely that the migration has got troubles. Or you will simply have to stop buying and selling activities on the website during that time.

If you have a large store with hundreds/thousands of transactions per day/hour. So how much revenue will you lose? Let's see if we can figure it out, not a small number, right? Now you see the importance of time, don't you?

2.    Save a backup and enable the “Maintenance” mode

To be safe in any case, it's always better to make a backup.

Before migrating your PrestaShop website to a new domain, make sure that you have backed up all your data. In case the migration goes wrong, you'll always have a backup plan and all of your store's data will be preserved.

In addition, enable maintenance mode for your PrestaShop store, so you will not lose new customers or orders while migrating data.

If a customer visits during your data migration, they will be notified of the maintenance status of the website and return later instead of being unable to access it.

3.    SEO values maintain, 301 redirects

• Review the wireframes of the site to detect issues related to SEO and UX

If website design is to build a house, UX, UI is spatial architecture, then Wireframe is the rough design of the house.

The wireframe is the sketch before designing the website. Although the completion and design of the website need many factors, using wireframes is an indispensable step before making a website.

This tool focuses on the structure of the website. Therefore, you need to review the website's wireframe to detect SEO and UX related issues to have a timely solution.

• Use 301 to redirect pages to new domain

You should redirect users to the new website address because your old website already has a lot of customers and they have saved the URL of the old website before.

Of course, you cannot notify each customer about the new website address and ask them to visit the website according to the new URL.

At the same time, also let Google understand that your website has a previous operation. Therefore, using 301 to redirect pages to a new domain is the best way.

4.    Choose the right Migration tool

As I said at the beginning of the article, moving a PrestaShop website to another domain is not a simple job. It's like moving house.

There's so much to do, so much to worry about. But the ultimate goal is still a successful store migration, ensuring data safety and the website can operate smoothly and stably after the migration. So, there's no reason why we shouldn't use simple, effective, and safe ways for our website!

In addition to the suggestions above to help you better prepare for this process, learning and taking advantage of data migration tools is also something you should consider and apply.

Today I will introduce to you the Upgrade & Data migration module collection for PrestaShop websites - fast, secure, efficient, and easy to use! You can rest assured and do not need to worry about the risks you may encounter during data migration with these useful modules!

MIGRATION 4.0, PrestaShop Migrator, 1 CLICK to Migrate or Upgrade are the 3 most prominent modules to migrate PrestaShop website to another domain in our collection.

These modules allow you to effortlessly migrate/upgrade your PrestaShop website from an older version (1.3, 1.4, 1.5, or 1.6) to the most recent version. Furthermore, it may assist you in swiftly and easily migrating data between two websites in any version!

You can migrate all types of data: Products, categories, orders, shopping carts, customers, employees, vouchers, discounts, taxes, carriers, shipping prices, CMS page, customer messages & services, multi-shop data, localization data, SEO settings... whatever in you store!

In comparison to other migration modules on the market, our module promises that all of your data from the old site will be moved to the new one with 10x faster speed and greater accuracy.

Even a small mistake can lead to a failed migration, so we need to be careful with common mistakes. Plan in detail, take note of everything you need to do, and choose a stable, high-performance tool for a smooth migration.

If you're planning to move your PrestaShop website to a new domain, check out the tips we've compiled for you in this post and start planning now!

We hope to have brought you useful information in this article. Have a nice day!