Service · WordPress Migration
Migrate from WordPress to Custom PHP
Escape the WordPress maintenance cycle — clean PHP migration with zero downtime, SEO equity preserved, and no more plugin roulette.
The problem with staying on WordPress
- WordPress needs constant maintenance: plugin updates, core updates, security patches — skip any of them long enough and you're either hacked or broken.
- The average WordPress site has 15–25 active plugins; each one is a potential conflict, a performance hit, and an attack surface.
- You're paying hosting fees plus a soft tax on developer time every time something breaks after an update you didn't ask for.
What's included
- Complete content migration — every page, post, image, and form reproduced or improved.
- 301 redirects from every old WordPress URL to its new equivalent — no SEO equity lost.
- Structured data, sitemap, and Search Console updated on launch day.
- Elimination of the WordPress update cycle — no plugins, no core, no admin overhead.
- Performance improvement included: custom PHP sites typically see 50–80% reduction in page weight vs. equivalent WordPress builds.
- Full source code ownership — no database bloat, no revisions table, no options table graveyard.
How it works
1
Crawl + map
Crawl the current site, document every URL, and map the full redirect chain before any build work starts.
2
Design + build
New site on a staging URL with all content migrated from WordPress.
3
SEO prep
Redirects configured and tested, sitemap generated, canonicals set, Search Console verified.
4
Launch
DNS cutover, Search Console sitemap resubmission, 48-hour crawl error monitoring.
Frequently asked questions
Will I lose my Google rankings?
No — if the migration is done correctly. Every indexed URL gets a 301 redirect to its new equivalent. Sitemap is resubmitted on launch day. Search Console is monitored for crawl errors for 2 weeks post-launch. In practice, well-executed migrations see no ranking drop, and often see improvement from the performance gains alone.
What happens to my blog posts?
Blog posts are migrated as static PHP pages. If you have a high volume of posts (50+), we'll discuss whether to migrate all of them or focus on the ones driving actual traffic (identifiable from Search Console). Migrating 200 posts that get zero traffic doesn't help SEO — it just creates maintenance overhead.
How long does a migration take?
A typical 5–15 page WordPress site migrates in 2–3 weeks. Sites with active blogs, WooCommerce, or heavy customization take 4–6 weeks. Timeline is scoped after a crawl of the existing site.
Can you migrate a WooCommerce store?
Yes, but it's a separate service — see Custom E-Commerce Development for how the replacement is built. The migration approach is the same (redirects, SEO preservation), but the build is significantly more involved.
Ready to leave WordPress behind?
Tell me about your current site — I'll map out the migration and what it takes to cut over cleanly.
Get a quote