WordPress migration

Migrate WordPress to Astro without losing SEO

Content moves to Markdown, plugins are replaced one by one, and a URL-by-URL 301 redirect map is a first-class deliverable, not a last-minute task.

Free migration audit What gets migrated
WXR · API
WP
WordPress
posts · pages · media
Migration
export · clean · validate
Astro
static HTML
301 redirects
old URL → new URL

Migrating from WordPress to Astro means moving from a site that builds every page with PHP and a database to static HTML built in advance. Content is exported and converted to Markdown, plugins are replaced by components or services, and the old URLs are redirected with 301s. Soamee starts from the URL inventory, cross-checks it against Search Console to see which URLs receive traffic, and builds the redirect map before the switch. It is a good option for corporate sites, blogs and content sites, and a poor one for stores or sites whose team edits daily without a technical profile.

Mapping

What gets migrated and what it becomes

Every WordPress element has a destination. Whatever doesn't is decided beforehand, not during the project.

WordPress Astro
Posts
Transformed
Markdown content collection
The editor HTML becomes Markdown
Pages
Transformed
.astro pages or a collection
Title and slug
Direct
title and slug in the frontmatter
The slug is kept so the URL stays the same
Categories and tags
Direct
tags / category field
Featured image and media
Cleaned
Images optimized at build time
Duplicate sizes and orphaned files are dropped
SEO plugin metadata
Transformed
Frontmatter: title, description, canonical
Compared against the original before launch
Shortcodes and blocks
Transformed
Astro components
One per shortcode in use
Plugin forms
Transformed
Custom form with its own endpoint
Comments
Dropped
Or an external service, if you want to keep them
Old permalinks
Transformed
301 redirect map
What changes

From PHP and a database to pages built in advance

Before migrating After, on Astro
Every visit runs PHP and queries the database
Pages built in advance, served from a CDN
Plugins with published vulnerabilities that have to be patched on time
No database or PHP in production to attack
Regular updates that risk breaking something
Content lives in the repository, with change history
The WordPress admin is exposed to the internet
Editing goes through Markdown or a headless CMS, depending on the team
SEO

The redirect map comes first

The current site is crawled and its sitemap exported to get every URL. They are cross-checked against Search Console to see which ones receive impressions and clicks. URLs that change address go into the map with their 301; URLs that stop existing are resolved one by one, because a 404 on a URL with traffic costs you.

After launch the site is crawled again to check that each redirect reaches its destination without chains, and Search Console is watched over the following weeks.

Related

Article: what you gain and what you lose Headless WordPress WordPress development Web development
FAQ

Frequently asked questions about migrating WordPress to Astro

Do I lose search rankings when I migrate?
Not necessarily. URLs that receive traffic are kept or redirected with a 301 to their equivalent, titles, descriptions, canonicals and structured data are reproduced, and crawling is compared before and after. The real risk is the URLs that get forgotten.
What if my team edits content every day?
Then a Markdown site in Git is probably not the right fit. There are two ways out: connect Astro to a headless CMS, or keep WordPress as the CMS in a headless architecture, with the editor your team already knows. We explain it on the headless WordPress page.
Can plugins be migrated?
They are not migrated, they are replaced. Each plugin in use is reviewed to see whether it is needed, whether an Astro component covers it or whether an external service replaces it.
What happens with a WooCommerce store?
A store is not a content site: orders, customers, stock and payments do not turn into static files. We assess whether to move to Shopify, keep WooCommerce in a headless setup or build the store custom.
When do you advise against migrating?
When the current WordPress works, performance is acceptable and the team depends on plugins with no easy equivalent. In that case, keeping it in good shape or optimizing it costs less. We cover it in more detail in our article on migrating from WordPress to Astro.
Let's start

Measure what you have before you migrate

We audit your URLs, plugins and traffic, and tell you whether the migration pays off or whether optimizing is enough.

Free migration audit See case studies
Migrate WordPress to Astro Without Losing SEO

Tell us your challenge. We'll propose a solution.

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