Restore WordPress to a new domain without broken links

WordPress stores full URLs in the database: in post content, image links, menus, widget settings and plugin options. When the files and database arrive on a new domain unchanged, the site half-loads. Images point back to the old address, links go to the old site, and some layouts fall apart.

The usual fix is a search-and-replace on the database. Done carelessly, that fix causes a second problem.

Many WordPress settings are saved as serialized data: text that records the exact length of every value it contains. If a plain find-and-replace swaps an old domain for a new one of a different length, the recorded lengths no longer match. WordPress then cannot read the setting and treats it as empty.

The result is the familiar broken migration: widgets vanish, some page-builder sections disappear, and plugin settings reset without warning.

Quick Restore reads each serialized value, replaces the old address inside it, and recalculates the stored lengths so the data stays valid. It does this during the restore, so you do not need a separate search-and-replace plugin afterwards.

The backup uploads in chunks, so a small upload limit on the new host does not get in the way. For a complete walkthrough of the whole move, including DNS and hosting, read how to move a WordPress site to a new domain.

• URLs typed directly into theme or plugin code files are not in the database, so they are not rewritten. Search your theme for the old domain.
• Update your address in external services: email platform, CDN, payment gateway webhooks.
• Add the new domain in Google Search Console and use its Change of Address tool.
• Keep the old domain redirecting to the new one with 301 redirects, so visitors and search engines follow the move.

Restoring to a new domain is included on Free, Pro, Pro Plus and Max. The free version restores backups up to 512 MB; Pro and above restore any size. Staging and localhost installs never count against your licence. See Quick Restore pricing.

• Make a fresh backup of the live site just before the move, not from last week.
• Lower your DNS TTL a day or two ahead if you are also changing hosts, so the switch spreads faster.
• Set up SSL on the new domain before you restore, so the site loads on https from the start.
• Note third-party settings that mention the old domain: payment gateways, email sending, CDN, analytics.
• Plan your redirects from every old URL to the same path on the new domain.

Search engines treat a new domain as a new site until they see the old one redirecting to it. Keep 301 redirects from the old domain to matching pages on the new one for at least a year, submit the new sitemap in Google Search Console, and use its Change of Address tool. A short dip in traffic in the first weeks is normal while Google processes the move.