Drupal 7′s end-of-life is coming in January 2025, so now is the time for a new CMS and hosting provider before your site faces compatibility issues and security threats. WordPress is one of the most popular and robust content management systems for a reason, so it’s no surprise you’re looking to migrate your Drupal site to WordPress.
A Drupal to WordPress migration is a complex process that requires careful planning and execution to ensure a smooth transition. At WP SitePlan, we not only have the knowledge and experience to migrate your Drupal site to WordPress, we also provide hosting for your site on a dedicated server. Reach out to our team to get your Drupal to WordPress migration services and new hosting started today.
Here’s a look at how we ensure your migration from Drupal 7 to WordPress goes smoothly.
1. Preparation
1.1. Evaluate Current Website:
Review Content: Before you start the Drupal migration process, begin by listing all the Drupal site content (pages, posts, images, etc.) on your current Drupal website. This helps ensure nothing is missed during the migration process.
Functionality Assessment: Identify any special functionalities (e.g., forms, custom content types, e-commerce features) that your Drupal site uses or if there are any Drupal database parameters you should be aware of before you migrate your website. This will help you recreate these features on your new WordPress website.
Backup Drupal Data: Ensure you have a complete backup of your Drupal database and website to prevent any data loss during the migration process.
1.2. Setup WordPress:
Choose a Hosting Provider: Select a suitable hosting provider that supports WordPress. Look for reliability, speed, and good customer support, like hosting provided by WP SitePlan.
Install WordPress: Use the hosting provider’s tools to install WordPress. Most hosts offer a one-click installation feature, making setting up your WordPress site easy.
2. Exporting Content From Your Drupal Website
2.1. Export Drupal Content:
Static Content: Export your site’s content using the Drupal dashboard or a migration module. This may involve manually exporting text and downloading images. Ensure all elements, such as text blocks, headers, footers, and images, are systematically organized and saved. This thorough preparation simplifies the import process into WordPress and preserves the site’s visual integrity.
CMS Content: For dynamic content like blog posts, you may need to manually copy the content or use a third-party tool to export data as CSV files. This approach ensures that all blog entries, categories, and metadata are accurately transferred to your new WordPress site. Utilize tools that support mapping fields to corresponding WordPress attributes to maintain the content’s structure and organization.
Entering Drupal Database Parameters: After exporting content from your Drupal site, you’ll need to configure the Drupal database parameters in WordPress to ensure a seamless data transfer. This step is crucial as it directly impacts how content, users, and metadata are migrated.
- Database Connection Details: Access your Drupal site’s settings.php file located in sites/default/. Here, you’ll find the necessary database connection details, including the database type (MySQL, SQLite, PostgreSQL), hostname, port, database name, username, and password.
- Testing Connection: Once these details are entered into the FG Drupal to WordPress plugin, use the ‘Test Connection’ button to ensure the connection is established correctly. This step is essential to avoid any migration errors that could occur due to incorrect database configurations.
Why It’s Important: Correctly entering these parameters ensures that the migration process retrieves all necessary data without errors. It also prevents potential data loss or corruption during the transfer.
2.2. Export Images:
Download All Images: Download all Drupal images from the site to ensure they are available for import into your WordPress site. Organize them in folders for easy access during the migration process.
3. Importing Content into WordPress
3.1. Import Static Content:
HTML to WordPress: Convert HTML files to WordPress pages/posts. This step is crucial for preserving the structure and layout of your original Drupal site. Use a plugin like WP All Import to facilitate this process, ensuring a smooth Drupal to WordPress migration. The plugin allows you to map HTML content accurately to WordPress pages or posts, minimizing manual effort and potential errors.
CSS & JS: Integrate custom CSS and JS into your WordPress theme to maintain the design and functionality of your original Drupal site. This involves adding custom code snippets to your WordPress theme’s style.css file and enqueueing JavaScript files via the functions.php file. Proper integration ensures that your site’s visual appeal and interactive elements remain consistent with the original design.
3.2. Import CMS Content:
Plugins: Use plugins like WP All Import or WP Ultimate CSV Importer to import your CSV files into WordPress.
Mapping Fields: Carefully map Drupal CMS fields to corresponding WordPress fields (e.g., titles, body content, categories) to ensure content is placed correctly on your WordPress website.
Migrating Custom Post Types and Taxonomies: Drupal often utilizes custom content types and taxonomies that need to be recreated in WordPress. This can be done using plugins like Custom Post Type UI or manually through code.
- Recreating Custom Post Types: Use the Custom Post Type UI plugin to create new post types that mirror your Drupal setup. Ensure that the settings for custom fields, hierarchical structures, and taxonomies match the original Drupal site to maintain data integrity.
- Mapping Taxonomies: Drupal taxonomies (categories, tags, etc.) need to be mapped to WordPress taxonomies. Use the WP All Import plugin to ensure each taxonomy is correctly transferred. This process involves matching Drupal fields to WordPress equivalents to retain the site’s original organizational structure.
3.3. Import Images:
Media Library: Upload images to the WordPress media library. This step ensures all visual elements from your Drupal site are available and correctly displayed on your new WordPress site. Use a plugin like Add From Server if necessary to streamline this process, especially if you have many images. This plugin simplifies bulk uploads and helps organize images efficiently, making them easily accessible for insertion into posts and pages during the migration process.
Handling Large Media Libraries: If your Drupal site has an extensive media library, planning for an efficient transfer to WordPress is essential. Large volumes of images, videos, and other media can slow migration if inappropriately handled.
Optimizing Media Files: Before migration, consider optimizing your media files to reduce their size without sacrificing quality. Tools like TinyPNG or ImageOptim can compress images, speed up migration, and improve load times on your new WordPress site.
Using FTP for Bulk Uploads: For large media libraries, uploading files via FTP directly into the WordPress /wp-content/uploads/ directory might be more efficient. After uploading, use a plugin like ‘Add From Server’ to bulk import these files into the WordPress media library, ensuring they are correctly linked to the corresponding posts and pages.
4. Theme and Design
4.1. Choose or Create a Theme:
Select a Theme: Choose a WordPress theme that closely matches your Drupal design. This can save time in customization.
Customize Theme: Use the WordPress Customizer or a page builder (e.g., Elementor, Beaver Builder) to customize the theme to match your Drupal design.
4.2. Add Custom CSS/JS:
Integrate Custom CSS/JS: Add any custom CSS or JS from your Drupal site into the WordPress theme to maintain the same design and functionality.
5. Functionality
5.1. Recreate Forms:
Form Plugins: Use plugins like Contact Form 7, WPForms, or Gravity Forms to recreate any forms from your Drupal site. Customize them to match the original functionality.
5.2. Rebuild Animations:
CSS Animations: Use custom CSS/JS or page builder animations to replicate Drupal animations. Ensure they work smoothly across different browsers.
5.3. E-commerce (if applicable):
WooCommerce: Install and configure WooCommerce to match the e-commerce functionality of your Drupal site. Transfer product information and settings as needed.
6. Testing
6.1. Verify Content:
Check All Content: Ensure all pages, posts, and media are correctly imported and displayed on your new WordPress site.
6.2. Check Functionality:
Test Features: Test all forms, animations, and interactive features to ensure they work correctly on WordPress.
6.3. Cross-Browser Testing:
Verify Across Browsers: Check your site’s appearance and functionality across different browsers and devices to ensure a consistent user experience.
7. SEO and Redirects
7.1. SEO Setup:
SEO Plugins: After migrating your content from Drupal to WordPress, it is crucial to maintain and optimize your SEO settings to ensure that your website continues to rank well in search engine results. Begin by installing and configuring a robust SEO plugin like Yoast SEO or All in One SEO Pack. These plugins help you manage on-page SEO factors across your newly migrated WordPress site, such as meta titles, meta descriptions, and focus keywords.
- Meta Titles and Descriptions: Transfer all your existing meta titles and descriptions from Drupal to WordPress. These elements are critical for maintaining your search engine rankings and click-through rates. Ensure each page and post on your new WordPress site has a properly optimized meta title and description. If your site is large, consider using a CSV file to import this data directly into your SEO plugin to save time.
- Focus Keywords: Revisit the focus keywords for each page and post. Ensure these keywords are integrated seamlessly into your content, headers, and meta tags. The goal is to ensure that your content remains relevant and optimized for the search terms you want to rank for.
- XML Sitemaps: One of the advantages of using an SEO plugin is the automatic generation of XML sitemaps. These sitemaps are essential for helping search engines crawl and index your site effectively. After configuring your SEO plugin, submit your new WordPress XML sitemap to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools to ensure that search engines know your site’s new structure.
- Schema Markup: Implement schema markup on your new WordPress site to enhance the appearance of your content in search results. This structured data can improve click-through rates by providing additional information directly on search engine results pages (SERPs). Use a plugin or custom code to add schema markup to your posts and pages.
7.2. Set Up Redirects:
301 Redirects: A crucial aspect of maintaining your SEO rankings during migration is ensuring that all old URLs from your Drupal site are correctly redirected to their new counterparts on your WordPress site. This process involves setting up 301 redirects, which tell search engines that a page has permanently moved to a new location.
- Redirection Plugin: Use a plugin like Redirection to manage 301 redirects efficiently. This plugin allows you to bulk import redirects via CSV, which is particularly useful if you have many URLs to manage. Ensure that each old Drupal URL is mapped accurately to its corresponding new WordPress URL.
- Avoiding 404 Errors: After setting up your redirects, test your site thoroughly to ensure that all redirects are working correctly and that there are no 404 (Not Found) errors. 404 errors can negatively impact your user experience and SEO rankings, so it is essential to address them promptly.
- Canonical Tags: Ensure that canonical tags are correctly set up on your WordPress site. Canonical tags help prevent duplicate content issues by indicating the preferred version of a page. This is particularly important if your site has similar content that could be mistaken for duplicates by search engines.
7.3. Post-Migration SEO Audits:
SEO Audit: Conduct a comprehensive SEO audit after the migration is complete. This audit should include checking for broken links, verifying that all meta titles and descriptions are in place, ensuring that your XML sitemap is functioning correctly and that your canonical tags are appropriately configured.
- Crawl the Site: Use tools like Screaming Frog or Sitebulb to crawl your site and identify any SEO issues that may have arisen during the migration. These tools can help you pinpoint issues such as missing meta tags, duplicate content, or broken links that could harm your search engine rankings.
- Monitor Search Console: Keep a close eye on Google Search Console for any issues that might arise post-migration, such as crawl errors, mobile usability issues, or security problems. Address any issues quickly to minimize their impact on your site’s SEO performance.
7.4. SEO Performance Monitoring:
Analytics and Tracking: After the migration, monitor your site’s performance using Google Analytics and other tracking tools. Keep an eye on critical metrics like organic traffic, bounce, and conversion rates to ensure your site’s performance remains strong. Any significant drops in these metrics could indicate underlying SEO issues that must be addressed.
- Ranking Tracking: Use Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Moz to track your keyword rankings over time. This will help ensure your site ranks well for its target keywords post-migration. If you notice significant drops in rankings, investigate the cause and take corrective action.
7.5. Migrating Multisite and Multilingual Installations:
If your Drupal site is part of a multisite network or supports multiple languages, additional steps are required during migration.
- Multisite Migration: For multisite setups, consider whether each Drupal site will be a separate WordPress installation or part of a new WordPress multisite network. Tools like WP Migrate DB Pro or Multisite Tools can facilitate the migration of individual Drupal sites into a multisite WordPress environment.
- Multilingual Content: For multilingual sites, ensure that your WordPress installation supports multiple languages using plugins like WPML or Polylang. During the migration, map each Drupal language to its corresponding WordPress language setup. Verify that all language-specific content, menus, and widgets are correctly linked and accessible on the new site.
8. Go Live
8.1. Final Review:
Perform Final Review: Conduct a thorough site review to ensure everything is in place and functioning correctly.
8.2. Update DNS:
Update DNS Settings: Update your Drupal domain name’s DNS settings to point to your new WordPress hosting. This step makes your new site live.
8.3. Monitor:
Monitor the Site: After going live, monitor the site for any issues and resolve them promptly to ensure a smooth transition.
9. Post-Migration Tasks
9.1. Backup:
Take Complete Backup: Take a complete backup of the new WordPress site to prevent data loss in case of issues.
9.2. Ongoing Maintenance:
Regular Updates: Regularly update WordPress, themes, and plugins to maintain site security and performance.
Monitor Performance: Monitor site performance and security to ensure your website runs smoothly and safely.
9.3. Post-Migration Security and Performance Optimizations:
After successfully migrating your Drupal site to WordPress, securing your new site and optimizing it for performance is essential.
- Security Enhancements: Install security plugins like Wordfence or Sucuri to protect your WordPress site from threats. Review file permissions, disable XML-RPC if not in use, and ensure that the WordPress security keys are unique and properly configured.
Caching and Speed Optimization: Implement caching solutions using plugins like WP Super Cache or W3 Total Cache to improve site speed. Consider using a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to serve your content faster to users across different locations.
Trust the Professionals at WP SitePlan to Migrate Drupal to WordPress
If you want to ensure the highest level of expertise and support during this migration process, trust the professionals at WP SitePlan to convert Drupal to WordPress. As a leading WordPress support provider and experts in Drupal to WordPress migration, WP SitePlan offers the experience and knowledge needed to handle all aspects of your migration from Drupal, ensuring a seamless and hassle-free transition. Contact WP SitePlan today to get started on your Drupal to WordPress migration journey and take advantage of our top-notch migration services.
