--- title: "How to change URL in a WordPress website?" url: https://nexterwp.com/docs/change-url-in-a-wordpress-website/ date: 2023-02-23 modified: 2026-08-18 author: "Aditya Sharma" description: "For those using WordPress as their website platform, it is important to understand how to properly replace URLs. This is especially true if you are migrating from an old domain..." image: https://nexterwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/change-url-in-a-wordpress-website-1024x519.jpg word_count: 877 --- # How to change URL in a WordPress website? ## Key Takeaways - Nexter Extension provides a free Replace URL & Text option in Nexter > Extensions > Utilities for finding and replacing links on a WordPress website. - Replace URL & Text supports Old URL and New URL fields, Case Sensitive matching, Replace GUIDs, Search Limit, and Select Tables for specific database tables. - Dry Run shows how many URLs it finds before Confirm replaces the old URL with the new URL in the selected table. - 301 redirects are set up after changing URLs, and the post lists staging to production migration, http to https, broken interlinks, affiliate links, third-party links, and old images as use cases. For those using WordPress as their website platform, it is important to understand how to properly replace URLs. This is especially true if you are migrating from an old domain name to a new one, moving from *http://* to *https://*, or switching from *www.* to a non-*www.* URL. Without proper implementation, the transition can damage your website SEO and user experience. While most good hosting providers offer migration tools to help move your site, you may still come across media files in your WordPress media library using the old URL, or links that were added manually and were not updated. The result is broken links on your site that can negatively impact your SERP rankings. Finding and replacing these URLs can be a tedious and time-consuming task, especially on a large website. With the Nexter Extension, you can manage this task without any additional plugins. The [Nexter Extension (free) plugin](https://wordpress.org/plugins/nexter-extension/) gives you an option to find and replace links on your WordPress website. **Best Used For:** - Sites migrating from a staging domain to a live production domain - WordPress websites switching from http to https after installing an SSL certificate - Blogs and content sites with hundreds of internal links that need to be updated in bulk [LIVE EXTENSION LINK](https://nexterwp.com/nexter-extensions/bulk-text-url-replacement-in-wordpress/)   ## Learn via Video Tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAoggQ_uwXI To replace URLs on your WordPress website, go to **Nexter** > **Extensions** > **Utilities**. Then go to the **Replace URL & Text **section and enable the toggle, then click on the gear icon (⚙). ![](https://nexterwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/replace-url-text-settings-new-1.png) It will open the Replace URL & Text popup where you can replace your URL. > *Note: Before replacing the URL of your site, you should back up your database as a safety measure just in case anything goes wrong, as these tasks directly affect the database. * In the **Old URL** field, add the URL you want to replace. In the **New URL** field, add the URL you want to replace it with. Check the **Case Sensitive** checkbox if the search needs to match case exactly. To change data from the 'guid' column of the table, check the **Replace GUIDs** checkbox. Limit the number of search query rows from the **Search Limit** field. Set a lower value if you experience server timeout issues during the search and replace. From the **Select Tables** field, select a specific database table or select multiple tables where the search and replace will run. For example, to change all the URLs of your website from *http://* to *https://*, in the **Old URL** field write ***http://yoursite.com*** and in the **New URL** field write ***https://yoursite.com***. Select the database table from the **Select Tables** field where you want to run the query. Click the **Dry Run** button to see how many URLs it finds with ***http://yoursite.com***. Finally, click the **Confirm** button to replace the old URL with the new URL. All links from the old URL, for example ***http://yoursite.com***, are now replaced with the new URL ***https://yoursite.com*** in that specific table. When changing URLs, set up 301 redirects from the old URLs to the new ones. See [How to Redirect 404 Error Page in WordPress](https://nexterwp.com/docs/redirect-404-error-page-in-wordpress/) for the full redirect setup. We have listed some popular use cases below: ## Replace the Staging domain with the Production WordPress domain during migration When setting up and maintaining websites, replacing staging website URLs with live site URLs in WordPress is an important step. This ensures that visitors to the website only access the live site and not the staging version. With the **Replace URL** feature of the Nexter Extension, replace the staging domain URL with your production site domain URL. ## Replacing Interlinks in Blog content to Fix broken Links When producing content for your blog, links are a vital part of the structure. They provide additional information for readers and connect pages through internal linking. Links can sometimes become broken due to URL changes or other issues. Quickly fix broken links by using the **Replace URL** feature of the Nexter Extension. ## Updating Old Affiliate Links with New Links in WordPress Affiliate marketing is a great way to monetize your website. Companies often change their affiliate platforms, which means you need to update affiliate links across your site. If you have affiliate links throughout your website, updating them manually can be frustrating and can hurt you financially. With the **Replace URL** feature of the Nexter Extension, update old affiliate links with new ones across your entire site at once. ## Updating 3rd Party Links in WordPress Maintaining the accuracy and relevance of third-party links on your website is important for providing visitors with the best experience. As the web changes, new resources replace old ones, and links on your website must be regularly reviewed and updated. Manually updating hundreds of third-party links is a tedious task. Use the **Replace URL** feature of the Nexter Extension to make the process manageable. ## Replace Old Images with New Updated Images One of the ways to keep your website looking fresh is to replace old images with updated ones. If you have many images on your WordPress website, replacing them manually is time-consuming. Upload the new images in the WordPress media library and then use the **Replace URL** feature of the Nexter Extension to replace the old image URL with the new image URL across the entire site. ## Frequently Asked Questions **Q: Why should I back up my database before changing URLs in WordPress?** A: URL replacement changes data directly in the database, so a backup is the safety net if something gets replaced incorrectly. That matters most when you are moving from an old domain to a new one, switching from http to https, or changing www to non-www. Nexter Extension handles the replacement, but the database is still the source of truth, so a backup protects you from bad search-and-replace results. **Q: How do I replace a staging domain with a live WordPress domain during migration?** A: The Replace URL feature in Nexter Extension is built for staging-to-production migrations. Put the staging URL in Old URL and the live domain in New URL, then run the replacement on the relevant table. This keeps visitors on the live site instead of accidentally leaving staging links behind, which is a common migration mistake that can create broken paths and SEO issues. **Q: What should I do if internal links in blog posts are still pointing to old URLs?** A: Use Nexter Extension to replace those interlinks in bulk instead of editing posts one by one. The page calls out blogs and content sites with hundreds of internal links as a key use case, which is where manual cleanup gets painful fast. This is especially useful after a domain change because old internal links can keep sending readers to broken or outdated pages. **Q: Can I update affiliate links across my whole WordPress site at once?** A: Nexter Extension is meant for bulk affiliate link updates when companies change platforms or tracking URLs. That saves time compared with hunting through every post and page manually, which is easy to miss on older content-heavy sites. The practical win is consistency: one replacement can update old affiliate links site-wide instead of leaving stale links that hurt revenue. **Q: How do I avoid server timeout issues when replacing lots of URLs in WordPress?** A: The Search Limit field exists for exactly this kind of problem. Lowering it reduces how many rows are processed at once, which helps when a large search-and-replace job starts timing out on the server. That makes Nexter Extension more manageable on bigger sites where hundreds or thousands of URLs may need to be checked. **Q: Do I need redirects after changing URLs in WordPress?** A: 301 redirects are part of the cleanup after a URL change, because old URLs can still be visited by users or indexed by search engines. The page specifically recommends setting up 301 redirects from the old URLs to the new ones and links to [How to Redirect 404 Error Page in WordPress](https://nexterwp.com/docs/redirect-404-error-page-in-wordpress/) for the full redirect setup. That helps preserve traffic and avoids 404s after the replacement.