Moving from WordPress to Framer without losing traffic

Why WordPress URLs need attention

WordPress generates URLs you may never have thought about:

• posts at /2023/05/post-name/ or /post-name/

• category and tag archives like /category/news/ and /tag/design/

• author pages at /author/name/

• attachment pages for images

• paginated pages like /blog/page/2/

• the feed at /feed/

Framer uses its own structure, usually /blog/post-name for CMS items. So even when the content is the same, the address often isn’t.

Step 1: list your old URLs

Start with the URLs that matter, not every URL that exists. Pull them from:

• your XML sitemap, often at /sitemap.xml or /wp-sitemap.xml

• Search Console, under Pages, for URLs with clicks and impressions

• your analytics, for the most visited pages

• pages with backlinks, if you use an SEO tool

Google’s site move guide suggests the same sources. Save the list in a spreadsheet.

Step 2: decide what each URL becomes

Add a second column with the new Framer URL. For each old page, choose one:

• Same content, new address: redirect to the new URL.

• Merged into another page: redirect to that page.

• Gone with no replacement: let it return 404, or redirect to the closest relevant section.

Don’t send everything to the homepage. Google treats mass redirects to an unrelated page more like missing pages. Our post on whether you need to redirect every URL helps with the borderline cases.

Step 3: use patterns where you can

If your posts lived at /2023/05/post-name/ and now live at /blog/post-name, you don’t need hundreds of rules. Framer supports named segments:

/:year/:month/:slug → /blog/:slug

Archives can often collapse into one rule each:

/category/* → /blog

Keep slugs the same where you can when moving posts into the Framer CMS. It makes the pattern rules work.

Step 4: choose where the redirects live

Same domain, new platform: if example.com stays the same and only the platform changes, set the path redirects in Framer under Site Settings → Redirects. Our guide to Framer redirects covers the syntax.

New domain as well: if you’re also moving from oldsite.com to newsite.com, Framer can’t redirect the old domain. Set that part up outside Framer, for example with Redirect Supply, and point old URLs straight to their final Framer URLs. See how to redirect an old domain to a Framer site.

Step 5: watch out for trailing slashes

WordPress URLs usually end in a slash, like /about/. Framer URLs usually don’t. Check that both versions of your important URLs land correctly, and that you’re not creating a chain like /about/ → /about → /company.

Step 6: test before you switch DNS

Before you point the domain at Framer, test your redirect list against the new site’s preview or staging domain where possible. After launch, test again on the live domain with our redirect tester.

Check at least:

• your 20 most visited old URLs

• one URL from each pattern rule

• an old category and tag page

• the old feed URL

Don’t forget the files

WordPress stores uploads at addresses like:

/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/brochure.pdf

If other sites link to PDFs, price lists or images, those links break when WordPress goes away. Move the files that still matter to Framer or your asset storage, then redirect the old paths to their new addresses.

A wildcard can catch the rest:

/wp-content/uploads/* → /resources

What about the WordPress admin?

Old bookmarks to /wp-admin or /wp-login.php will hit your new site too. They’re harmless, but they show up as 404s in your reports. You can leave them, or redirect them to your homepage so they stop cluttering the list.

Step 7: after launch

• Submit the new sitemap in Search Console.

• Watch the Pages report for 404s from old URLs you missed, and add rules for any that still get visits.

• Keep the redirects for at least a year. Google recommends keeping them as long as possible.

A short dip in rankings after a move is normal. Clean redirects make sure it stays short.