The Safest Way to Migrate Your Prestashop Store

It is never easy to migrate your Prestashop store to another domain, especially when your store has been online for years and is offering thousands of products for sale. You also don’t want to lose the established customers on your old store, so a safe and smooth migration must be your objective in case you have decided to shift.

Speaking of which, this interesting blog post will look into best practices and tools that can help you migrate your Prestashop store easily from one domain to another. It is a great piece of information, particularly for those who want to know the fastest and safest way of moving from one domain to another. 

Steps of Moving Your PrestaShop Store from One Domain to Another

Fortunately, you have so many tools for safely moving your Prestashop store effectively without losing the data or valuable search engine rankings. Here are some of the recommended steps by our experts:

Step 1) A Migration Plan is Important 

A comprehensive roadmap will make you avoid both expected and unexpected problems. Here’s what you can do to devise a perfect migration plan. 

       a) Go Through Other Users’ Experiences

As most of the worried Prestashop owners will do, you can quickly skim through the community forums, reviews, video tutorials, and more to understand how many store owners have successfully migrated their stores. These insights will help you anticipate challenges and apply tried-and-tested solutions.

        b) Review Hosting Requirements

Double-check to ensure that your new hosting meets the PrestaShop requirements. The server configurations should be spot on and must be using the correct versions of PHP, MySQL, and server configurations. You might face broken functionalities post-migration in case you miss these important checks. 

       c)  Estimate Migration Time

You must be certain about the total time a migration will take, because a longer downtime will directly impact your revenues. Thus, it is better to choose off-peak hours for migration to minimize business disruptions. 

Step 2) Save a Backup and Enable “Maintenance” Mode

Before making any changes, back up your:

• Database
• Store files
• Configuration and settings

You can also use the hosting provider’s backup service for this purpose. For safety, switch to maintenance mode, which will prevent customers from placing orders for a certain period of time and avoid inconveniences. 

Step 3) Preserve SEO Value with 301 Redirects

You must also be aware that changing domains can impact your store’s SEO rankings if not handled properly. Here's how to maintain your Prestashop seo during migration:

         a) Audit SEO and UX via Wireframes

Quickly review your site’s information architecture to understand the potential SEO issues that may arise on the new domain and make necessary adjustments.

          b) Set Up 301 Redirects

  

Your old URLs likely have SEO authority and are bookmarked by users. Implement 301 permanent redirects from your old domain to the corresponding URLs on the new domain. This tells search engines that your content has moved and preserves ranking signals.

Step 4. Choose the Right Migration Tool

Migrating manually is risky, time-consuming, and prone to errors. Instead, use a reliable PrestaShop migration module that’s designed to do the job faster and safer.

You can look for some Prestashop Migrator tools that are designed to move you to a new hosting or domain smoothly. Such modules can help you safely migrate data, such as:

• Products & categories
• Orders, carts, customers
• Employees, CMS pages, messages
• Vouchers, carriers, shipping zones
• SEO metadata, multi-shop configuration, and more

Compared to manual migration, these modules are 10x faster and help eliminate human error.

Ready to Migrate Your Store?

Still worried about migrating your Prestashop store to a new domain or hosting? No need to panic, as you can rely on the most trusted PrestaShop migration services by FME Modules. The dedicated professionals at FME will ensure safe and secure transfer of data so you can solely focus on the business. So, what are you waiting for? Reach out to our experts today for consultation or service. 

Final Thoughts

Migrating your PrestaShop store is not a simple copy-paste task. It needs careful planning, attention to SEO, and proper technical tools for safe migration. This blog post provides an overview of the essential steps to take when relocating your PrestaShop store. Here are some of the points to remember: 

• Plan everything, including estimated downtime and hosting needs.
• Always back up your store before making changes.
• Maintain SEO value using 301 redirects.
• Use trusted migration tools for a secure and error-free process.

Just remember that even a small mistake in migration could lead to a major functionality loss on your store, like SEO rankings or more. So always take your time, prepare well, and follow the steps above for a successful domain migration.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Is it Safe to Migrate My Prestashop Store from One Domain to Another? 

Yes, if you handled the migration process carefully like the FME Modules professionals do, you will have no problems migrating safely and quickly. 

2. Can I use Modules for Prestashop Store Migration? 

Yes, there are so many tools or modules you can use for a successful migration.