ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
1
Pre-Migration Checklist
2
Discovery & Planning
3
Audit existing CMS (content types, taxonomies, users, media, URLs)
4
Identify custom fields, templates, and content relationships
5
List all post types and how they’ll map to WordPress (pages, CPTs, taxonomies, etc.)
6
Define URL structure and permalink strategy in WP
7
Review current SEO setup (meta tags, redirects, sitemaps)
8
Confirm media file location, path and folder structure
9
Identify forms and interactive elements
10
Choose migration approach: manual, scripted, or plugin-based
11
Define migration environment: staging or dev WordPress instance
12
13
For Multisite
14
Determine subdirectory vs subdomain structure
15
Plan site mapping: 1:1 CMS-to-WP sites or merged structure
16
Define global vs per-site configurations (themes, plugins, settings)
17
18
For Multilingual
19
Identify languages in use and how they’re managed in current CMS
20
Choose a multilingual strategy:
21
 Separate subsites per language (WordPress Multisite)
22
 Single site with language switching plugin (e.g., WPML, Polylang, TranslatePress)
23
Determine translation source: human, machine, or mixed
24
Plan language-specific SEO and hreflang requirements
25
26
27
WordPress Environment Setup
28
Core Setup
29
Install latest WordPress version (Single or Multisite)
30
Install required themes and child themes
31
Configure WP settings: permalinks, reading options, media sizes
32
33
Plugin Stack
34
Install necessary plugins:
- ACF (Custom Fields)
- Media/Assets management plugin (e.g., WPDAM, Enable Media Replace)
- User roles/permissions plugin (e.g., PublishPress, Capabilities)
- SSO plugin (if required)
- Importer plugin (e.g., WP All Import, WP Migrate DB Pro)
- Redirection
- Multilingual (e.g., WPML, Polylang)
- SEO (e.g., Yoast, Rank Math)
- Security & Performance (Wordfence, Object Cache, CDN)
35
36
For Multisite
37
Configure Network Admin settings
38
Create child sites (if not migrated programmatically)
39
Apply site-specific themes/plugins
40
Ensure global plugins handle per-site isolation correctly
41
42
For Multilingual
43
Configure language switchers
44
Set up translation rules for posts, pages, taxonomies, menus, widgets
45
Prepare strings for translation
46
47
48
Content Migration
49
Content
50
Export all content types from source CMS
51
Map fields and relationships to WP structure
52
Create STTM (Source to Target Mapping) document for review and clearity
53
Create migration scripts or use import tools (CSV, JSON, XML)
54
Import:
55
 - Pages, Posts, Custom Post Types
56
 - Categories, Tags, Custom Taxonomies
57
 - Custom Fields
58
 - Reusable Blocks or Block Templates (for Gutenberg)
59
60
Media
61
Export all media assets from source
62
Upload to /wp-content/uploads/ (or on the custom paths as per requirements)
63
Update media URLs within content (if changed)
64
Regenerate image sizes via WP-CLI or plugin
65
66
For Multisite
67
Route content to correct subsites during migration
68
Migrate shared media to global storage if applicable
69
70
For Multilingual
71
Link translations across languages
72
Import translated versions of content
73
Apply hreflang tags and language-specific metadata
74
75
76
SEO, Redirects & URLs
77
Preserve original slugs or define redirection rules
78
Configure 301 redirects (manually or via plugin)
79
Migrate SEO metadata: titles, descriptions, Open Graph, canonical URLs
80
Submit new sitemaps to Google/Bing
81
Implement structured data/schema (if applicable)
82
83
84
Users & Roles
85
Export and import user data, preserving:
86
 - Roles
87
 - Metadata
88
 - Update Permission Settings if any
89
Reset passwords or implement forced reset
90
Map users to subsites (for Multisite)
91
Assign language-specific roles if using multilingual plugin
92
93
94
QA & Testing
95
Validate all content types and templates
96
Check internal linking and media rendering
97
Test all forms, widgets, search, and custom functionality
98
Verify SEO setup: meta tags, canonical URLs, hreflang, robots.txt
99
Test multisite-specific features (network activation, shared users)
100
Test language switcher, translated content, and fallback behavior