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Migrating a website is a delicate process — especially if you want to retain your SEO rankings, content integrity, and user experience.
In this guide, we’ll explain how to manually migrate your complete Weebly site to WordPress, including posts, pages, images, categories, comments, and URL structure.

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1. Backup Your Weebly Website

Before starting, back up your Weebly site by downloading all available site files:

• Download all images and media manually.
• Save all important page content.
• Export blog posts if possible (Weebly Blog Export tool if available).

This ensures you have a fallback if something goes wrong.

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2. Set Up WordPress on Your Hosting

Install the latest version of WordPress on your hosting server.
Choose a clean, lightweight theme if you want the migration to stay fast and organized.

Install key plugins:

• Classic Editor (optional if you prefer)
• Regenerate Thumbnails (for images later)
• Redirection plugin (for 301 redirects after migration)

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3. Manually Import Pages and Posts

Now, start manually copying over content:

🔹 For Pages:

• Create a new page in WordPress.
• Copy and paste the content from Weebly.
• Insert images where needed (you’ll upload them separately).

🔹 For Blog Posts:

• Create new posts manually.
• Copy blog content, titles, featured images, and publish dates.
• Assign correct categories and tags for organization.

👉 Tip: Maintain the original publish date for SEO.

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4. Upload and Reinsert Images

• Upload each image you downloaded from Weebly to the WordPress Media Library.
• Insert images into posts/pages where necessary.
• Double-check that internal images are pointing to the WordPress media URLs, not Weebly URLs.

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5. Set Up Categories and Tags

Weebly might not allow direct export of categories/tags.

• Manually recreate them in WordPress.
• Assign posts to their appropriate categories to retain content structure.

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6. Migrate Comments (Optional)

If you have a Weebly blog with comments:

• You might need to copy them manually into a WordPress comment management plugin.
• Or use a third-party service like Disqus that can import/export comments more easily.

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7. Set Up URL Structure (Permalinks)

To maintain SEO and avoid broken links:

• Set your WordPress permalinks to Post Name or Custom Structure that matches your old Weebly URLs.
• Example: /blog/post-title or /page-name.

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8. 301 Redirects from Weebly URLs

After everything is moved, 301 Redirects are critical.

• Set up redirects from old Weebly URLs to new WordPress URLs.
• Use the Redirection plugin or modify .htaccess manually.

This helps to preserve your SEO rankings and traffic!

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9. Final SEO Optimization

• Install an SEO plugin like Yoast SEO or Rank Math.
• Add meta titles, meta descriptions, and Open Graph tags.
• Regenerate thumbnails to ensure proper media display.

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⚡ Drawbacks of Manual Migration

While manual migration gives you full control, there are some drawbacks:

• Time-Consuming: Especially if you have hundreds of pages/posts.
• Potential Errors: Missing a redirect or link can cause SEO issues.
• No Automatic Theme Matching: You have to manually recreate styles and layouts.
• Manual Comments Transfer: Complex if you have many blog comments.

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📢 Need Help with Migration?

Migrating a Weebly site manually to WordPress can be overwhelming — but you don’t have to do it alone!

👉 Contact Us Here if you want a seamless, professional migration without losing SEO, traffic, or content!
We specialize in manual Weebly to WordPress migrations, ensuring that your site remains fully functional and SEO-friendly.