Moving a live WooCommerce store without losing sales or rankings

The checklist I used to move Swiss Made Direct from 10Web to Cloudways and GTranslate to WPML: backups, DNS, caching, hreflang, redirects and checks.

For Swiss Made Direct I ran two migrations on a live, multilingual WooCommerce store. The first moved the server from 10Web to Cloudways, including an upgrade. The second moved the translations from GTranslate to WPML, then fixed every issue it raised. Both are the kind of job that goes wrong quietly: broken checkouts, lost emails or rankings that slide for weeks. Here's the checklist that keeps them boring.

Before you touch anything

• Full backups of files and database, stored off the server.
• An inventory of plugins, cron jobs, payment and shipping integrations, SMTP settings, redirects and custom code.
• Lower the DNS TTL a day ahead, so the switch-over propagates in minutes rather than hours.
• Pick a quiet window based on real order data, not guesswork.

Moving the server (10Web → Cloudways)

1. Provision the new server with the right PHP version and enough headroom. Upgrade the plan now rather than after a slowdown.
2. Copy files and database, then test the whole store on a temporary URL: browse, search, add to cart, check out and pay.
3. Rebuild caching on the new stack (page cache, object cache) and confirm logged-in and cart pages are excluded.
4. Just before switching, sync any new orders and customers made since the copy.
5. Update DNS, issue SSL on the new server, and keep the CDN or proxy (Cloudflare) in front.
6. Keep the old server untouched for a few days as a fallback.

Moving translations (GTranslate → WPML)

This is the riskier move for SEO, because it changes how every translated page exists. GTranslate translates pages on the fly; WPML stores each translation as real content in WordPress. That's better for control and SEO, but the URLs and content have to be planned.

• Decide the URL structure (for example /de/, /fr/) and keep it consistent.
• 301-redirect old translated URLs to their new equivalents, so rankings and backlinks carry over.
• Translate the store, not just pages: products, categories, attributes, emails, checkout strings and theme text.
• Set up hreflang (WPML handles it) and check each language points to its counterparts.
• Re-submit sitemaps for every language in Search Console.

After the move: the checks most people skip

• Place real test orders with each payment gateway, and check every shipping integration's rates and labels.
• Confirm order, password-reset and contact emails arrive and pass SPF and DKIM (see the email guide).
• Watch Search Console for 404 spikes and indexing drops for two to four weeks.
• Re-run speed tests and fix any regressions caused by the new stack.
• Check scheduled tasks (backups, feeds, cron) still run on the new server.

The result

Swiss Made Direct now runs on an upgraded Cloudways server behind Cloudflare, with proper WPML multilingual pages. It holds an A-grade performance score, and it grew from 2 to 10+ orders a day on organic traffic alone.

Planning a migration? Get in touch, or see my server management service.

Written by Syed Taqi

Full-stack developer at NUST SEECS and Head of IT for Swiss Made Direct. I've spent 7+ years building and fixing websites, apps and servers, plus 400+ WordPress sites. More about me · LinkedIn