How to Move a Website to Another Domain in cPanel

What does this mean?

cPanel is a control panel. It is a web page where you manage your hosting with buttons instead of code. A domain is your website's address, such as example.com.

Moving a site means the files stay, but the address changes. You must do three things. Put the files where the new domain looks for them. Fix the address saved inside the database. Point the new domain to your hosting.

Steps

1. Log in to cPanel. Your welcome email or the Hostvento client area at https://secure.hostvento.com/clientarea.php shows how.
2. Make sure the new domain points to your hosting. Its nameservers must be the ones from your welcome email.
3. Open Domains. Click Create A New Domain and type the new domain.
4. Look at the Document Root that cPanel shows. This is the folder where the new domain looks for files. You can choose a new folder, or use the old site's folder.
5. If you chose a new folder, open File Manager. Copy all site files from the old folder to the new one.
6. If your site is WordPress, open phpMyAdmin and select your site's database.
7. Open the table wp_options. Your table prefix may differ from wp_.
8. Find the rows siteurl and home. Click Edit and type the new address, for example https://newdomain.com.
9. Visit the new domain in your browser. Check pages, images and links.

Fix old links inside pages

Old addresses may still sit inside your posts. A plugin called Better Search Replace can swap the old address for the new one. Always make a database backup before you use it.

Send visitors from the old address

Add a redirect so people and search engines find the new site. A redirect sends visitors from one address to another. Place this in the .htaccess file of the old domain's folder:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://newdomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

This sends every old page to the same page on the new domain. The 301 means "moved for good".

If you are stuck, open a ticket at https://secure.hostvento.com/submitticket.php.

Quick recap

• Back up your site first.
• Add the new domain in cPanel and set its document root.
• Copy files if you use a new folder.
• Change siteurl and home in the database.
• Add a 301 redirect from the old domain.