Moving from WordPress and WooCommerce to Shopify removes plugin updates, hosting bills and security patches from your to-do list. Done carelessly, it can also wipe out years of search traffic. This is the checklist we use — including for our own move from WordPress to Shopify.
Before you start
- Crawl your current site and export every URL: products, categories, pages, posts and images.
- Export your top pages from Google Search Console and Analytics so you know what matters most.
- List your plugins and decide what each becomes on Shopify — a built-in feature, an app or nothing.
- Plan a content freeze for the final days so nothing new is added to the old site.
Data to move
- Products, variants, images, SKUs and stock
- Categories → collections
- Customers (with marketing consent) and order history
- Blog posts and pages, with SEO titles and descriptions
- Reviews (through your Shopify review app)
- Coupons rebuilt as Shopify discounts
Note: customer passwords can’t be migrated. Customers keep their history and activate their account from an invite email.
Map every URL
| WordPress / WooCommerce | Shopify |
|---|---|
| /product/linen-shirt/ | /products/linen-shirt |
| /product-category/men/ | /collections/men |
| /2023/05/summer-guide/ | /blogs/news/summer-guide |
| /about-us/ | /pages/about-us |
Import the full list as 301 redirects on the URL redirects page in your Shopify admin (it accepts a CSV). Don’t forget old slugs WordPress was redirecting for you.
Build and test
- Theme set up and key pages designed
- Payments, shipping, taxes and notifications configured
- Tracking reconnected through Shopify’s Google and Meta apps and Customer Events
- Test orders on desktop and mobile
Launch day
- Final sync of new orders and customers.
- Connect your domain to Shopify (leave email DNS records untouched).
- Import redirects and spot-check 20 old URLs.
- Submit the new sitemap in Search Console.
The first 30 days
- Check Search Console for 404s weekly and redirect them.
- Compare rankings and organic revenue with your pre-launch baseline.
- Re-host any images still loading from the old WordPress site.
Plugins and their Shopify equivalents
| WordPress / WooCommerce | On Shopify |
|---|---|
| Yoast / Rank Math | Built-in SEO fields + structured data in the theme |
| WooCommerce Subscriptions | A Shopify subscription app |
| Caching and security plugins | Not needed — included in Shopify |
| Contact Form 7 / Gravity Forms | Shopify contact forms or a form app |
| Mailchimp for WooCommerce | Shopify Email or Klaviyo |
FAQ
Will my store go offline during the migration?
No. Your WordPress site stays live while Shopify is built and tested. You switch the domain only when everything is approved.
Can I keep my blog?
Yes. Posts move to the Shopify blog with their images and SEO fields, and old URLs redirect to the new ones.
How long does it take?
Most WooCommerce migrations launch in two to three weeks, depending on catalog size and design work.
Need a hand?
We migrate WooCommerce stores to Shopify for a fixed price — from $750 for up to 100 products. See WordPress to Shopify migration — or ask for a free, fixed-price proposal.