The Exact 8-Step Process We Use for Every Drupal to WordPress Migration

Most Businesses Think Migrating from Drupal to WordPress Is Just Moving Content Over.

It is not even close to that.

We've run dozens of Drupal to WordPress migrations for organizations across Seattle, the Pacific Northwest, and Canada. The clients who came to us after a failed migration with another agency all had one thing in common: their previous agency skipped half the steps.

The result? Broken pages, missing content, and SEO rankings that took years to build — gone overnight.

Here's the exact process we follow on every migration. No shortcuts.

Step 1: Full Site Audit

Before we touch anything, we document every single page, content type, and custom functionality on the existing Drupal site. This isn't a quick browse. We catalog the content architecture, URL structure, custom modules, user roles, media assets, and any third-party integrations.

If you skip this step, you'll discover halfway through the migration that something critical was missed. By then, it's expensive to fix.

Step 2: Migration Plan Document

We create a full written document covering what is being migrated, how each content type maps to WordPress, what needs to be rebuilt, which URLs need 301 redirects, and which custom functionality needs a WordPress equivalent. This document gets client approval before a single line of code moves.

Step 3: Content Freeze

We ask the client to either freeze all content updates while we work — or keep a running log of every change made to the live Drupal site. Working with a moving target is how content gets lost. This is non-negotiable for us.

Step 4: Fresh Complete Backup

A full backup of the existing Drupal site is taken right before we start moving anything. Not the day before. Right before. If something goes wrong — and in complex migrations, something always has the potential to — this is your recovery point.

Step 5: Theme Rebuild from Scratch

The WordPress theme is rebuilt from scratch using proper best practices — not copied over from the old site. This is where a lot of agencies cut corners. They try to replicate the Drupal design by reusing code, which leads to inconsistent behavior, poor performance, and future maintenance headaches. We start clean and build it the right way.

Step 6: Module and Functionality Review

Every Drupal module is reviewed individually. We need to understand what it actually does before we figure out the WordPress equivalent. Some modules have direct plugin counterparts. Some need custom development. Some turn out to be legacy functionality that no longer serves the business.

Step 7: Full Testing on Staging

Everything is tested on a staging environment before it touches the live site. This includes content accuracy, URL redirects, forms, integrations, search functionality, user roles, mobile responsiveness, and Core Web Vitals performance scores. We do not push to production until staging is confirmed and clean.

Step 8: Controlled Live Deployment

We push live during a low-traffic window, with a rollback plan ready. Post-launch monitoring runs for 48 hours to catch anything that didn't surface in testing. We also submit the updated sitemap to Google Search Console immediately to help preserve rankings.

Why Most Migrations Fail

The migration itself is technically straightforward. The process around it is what protects the business.

Agencies skip steps because it takes more time and they're working on a tight budget. The client sees a lower quote, signs, and ends up paying twice — once for the failed migration and once for someone to fix it.

If you're evaluating a Drupal to WordPress migration, ask any agency you're talking to for their exact process. If they can't walk you through each step clearly, that tells you everything.