How to clone a WordPress site

How to clone a WordPress site

Maintaining your website is a constant process. To stay successful, you need to make changes to its appearance and content. Naturally, major changes or redesigns are stressful since you never know how your WordPress site will respond to the changes.

Here is the place a duplicate of your site can be useful. It’s a copy of your website on which you can test your ideas. The changes will not affect your site’s production since the clone functions independently.

Follow the guide below to discover the various uses a clone could be used for and the best way to duplicate the functionality of a WordPress website.

What are the reasons you would need to copy your site?

In the case of WordPress, a clone can be described as an individual version of a production site that has the exact files, database information, and settings as the primary. The clone mirrors the original site and has identical blog posts, pages, and plugins, as well as the same theme and layout.

As a webmaster As a webmaster, you’ll find yourself in various scenarios where a clone can be beneficial. We will highlight the most frequent strategies below.

Transferring a website’s content to a new host

In the end, you might choose to change to a different hosting company. In order to make the transition easier and to minimize downtime, it is recommended to create a duplicate of your site. You can test it in an entirely new host before closing your hosting account. If anything happens to go wrong during the transfer process, you’ll be in a position to obtain a fresh version of the site.

Transferring a website from localhost

Many web developers opt to create the WordPress site in a locally hosted environment. Once the site is completed and ready to go, they copy it to a server hosting but keep the original on the local environment.

Experimentation and testing

You’re considering the possibility of adding new features or re-installing plugins, and you’re concerned that it could cause damage to your site. A staging clone lets users experiment with ease without causing the possibility of downtime or serious mistakes on your site’s production.

Redesign

You’d like to keep the site’s content as it is. However, you feel that your site looks outdated. You can make a staging copy to make the changes and then replace your live site with the new one at a later time. While you wait, your existing site will work as normal.

A standalone copy of another domain

You can make a separate version of your site with a different domain. Instead of copying every post or, page or post, you can copy the entire site onto the new field and make adjustments or eliminate irrelevant content from the duplicate.

Live and clone operate independently with their domains.

Clone a WordPress website using SiteGround Migrator.

The SiteGround Migration WordPress plugin can be described as a user-friendly and powerful tool that makes it easier to go through the process of replicating an existing WordPress website. This plugin was specifically created to seamlessly integrate with SiteGround hosting, providing an easy migration process.

One of the major advantages of the SiteGround migrator software is the simplicity of use. In just a couple of clicks, you are able to begin the process of migration without technical knowledge. The plugin is responsible for the transfer of your website’s files, databases, configurations, and files, which makes it an easy option for replicating your WordPress website.

Another benefit of using the plugin is that it works with a variety of WordPress themes and plugins. This means that your site’s functionality is maintained throughout the process of migration. In addition, the plugin is frequently kept up-to-date and updated by SiteGround to provide you with the most secure and reliable migration solutions.

As compared to other approaches In comparison to other options, in contrast to other methods, the SiteGround Migration plugin provides an easier and more efficient process of cloning the content of your WordPress website. It removes the requirement for manual transfer of files as well as database modifications, thereby saving your time as well as lessening the chance of mistakes.

To know more information about the SiteGround migrator plugin and the best way to utilize it, read this thorough instruction: WordPress Automatic Migrator.

Clone of a WordPress site using SiteGround Staging

Cloning the WordPress site to an unrelated site is a common method. There are a variety of ways to accomplish this by using a plugin or a tool for staging provided through your host.

The benefit of stage copy is the fact that both the real-time version as well as the copy operate on the same hosting, and you are able to edit each version without impacting the other. This means you can design a major overhaul to your site and then quickly implement the changes with no interruptions.

SiteGround has created a WordPress Staging Tool specifically to serve this reason. It is accessible through GrowBig GoGeek as well as Cloud Hosting plans.

The tool makes a WordPress website clone that is identical to your existing site, and it does this in the staging subdomain. When you’re ready, change the live version of your site to the staging version. The tool allows you to make the changes public in just one click.

If you’re keen to learn more about our software, don’t hesitate to browse through the SiteGround Stage Tutorials.

Create a WordPress website manually.

Sometimes, the simplest method is the most efficient. Although there are many tools and plugins for WordPress replicating, creating a duplicate of your site manually is among the most reliable options with little or no problems.

We will walk through the entire procedure of how you can manually duplicate the content of a WordPress website.

Step 1. Create a new folder to store the copy.

  • In the beginning, it is necessary to create an appropriate folder to store the replica. Based on the tools available, such as the FTP program or a File Manager for your account on hosting.
  • SiteGroundusers are able to use Site Tools at their disposal. It includes a fully-featured file manager that is available to manage and create folders and files.
  • Decide if you would like to copy the site’s content onto the same domain or in a subdomain/subfolder of the original website. Go to Your client area > Web Sites and then Website Tools of the clone’s environment.
  • Important! The root folder of any website in Site Tools is yourdomain.com/public_html or subdomain.yourdomain.com/public_html. Be aware of this when you create the folder for your clone in case you wish it to be available online.

Alternative 1: Make a brand new subdomain to host the duplicate

  • If you choose to use a different subdomain for the cloned one, go through Domain, Subdomains, and Create a New Subdomain. Note down the unique domain prefix, then click Create.
  • In our example, we are creating a subdomain called clone.sg-testing.com. In the Name field, we’ll write clone.
  • The system will automatically create the subdomain’s root folder – clone.sg-testing.com/public_html. In your instance, it will be

 

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