Move Content From an Old CMS Into WordPress in Arbela

A CMS migration into WordPress should preserve the useful structure of the source content instead of turning every record into a generic page.

The migration plan starts by understanding what the old system actually stores.

Inventory the source model

Record:

• content types;
• fields;
• authors;
• publish dates;
• categories and tags;
• media;
• custom metadata;
• URLs;
• redirects;
• relationships between records.

That tells you what WordPress needs to represent after the move.

Design the WordPress destination deliberately

Some source content may fit standard posts or pages.

Other material may be better represented with custom post types, taxonomies, or carefully defined custom fields.

Do not force structurally different records into the same content type simply because the importer can.

Test imports on a staging copy

For a nontrivial migration, import a representative sample before processing the full site.

Check titles, bodies, dates, authorship, media, taxonomy, metadata, and internal links.

A test import can expose mapping mistakes before hundreds of records are affected.

Preserve important URLs

Keep existing slugs and paths where practical.

If the WordPress routing structure must differ, prepare explicit redirects from old URLs to real replacements.

The platform change is not a reason to rewrite addresses for cosmetic purposes.

Verify after migration

Check navigation, media, internal links, metadata, redirects, and representative pages from each content type.

Keep an export or archive of the original source data until the new site has been validated.

For a related next step, see Move Away From an Old Proprietary Website Builder in Memphis and Move WordPress Content Into a Custom Website in Gorin.

For authoritative guidance on this subject, see Google's guidance on site moves.

See Also

• Move a Website Without Unnecessarily Changing Every URL in Novelty

Switchboard can help Arbela and Northeast Missouri businesses move from an old CMS into WordPress while preserving useful structure instead of reducing the migration to a blind bulk import.