How to Change Your Website Address in Hostinger (Step-by-Step)

1. What Does Changing a Website Address Mean?

Changing a website address (or domain migration) is the process of switching your site's public identifier from one URL to another (e.g., from oldsite.com to newsite.com).

This is a comprehensive task that requires more than just buying a new domain. It involves mapping the domain to the server files, updating database strings, updating CMS internal pathings, generating new SSL certificates, routing legacy traffic via wildcard redirects, and informing search crawlers of the change.

Whether you are rebranding, switching to a more popular TLD like .com, or acquiring a better brand name, executing these steps systematically is crucial to protect your brand and organic traffic.

2. Changing a Domain Name in hPanel

Before updating your software settings, your new domain name must be registered and added to your Hostinger web hosting account.

3. Changing WordPress Site URL

WordPress stores website address references inside its database. Simply changing your domain in hPanel will result in styling breaks or redirect loops if WordPress is not updated.

Method A: Using wp-config.php (Fastest & Safest)

To force WordPress to load under your new website address, edit your wp-config.php file using Hostinger File Manager:

Method B: Updating phpMyAdmin (Database Level)

If you are locked out of your admin dashboard, you can edit the values directly inside the database options table:

1. In hPanel, go to Databases -> phpMyAdmin and enter your site's database.
2. Locate and click the table named wp_options (prefix may vary, e.g., hs_options).
3. Find the rows named siteurl and home (usually rows 1 and 2).
4. Double-click the option_value field and replace the old domain with your new domain name (make sure to include https://).

4. Changing URL in Hostinger Builder

If you built your website using the proprietary Hostinger Website Builder (formerly Zyro) rather than WordPress:

1. Open the builder editor inside hPanel.
2. Click on the Settings cog icon at the bottom-left of the builder interface.
3. Navigate to Domain Connection.
4. Disconnect your old domain and click Connect Domain to select your newly registered domain name.
5. Click Publish Website to compile your static HTML assets under the new address.

5. Updating DNS Settings

Your new domain name must point to your Hostinger server to load your website files.

If your domain is registered directly at Hostinger, hPanel sets the correct DNS records automatically. However, if your domain is registered at another registrar (like Namecheap, GoDaddy, or Domain.com), you must update its nameservers to point to Hostinger:

*Update nameservers at your registrar panel and wait for DNS propagation (takes 2-24 hours).

6. Updating Internal Links & Media

Even after updating your site URLs, your pages, posts, and media attachments will still contain hardcoded links pointing to the old domain name. This results in broken images or assets that load slowly via redirection.

To fix this on a WordPress site, install the free plugin Better Search Replace:

1. Go to WP Admin → Tools → Better Search Replace.
2. In the Search for field, input your old domain (e.g. oldsite.com).
3. In the Replace with field, input your new domain (e.g. newsite.com).
4. Select all tables in the list, leave 'Run as dry run?' checked, and click replace to verify.
5. Uncheck dry run and click replace to execute the global database updates.

7. Updating Google Search Console

To ensure Google transfers your search index rankings to the new domain, you must submit a Change of Address request:

1. Verify both the old domain and the new domain as separate properties in Google Search Console.
2. Navigate to the property settings panel for your old domain.
3. Under the Settings page, locate and click the Change of Address tool.
4. Select your new domain property from the list, complete the verification checks (which check if 301 redirects are working), and submit.

8. Updating Analytics & Tag Manager

Don't forget to update your analytics tracking to continue capturing traffic data:

• Google Analytics 4 (GA4): Navigate to Admin → Data Streams → Web Stream and update the stream URL to your new domain name. You do not need to replace your tracking code.
• Google Tag Manager: If you set up container triggers based on Page Hostname, ensure you update those triggers to match the new domain name.

9. SEO Impact of Domain Migration

Moving a website to a new address is a major event for search engine spiders. While Google is excellent at processing 301 redirects, you should expect a temporary traffic fluctuation of 5% to 10% for the first 2 to 4 weeks.

To minimize the negative impact, keep the old domain registered and its 301 redirects active for at least one year. This gives Google enough time to crawl all legacy URLs and transfer their authority to the new domain.

10. Common Errors & Solutions

11. Site Migration Checklist