WordPress runs a huge share of the web and there is nothing wrong with it. Small businesses leave it for one reason more than any other: upkeep. Plugins to update, something breaking after an update, and a site that has slowly got heavier. If that is you, the platform is not the risky part of leaving. The move is. Here is how to do it without losing your Google rankings or your email.
1. Record what you have before you touch anything
Export a list of every URL on the current site, every page, post and image, and note which pages bring in search traffic. Google Search Console shows you exactly which pages get impressions and clicks. This list is the map you will check the new site against.
2. Keep or redirect every URL
This is the step that decides whether rankings survive. Every old address must either exist on the new site or permanently redirect, with a 301, to the page that replaced it. An old address that returns an error is a page Google forgets, along with whatever it ranked for.
Do not redirect everything to the homepage. Google treats that much like an error. Each old page should land on the closest new equivalent.
3. Copy your email records first
Your email is not part of your website, but it lives in the same domain settings. Before changing where the domain points, copy every email record exactly, then send and receive a test message after the switch. When Westro moved off WordPress, their email carried across without dropping a message because this was done first. The Westro case study walks through it.
4. Launch, then tell Google
On launch day, submit the new sitemap in Google Search Console and spot check the old URLs from your list: each should load or redirect. Watch Search Console for the following few weeks for pages reported as not found and fix any you missed.
5. Expect a short wobble, not a drop
Positions can move around for a week or two while Google recrawls. That is normal. A sustained drop almost always traces back to a missed redirect or a page that lost its content, which is why the list from step one matters.
What to move to
That depends on who will look after the site. Our Wix alternatives comparison covers the main options honestly, including the ones we do not sell. We build custom sites with no plugins to update, and we have moved businesses off WordPress and Wix with every page carried across. How we do it is on our web development page and our website redesign page.
If you would like the move done for you, builds start at $899 CAD on a fixed quote, plus $40 a month for hosting, your domain and support.