Phase 4: Migrate Content

This phase is where the content actually moves from Sitecore to WordPress.

The goal here should be to replicate or improve the site structure, formatting, and quality of content.

Freeze Content Updates

Before you start migrating, you don’t want to keep a watch on constant changes. So, ensure you freeze content updates on the website.

This does not mean that all the updates have to remain frozen throughout the migration. You can just freeze it from the point the content is exported to when the new site goes live.

Export Content From Sitecore

Now, after you freeze content updates, migrate your website from Sitecore to WordPress. Depending on the migration approach you decided, this might mean:

• Using Sitecore’s built-in content export tools
• Running a script against the Master and Web databases to pull structured content
• Manually copying content for smaller or highly custom pages

While exporting the content, ensure you do it field by field. That means, when a blog post is being exported, make sure you do that with its title, body, author, and featured image as distinct fields, not as one undifferentiated block of text. This structure is what makes the next steps possible.

Clean and Prepare Content

You cannot use raw exports as-is, especially when moving them from one platform to another. Here’s what you’ll need to do:

• Remove Sitecore markup: The exported content may contain formatting code or field references specific to Sitecore’s templating system that WordPress won’t understand. This needs to be removed.
• Fix broken internal links: This is about links pointing to old Sitecore URL structures. They need to be updated to match the new WordPress URLs.
• Standardize formatting: You don’t want to carry on with inconsistent formatting on the website. So, fix heading styles, spacing, list formatting, etc.
• Apply the keep/improve/remove decisions: This is where you actually act on your content audit. Rewrite the “improve” pages, and simply don’t import the “remove” pages.

This step takes real time, especially on large sites. Content that may look fine in its raw form often looks weird after you change the platform.

Import Content Into WordPress

After your content has been exported and cleaned, it’s time to put it up on WordPress.

For a hybrid migration approach, this means:

Step 1: Import the bulk content

Most of your content, like blog posts and standard pages, follows the same basic pattern. You can import this in bulk using a tool like WP All Import.

At WPoets, we go a step further. We build custom scripts made just for your website. Instead of just copying and pasting raw content, our scripts look at your content and place it into the right spot in WordPress. This means every piece of content lands in the correct content type, the correct category, and the correct pre-built block.

These blocks include things like:

• Banner and hero sections
• Stats and counters
• FAQs
• Testimonials
• Call-to-action sections
• Feature grids
• Icon and benefit lists
• Pricing tables
• Timelines
• Accordions
• Tabs
• And more

We also handle your media, images, videos, PDFs, icons, and any downloadable files pulled from your old site, uploaded to WordPress, and linked to the right page automatically.

Our scripts know where each file belongs. A hero image goes into the hero section. A testimonial photo goes into the testimonial block. A case study thumbnail goes into the case study section. A PDF goes into a downloads block. Gallery photos go into a gallery. Icons go into the feature list they belong to.

The result is pages that are easy to edit later. You’re not left with a wall of raw text and images dumped onto a page. You get real, working WordPress pages made from clean, editable blocks, so your team can update them without any hassle.

Step 2: Rebuild the pages manually

Some pages are too custom or too unique to import automatically. For these, you rebuild them yourself using the blocks and layouts you already created.

Make sure you do this in your staging environment, not on the live site. It gives you a safe space to catch problems before anything is public.

Migrate Media Assets

Images, videos, PDFs, and other media files need their own migration path, separate from text content.

• Export all media items from Sitecore, preserving original file names and folder organization where possible.
• Upload the exported files into the WordPress Media Library.
• Update every content reference (a blog post’s featured image, an inline image in a body) to point to the new WordPress media URLs, not the old Sitecore paths.

If your Sitecore assets had alt text set for accessibility and SEO, make sure you transfer it with the image.

Validate Content Accuracy and Data Integrity

Once content and media are imported, validate before moving forward. This will save you time fixing things after the website goes live.

Here’s what you should check for:

What to check	How
Missing pages	Compare your imported page count against your original content inventory
Broken formatting	Manually review a sample of pages across every content type
Broken internal links	Run a link checker across the staging site
Missing or misplaced images	Spot-check pages with heavy media use
Field mapping errors	Confirm custom fields (author, date, category) display correctly
Metadata	Confirm titles and meta descriptions carried over correctly

If you have a large website, review all your highest-traffic and highest-value pages (from your Phase 1 audit).

What You Should Have When This Phase Is Done

By the end of Phase 4, you should have:

• A content freeze that held through the export process
• All content exported from Sitecore
• Content cleaned, reformatted, and filtered per your keep/improve/remove decisions
• Content fully imported into your WordPress staging environment
• All media assets migrated, with alt text and file references intact
• A validated, spot-checked content set with no major gaps or errors

Now, your content lives in WordPress. This is just a part of the picture – the next phase takes things forward