When to Use a Temporary Domain Name

When migrating your WordPress website to Bluehost, ensuring that your website remains accessible to your audience is important. Using a temporary domain is an important step in this process. This allows you to test your website's functionality on Bluehost servers before your domain name is fully connected to the new hosting.

This article focuses on where to find your site's temporary domain. This enables you to test your website before going live with your domain. We will specifically address this topic using WordPress.

Importance of Temporary Domain during Migration

A temporary domain is essential for several reasons. Here are some of them:

• Check functionality: Confirm that everything on your website, such as plugins and themes, works properly before changing your DNS settings.
• Avoid downtime: You can test your website thoroughly to minimize interruption before updating your domain's name servers.
• Troubleshoot potential issues: Identify and resolve potential issues or errors in a safe, separate staging environment.

Scenarios That Require the Use of a Temporary Domain

 There are a few cases where you might need to use a WordPress temporary domain. These include, but are not limited to, the following scenarios:

• Your DNS records are still updating.
• The domain is not properly connected to your new hosting server.
• You are encountering difficulties accessing your WordPress admin panel.
• The domain structure appears like http://www.domain.com/addondomain/, and there are no redirects in the .htaccess.
• WordPress was installed on an addon domain, where the database domain must be changed to something like http://www.addondomain.com.

Where to Find Your Site's Temporary Domain

Following recent updates to Bluehost Portal, any new WordPress installation configured to use a temporary domain—or initiated via self-service migration—will automatically be assigned a temporary WordPress Address and Site Address by the system.

Here’s a short video showing how to find and use your temporary domain in Bluehost.

Here's how:

1. Log in to your Bluehost Portal.
2. In the left-hand menu, click Websites.
3. Click the Manage button located next to the website you want to manage.

   
    

4. You can find the Primary Domain (Temp) domain under the Overview tab.

   

How to Access WordPress Dashboard Using a Temporary Domain

To log in to your WordPress Dashboard using a temporary domain:

1. Open your web browser.
2. Enter your temporary domain, followed by /wp-admin
   Example domain format: https://temporaryurl.com/wp-admin
3. This will take you to the WordPress login page, where you can enter your credentials and access the dashboard.

How to Change Your WordPress and Site Domain

Once migration is complete and your site works well with the Bluehost server, you can now change your WordPress and Site domain to your Domain name. You must also make sure that your DNS is pointed to your Bluehost server. For more information, please check this article: How to Change the WordPress Domain.

Summary

Using a temporary domain during your WordPress migration to Bluehost is a smart way to ensure a smooth transition. It allows you to test your site, troubleshoot issues, and avoid downtime before your domain is fully connected. Once everything is working perfectly, you can confidently switch to your permanent domain settings and go live.