The Ultimate Guide to Migrate WordPress to Storyblok Efficiently
As organizations look to modernize their digital presence, migrating from WordPress to Storyblok, a headless CMS, has become increasingly popular. Storyblok's flexibility, high performance, and user-friendly interface offer a clear advantage over traditional CMS setups. This updated guide details a streamlined, efficient migration using Storyblok’s official importer and best practices.
Why Migrate from WordPress to Storyblok?
- Modern Content Management: Storyblok provides a visual, component-based editor allowing intuitive content management.
- Improved Performance & Security: Decoupling your CMS from your frontend drastically improves site performance and security.
- No plugin conflicts. No more third-party plugins that break functionality and affect your live site. No more scrambling to patch your site before Google notices. You get a stable, secure setup—and you can finally reinvest your time and budget into growth, not repairs.
- Seamless Multi-Language Support: Storyblok’s built-in localization tools simplify multilingual content management.
Pre-Migration Planning
Audit Existing WordPress Content:
- Posts, Pages, Custom Post Types
- SEO metadata and permalinks
- Media in
/wp-content/uploads
- Gutenberg or ACF-based structures
Define Your Storyblok Structure:
- Content Types: Page, Blog Post, Article
- Components: Hero, RichText, SEO
- Utilize folders to mirror your site’s hierarchy
Recommended Tools:
- Storyblok WordPress Importer: Official migration tool
- Storyblok CLI: Quickly scaffold local setups
- Frontend Frameworks: Astro, Next.js, Vue.js
Step-by-Step Migration Process
Step 1: Export WordPress Content
Use Storyblok’s dedicated WordPress importer:
git clone https://github.com/storyblok/wordpress-importer.git
cd wordpress-importer
npm install
Configure .env
with:
WORDPRESS_ENDPOINT=https://yourwordpresssite.com/wp-json
STORYBLOK_OAUTH_TOKEN=your_storyblok_oauth_token
STORYBLOK_SPACE_ID=your_space_id
Run the importer:
npm run migrate
This importer will handle:
- Posts
- Pages
- Categories & Tags
- Featured media
- SEO metadata
Step 2: Model Content in Storyblok
Create components reflecting your WordPress content types and blocks:
- Page, BlogPost
- SEO (Title, Description, Canonical URL, OG Image)
- Modular components (Hero, RichText, Gallery)
Storyblok recommends nested blocks for flexible layouts, enabling editors to construct pages effortlessly.
Step 3: Migrate Media Files
The official importer handles featured images, but additional media files may require manual upload or scripts leveraging Storyblok's asset management API.
Step 4: Build Your Frontend
Choose a modern framework to consume Storyblok’s Content Delivery API:
Example with Astro:
import { useStoryblokApi } from "@storyblok/astro";
const storyblokApi = useStoryblokApi();
const { data } = await storyblokApi.get('cdn/stories/home', { version: 'draft' });
Populate your frontend components with fetched content.
Step 5: SEO and Redirect Handling
- Maintain URL structure from WordPress
- Implement 301 redirects (use Netlify redirects, Vercel configuration, or similar)
- Build dynamic sitemaps and SEO components in your frontend
Step 6: Forms and Integrations
- Recreate forms with Formspree, Netlify Forms, or Formstack
- Integrate analytics via frontend scripts or serverless functions
Step 7: Optimize Media and Performance
- Storyblok assets CDN supports resizing, format optimization:
https://img.storyblok.com/1000x800/f/yourspace/myimage.jpg
- Leverage lazy loading and modern image formats
Step 8: Setup Localization (Optional)
- Structure content in folders (
/en/
,/de/
) - Localize fields within Storyblok components
- Implement fallback mechanisms
Post-Migration Checklist
- Performance Testing: Google Lighthouse, PageSpeed Insights
- SEO Validation: Check meta tags, structured data, canonical URLs
- Content Verification: Ensure accurate content migration and rendering
- Functional Testing: Verify forms, integrations, and dynamic features
- Editorial Workflow: Train your team on Storyblok's visual editor
Essential Insights from Storyblok’s Official Migration Guide
- Map Fields Thoughtfully:
post_title
→title
content
→richtext
excerpt
→short_description
featured_media
→image
- Bulk Imports via Management API:Use the importer or directly interact via axios:
axios.post("https://mapi.storyblok.com/v1/spaces/{SPACE_ID}/stories", {
story: { name, slug, content }
}, { headers: { Authorization: "Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" }});
- Build with Editors in Mind:Storyblok encourages flexible content creation through reusable and nestable bloks. Avoid rigid templates, favoring editable components.
- Tagging and Categorization:Multi-option fields replace WordPress categories and tags, enhancing frontend filtering and SEO.
Final Steps Post-Migration
Testing and Validation:
- Cross-browser testing
- Mobile responsiveness checks
- Form submissions and API integrations
Training and Workflow Optimization:
- Provide Storyblok dashboard training
- Configure user roles, permissions, and content publishing workflows
When to Hold Off Migration
Consider delaying migration if:
- Your team lacks frontend expertise
- Your current setup relies heavily on WordPress-specific plugins like WooCommerce
- Your content model is not clearly defined
Wait until you're ready to rebuild with a component-first mindset.
Ready to Migrate from WordPress to Storyblok?
We specialize in making migrations from WordPress to Storyblok as seamless as possible. Here’s how we help:
- Custom Migration Plan: We tailor every migration to your site's size, structure, and content types.
- Automated Scripts: Our dev team writes custom migration scripts to handle everything from data transformation to uploading media files.
- Structured Content Modeling: We build reusable components and define a clean content structure in your new headless CMS.
- SEO and Redirects: We map every slug and set up 301 redirects to preserve rankings.
- Training and Support: We don’t just hand off the site—we help your editors feel confident in the new system.
- Post-Migration Optimization: We tune performance, integrate analytics, and monitor everything for stability.
Whether you're migrating a blog, a marketing site, or a complex monolithic project, our goal is to make the transition from WordPress to Storyblok smooth, strategic, and future-ready.
Moving to Storyblok is a Strategic Upgrade
If you’re looking to migrate from WordPress to a modern headless CMS, Storyblok is an ideal destination. With its user-friendly interface, flexible content management model, and robust developer tools, it’s built to scale your content across multiple platforms and teams.
A well-planned content migration ensures a future-proof foundation for your site—one that’s easier to maintain, more secure, and built for speed.