Guides

WordPress, done properly

Problem-first guides written by the people who build and run the Dragon Core plugins. Each one is a reference we keep current, not a dated post.

Migrations

Moving WordPress between domains, hosts and environments without losing anything.

How to migrate WordPress to a new domain without breaking page builders

Move a WordPress site to a new domain with a serialization-safe search and replace, so Elementor, widgets and plugin settings survive the change.

6 min readRead

Moving WordPress to a new host: a cutover checklist that loses nothing

A step-by-step plan for moving a WordPress site to a new hosting provider: staging on the new server, a clean database transfer, DNS cutover and rollback.

5 min readRead

Site health

Broken links, redirects and the upkeep that stops a site quietly rotting.

How to find and fix broken links in WordPress

Find broken internal, external and image links across a WordPress site, triage them without false alarms, fix them safely in the block editor, and stop new ones appearing.

6 min readRead

Broken Link Checker alternatives for WordPress, and what to look for in one

Why people leave the cloud-based Broken Link Checker, what actually matters in a link checker (local engine, no credits, no false positives, safe fixing), and where Dragon Broken Links fits.

5 min readRead

Monitoring a portfolio of client sites for broken links: re-scans, email alerts and bulk fixes

How an agency keeps dozens of sites free of dead links without opening each one: a scheduled full re-scan, one email when links newly break, bulk domain fixes and a CSV for the client report.

4 min readRead

Fixing 404 errors after a WordPress redesign: redirects that keep your rankings

A redesign changes URLs. This is how to map old to new before launch, build exact, prefix and regex redirects, triage real 404s after launch, and stop new dead ends appearing.

5 min readRead

Which plugin is slowing down my WordPress site? Measure it instead of guessing

How to tell server time from front-end weight, measure what each plugin actually costs with leave-one-out profiling, read the results honestly, and prove the fix with a before-and-after scan.

5 min readRead

Did that plugin update slow down WordPress? Catch performance regressions after updates

Why sites get slower one update at a time, how to keep a measured baseline, scan after every update, and get an email that names the change responsible, only once a second scan confirms it.

5 min readRead

WordPress cron not running: scheduled posts, backups and the four reasons WP-Cron stalls

How WP-Cron actually works, the four reasons scheduled tasks stop running, how to diagnose which one you have in a click, and how to replace the built-in scheduler with a real system cron.

5 min readRead

Security

Logins, second factors and an audit trail you can trust when something goes wrong.

Who changed what: an activity log for WordPress that stands up as evidence

Why every multi-user WordPress site needs an audit trail, what a good one records, how a hash-chained log proves it has not been edited, and how to use it in an incident.

4 min readRead

Content and SEO

Keeping what you have published working for you: decaying posts, internal links, alt text.

Content decay: find the posts losing traffic in GA4 and refresh them before the rankings go

Old posts lose traffic quietly. How to spot decay early with GA4 and Search Console data, decide which posts are worth refreshing, and what a refresh that recovers rankings actually involves.

5 min readRead

Internal linking for WordPress that actually helps: orphan pages, relevance and anchor text

Why orphan content and thin internal linking hold a site back, how to find the pages nothing links to, how to rank link opportunities by real relevance, and how to add links without wrecking the copy.

4 min readRead

Alt text for every image: accessibility, image SEO and how to fill a media library of thousands

What alt text is for, what good alt text looks like, why most libraries are missing it, and how to generate it for existing images and new uploads with your own AI key at a fraction of a cent each.

4 min readRead

WooCommerce

Store-specific workflows: who sees what, and what happens when an order lands.

Wholesale and private catalogues in WooCommerce: show products only to certain customers or roles

How to run trade-only ranges, client-specific products and members-only collections in one WooCommerce store, with visibility rules by role, category and individual customer.

3 min readRead

Compliance

CRA, NIS2, PCI DSS and the paperwork that clients and auditors now ask WordPress teams for.

WordPress, done properly

Migrations

How to migrate WordPress to a new domain without breaking page builders

Moving WordPress to a new host: a cutover checklist that loses nothing

Site health

How to find and fix broken links in WordPress

Broken Link Checker alternatives for WordPress, and what to look for in one

Monitoring a portfolio of client sites for broken links: re-scans, email alerts and bulk fixes

Fixing 404 errors after a WordPress redesign: redirects that keep your rankings

Which plugin is slowing down my WordPress site? Measure it instead of guessing

Did that plugin update slow down WordPress? Catch performance regressions after updates

WordPress cron not running: scheduled posts, backups and the four reasons WP-Cron stalls

Security

Who changed what: an activity log for WordPress that stands up as evidence

Content and SEO

Content decay: find the posts losing traffic in GA4 and refresh them before the rankings go

Internal linking for WordPress that actually helps: orphan pages, relevance and anchor text

Alt text for every image: accessibility, image SEO and how to fill a media library of thousands

WooCommerce

Wholesale and private catalogues in WooCommerce: show products only to certain customers or roles

Compliance

CRA compliance for WordPress: a practical checklist for agencies and site owners

How to generate an SBOM for a WordPress site (CycloneDX)

PCI DSS 6.4.3 and 11.6.1 for WooCommerce: what SAQ A now asks of your checkout page