Edit a site address

When you create a site on WordPress.com, we provide your site with a free address that people can use to access the site. The address uses the format yourgroovysite.wordpress.com. In this guide, you will learn how to change the yourgroovysite part of the address.

It is important to consider the following before changing your site address:

• Your site address is the free WordPress.com address created when you create your site. For example, yourgroovysite.wordpress.com. When you change your site address, you’re changing the yourgroovysite part of the address.
• After you make the change, links to the old site address will stop working.
• Once you change yourgroovysite part of the address, the old one will no longer be available to you or anyone else, to avoid impersonation.
• On plugin-enabled sites, your site address is changed to yourgroovysite.wpcomstaging.com, and you cannot change the yourgroovysite part of the address. Learn more about your other options.

You can add a domain name instead of changing your site address. Then set your domain name as your site’s primary address, so no one will see the free WordPress.com address when they visit your site.

You can change the first part (e.g: yourgroovysite.wordpress.com) of your WordPress.com site address by following these steps:

1. Visit your site’s dashboard.
2. On the left side, navigate to Upgrades → Domains (or Hosting → Domains if using WP Admin).
3. Click the three dots to the far right of your WordPress.com site address, and select “Change site address“.
   

4. In the “New site address” box, type the new address you want to use. 
   

5. If the new address is available, click the Next button.
6. On the “Confirm the address change page” carefully review the new address and the warning that your old address will no longer be available for use.

7. Check the box next to “I understand that I won’t be able to undo this change” and click the Confirm button to complete the site address change.

Once you’ve completed the steps above, your site will immediately use the new WordPress.com address and stop using the old one.

Once a .wordpress.com address has been claimed, it cannot be reused for any other website, even if you change the original site’s address to something else.

If you want to use a .wordpress.com site address that you have already used for another site you own, you can move the site’s content from one site to the other using our Export/Import process:

1. Export the content from your current site by following the steps in our Export guide.
2. Import the content into the site that has the address you want to use by following our Import guide.
3. Optionally, send visitors from the old address to your new address.

We cannot recycle or reassign website addresses (URLs) that have previously been used, even if the site is no longer active. We respect site owners’ ownership of their content and will not move or delete a site without its owner’s consent—no matter how long it has been since their last update.

If you find that an active site address is registered by another user, you may be able to obtain it for your use if the owner of the site agrees to transfer it to you. You may contact the site owner—via a comment on their site or through a contact form, if available—to ask for their consent. If you do not get permission or do not hear back from the site owner, we cannot transfer the site address to you.

Please note that we cannot contact the owner of a site address for you, nor can we provide you with the contact information of site owners.

There is an infinite supply of unused site addresses, so our policy should not limit your address selection. If your desired .wordpress.com address is not available, you may wish to register a custom domain to use with your website instead, such as example.com (without .wordpress in the name.)

Instead of changing the yourgroovysite part of the free WordPress.com site address we give you, you can use a domain name to make your website’s address even more unique and memorable.

• Learn how to register a new domain name.
• Connect your domain name or transfer a domain name you already own.
• Set your domain name as your site’s primary address so your visitors only see the domain name when they visit your site.

Plugin-enabled sites use a .wpcomstaging.com address instead of a .wordpress.com address.

A wpcomstaging address does not mean it is a staging site (a staging site is a website used for testing purposes). It means it’s the temporary address for your website until you’re ready to add your own domain to your site (for example, yourgroovydomain.com instead of yourgroovysite.wpcomstaging.com).

While you cannot change the yourgroovysite part of a wpcomstaging.com site address, you can register, connect, or transfer a domain to use with your site. If you already have added your domain but still see wpcomstaging, switch the primary address of your site to your domain.

It is not possible to revert from the .wpcomstaging.com address to the .wordpress.com version of the address without downgrading from your plugin-enabled plan. Rest assured, anyone who used the .wordpress.com version of your site address will still see your site.