A staging site is a private copy of your website where you test changes before visitors see them.
Why use one
- Test plugin, theme and core updates safely.
- Build new pages or redesigns without disrupting the live site.
- Try new features such as payment or booking systems.
How to get one
- Many managed WordPress hosts offer one-click staging.
- Staging plugins can create copies.
- Shopify lets you edit and preview themes before publishing.
Keep staging out of Google
- Password-protect the staging site.
- Add noindex and block crawlers; check robots.txt with our robots.txt generator.
- Remember to remove these blocks on the live site after pushing changes.
Pushing changes live
- Back up the live site.
- Push changes from staging, or repeat them on live.
- Test key pages and forms.
- Set up redirects if URLs changed, using our redirect generator.
Watch out for stores
Pushing a whole staging database to a live store can overwrite new orders. Push only files or specific changes.
Want the full picture? This article is part of Business websites: the complete guide, our in-depth guide with everything in one place.
