Set Up WordPress To Use SSL

Start here when a WordPress site has a working SSL certificate but still needs to use HTTPS consistently. Use cPanel and wp-toolkit first; manual URL changes and search-replace work should be secondary.

Before You Start

  1. Create a backup.
  2. Confirm you can sign in to WordPress admin.
  3. Confirm https://example.com loads without a certificate warning.
  4. Plan time to test forms, checkout, login, and admin after the change.

Large or complex sites need more care

Ecommerce, membership, multilingual, and heavily cached sites can need extra testing. Use a staging copy or contact Fused if the site is business critical.

Preferred Option 1: Force HTTPS In cPanel

Start with the cPanel redirect when the certificate already works.

  1. Log in to cPanel.
  2. Open Domains.
  3. Find the WordPress domain.
  4. Turn on Force HTTPS Redirect.
  5. Open http://example.com in a private browser window.
  6. Confirm it redirects to https://example.com.

This avoids editing .htaccess manually and is usually the safest first redirect option.

Preferred Option 2: Use wp-toolkit

If wp-toolkit is available, use its SSL/HTTPS options before installing a redirect plugin or editing the database manually.

  1. Log in to cPanel.
  2. Open wp-toolkit.
  3. Select the affected WordPress installation.
  4. Look for SSL, HTTPS, or security options for that site.
  5. Enable the wp-toolkit option that configures WordPress to use HTTPS, if available.
  6. Test the public site and WordPress admin.

Review wp-toolkit

Secondary Option: Update WordPress URLs

Use this if wp-toolkit does not expose the HTTPS setting or WordPress still stores the old http:// URL.

  1. Sign in to WordPress admin.
  2. Open Settings > General.
  3. Change WordPress Address (URL) from http:// to https://.
  4. Change Site Address (URL) from http:// to https://.
  5. Save the change.

WordPress may sign you out after saving. Sign back in using the https:// version of /wp-admin/.

WP-CLI Equivalent: Update URLs

Run these commands from the WordPress document root when changing the stored site URLs from SSH.

wp option update home 'https://example.com'
wp option update siteurl 'https://example.com'

Secondary Option: Replace Old HTTP References

Some themes, plugins, and page builders store full URLs in the database. If the site still loads images, scripts, or links over http://, run a careful search-and-replace.

  1. Create or confirm a fresh backup.
  2. Use a reputable search-and-replace plugin, wp-toolkit option, or WP-CLI from SSH.
  3. Search for the exact old URL, such as http://example.com.
  4. Replace it with the exact new URL, such as https://example.com.
  5. Run a dry run first if the tool supports it.
  6. Apply the replacement.
  7. Remove any temporary search-and-replace plugin when finished.

From SSH, WP-CLI can run the same replacement:

wp search-replace 'http://example.com' 'https://example.com' --skip-columns=guid --dry-run
wp search-replace 'http://example.com' 'https://example.com' --skip-columns=guid

Match the exact URL

http://example.com, http://www.example.com, and http://example.com/blog are different values. Replace the exact version the site used before.

Test The Site

Check:

If the site redirects incorrectly or admin access breaks, contact Fused before making more URL changes.

If this article did not solve it, contact Fused support and we will help from there.

Contact support