Want to jump straight to the answer? The most effortless way to change your WordPress login URL is with iThemes Security Pro.
Every WordPress website has the following login URLs by default.
yourwebsite.com/wp-login
yourwebsite.com/wp-admin
And all hackers, bots, and malicious backbiters know this.
Once they match your login page, they just need to think of your password to get in. Their possibilities of breaking into your site are rather high, believing that 59% of Americans employ weak passwords.
This is why guarding your WordPress site’s login page by modifying its default URL is vital for its security.
In this article, you’ll know how to Change Your WordPress Login URL that only you and your trusted users can access.
Let’s see.
Why Need To Change Your WordPress Login URL
WordPress is the world’s most famous content management system (CMS) among affiliate marketers, bloggers, and even big brand sites. WordPress is extremely popular, powering about one-third of the websites on the internet globally.
But it’s likewise the weakest because too many WordPress site proprietors don’t have the essential skills to defend their sites.
According to the 2019 Sucuri Website Threat Research Report, 94% of all CMS-based infected sites operated WordPress.
One reason hackers can effortlessly penetrate WordPress sites is that they know where to find a WordPress site’s login page.
From there, they use tools and software to locate the correct username and password combination since millions of people around the world use the same usernames and passwords.
Here are the most common passwords in 2019, according to Statista:
Senha (Portuguese for “password”)
Qwerty
Password
111111
123456
Picture1
123123
abc123
Switching only your WordPress login URL does not ensure website security. But it makes it more difficult for any hacker and unauthorized user to enter your site.
They cannot discover your site’s username and password unless they get its login page. By using a custom WordPress login URL, you can disguise your login page from most security threats.
However, security is still the primary reason why it’s worth changing your WordPress login URL.
Thankfully, accomplishing it isn’t very challenging.
The Investment Required to Make a Custom WP Login URL
Modifying your WordPress login URL is among the rather recommendations of any WordPress security specialist.
Regarding that it guards your site against being hacked, stolen, or destroyed, you should be prepared to pay a significant amount of money on it (unless your site isn’t valuable to you.)
But here’s the amazement.
You don’t need to invest any money at all to transform your WordPress login URL. You can accomplish it for free by using a faithful WordPress security plugin.
If you’re not a lover of operating plugins, you can furthermore make the modification manually.
But you really shouldn’t.
Unless you’re a professional coder or WordPress specialist who understands the hazards of playing with code, you can mess up your site’s login page and can potentially lose entrance to your WordPress dashboard.
Modifying the WordPress login URL will need modifications to your site’s .htaccess file and a few other core WP files. Even the most skilled WordPress coders don’t recreate these files unnecessarily.
This is why we extremely suggest that you install a trustworthy WordPress plugin to do this for you.
—Creating a Custom WP Login URL With a Plugin—
The slightly risky method of changing your WordPress login URL is by operating a trustworthy WordPress security plugin.
Why do I say less risky instead of zero risk? Because there are still hazards associated with modifying your login URL, which I will consult later in the article.
For now, understand that experienced WordPress specialists test the most suitable WordPress security plugins to fill any loopholes and possible risks.
You don’t need to worry about interfering with your site’s code or backend files. Instead, you can install, activate, and configure the correct plugin to modify the login URL for you.
You can discover both paid and free WordPress security plugins for this element, but I’d suggest going for a free option since there are many good ones available.
Here are some of the plugins you should think of installing to modify your WordPress login URL:
iThemes Security Pro
WPS Hide Login
—Steps to Changing Your WordPress Login URL—
Let me now show you the exact steps involved in changing your WordPress site’s login URL.
We’ll use the WPS Hide Login plugin for this demonstration since it’s the lightest plugin on the list.
First Step: Backup Your WordPress Website
Before installing a plugin to make a custom WordPress login URL, you must take a full back of your site.
How do you backup your WordPress site? With a plugin! The top suggested plugin for backing up a WordPress site is Backup Buddy. Install and activate the plugin and follow its instructions to fully backup your site.
Second Step: Install The WordPress Plugin To Change Login URL
Before installing a plugin to make a custom WordPress login URL, you must take a full back of your site.
How do you backup your WordPress site? With a plugin! The top suggested plugin for backing up a WordPress site is Backup Buddy. Install and activate the plugin and follow its instructions to fully backup your site.
After taking backup of your website, it’s time to install and activate a WordPress plugin to make a custom login URL.
As I’ve already authenticated you, there are many excellent plugins for this objective. But in this post, we’ll operate WPS Hide Login.
Just log in to your WordPress website dashboard and hit Add New under Plugins in the left menu.
Dig for WPS Hide Login in the plugin search box.
Inspect if the plugin has experimented with your WordPress version.
Click Install Now to begin the installation.
Click Activate to begin using the plugin on your site.
You have effectively installed the plugin and can see it in the Installed Plugins area under Plugins in your dashboard’s left menu.
Third Step: Configure The Plugin
Go to Installed Plugins under Plugins in the left menu of your site’s dashboard.
Scroll down to find WPS Hide Login and click Settings under the plugin’s name.
Here you need to set the new login URL of your site and the redirect URL when somebody visits your old login URL (wp-admin or wp-login).
For the login URL, make a unique but unforgettable keyword that unauthorized users can’t skillfully guess.
After successfully applying the changes, you will see a confirmation message on the settings page.
Fourth Step: Test Your New Login URL
Sign out of your WordPress website. Go to your old login URL to see if it’s still working or redirect you to the new URL.
If so go to your new login URL.
Enter your username and password to log in. Now, If everything performs the method you want, it indicates the plugin is working nicely.
—How To Go Back To The Original WordPress Login URL—
When you delete the WPS Hide Login folder from your FTP account, your WordPress login URL will go back to the default wp-admin and wp-login page.
—Risks When Changing Your WordPress Login URL—
* Sometimes the plugin you’re using for creating a custom WordPress login URL can malfunction. To bypass this problem, make it foolproof you’re operating an updated plugin and finish its installation process without any interference.
* You Forget The URL. To avoid this problem, make sure you bookmark the custom login page or email yourself the URL.
Last things, you should use Google ReCaptcha on your login page and any different forms on your site to get rid of bots and automated login tries.
Also, you can limit the number of login shots on your site so that unauthorized users get shut out forever if they try thinking about your login credentials.
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