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Migration guide

Moving to MLSimport from a RETS feed, from another IDX plugin, or from a hosted iframe. What carries over, what does not, and the order to do it in.

Before you start

  • Take a full backup of the site, files and database.
  • Write down what you currently have: which MLS, which provider platform, how many listings are published, and which URLs matter for SEO.
  • Get your RESO Web API credentials from your MLS or data provider. This is usually the slowest step, so start it first.
  • Do the whole thing on a staging copy if you have one. If you do not, do it during your quietest hours.

You do not have to cancel anything on day one. MLSimport can import into a fresh set of listings while your old system is still running, so you can compare the two before you switch.

Coming from a RETS feed

RETS is the older transport, and boards are retiring it. RESO Web API is the replacement: JSON over HTTPS, OAuth 2.0, and a shared data dictionary instead of per-board field soup.

  1. Ask your MLS for Web API credentials. Most boards issue them alongside, or instead of, RETS keys.
  2. Install MLSimport and run the setup wizard. Pick your market from the type-ahead list so the metadata loads.
  3. Live-test the credentials in the wizard before saving.
  4. Recreate your old feed rules as an import task. RETS queries usually translate cleanly into the location, price, type, status and agent filters.
  5. Run a capped test import, 25 listings or so, and compare them field by field against the old ones.

Background reading: why the RETS feed is obsolete, what IDX, MLS, RETS and RESO API actually are, and RESO Web API connection details explained.

Coming from another IDX plugin

  1. Inventory what the old plugin created. Most write listings as a custom post type with their own meta keys, which MLSimport will not read.
  2. Set up MLSimport alongside it and import into its own listings. Do not delete anything yet.
  3. Compare counts and spot-check twenty listings for price, status, photos and description.
  4. Map your URLs. If the old plugin used a different permalink base, plan redirects before you switch.
  5. Switch your templates and menus over, confirm the site looks right, and only then deactivate the old plugin.
  6. Clean up the old post type and its meta once you are sure. Bulk property cleanup by taxonomy term is in the admin tools.

Coming from a hosted IDX iframe or widget

This is the biggest change, and the one worth doing. An iframe puts listings on someone else’s domain, which means the pages are not really yours and search engines treat them accordingly. MLSimport writes listings into WordPress as ordinary posts on your domain, with clean permalinks and JSON-LD schema.

There is nothing to migrate technically, because there was never anything on your site. Set up your import task, build your listing pages, then remove the iframe and redirect any old links to the new pages.

Field mapping is the part worth slowing down for

Everything else is mechanical. Field mapping is where a migration goes quietly wrong, because a missing field does not throw an error, it just renders blank.

  • Start from the fields your theme actually displays, not from all 400.
  • Rename fields to the labels your visitors expect, not the RESO names.
  • Decide which fields are private before you go live, not after.
  • Route anything you want to filter or browse by to a taxonomy, not a custom field.

Cutover

  1. Run a full import and let one hourly sync complete.
  2. Check the activity log. It records every add, update and delete with the task that caused it.
  3. Point your templates, menus and internal links at the new listings.
  4. Put your redirects live.
  5. Deactivate the old system. Leave it installed for a week in case you need to look at it.

Rolling back

If you need to reverse course, your imported listings are ordinary WordPress posts. Cancelling MLSimport stops the sync, it does not delete your content, and nothing is held hostage. Reactivate the old plugin, restore your templates, and you are back.

Stuck on a step? Open a ticket from your dashboard or talk to a human. Full assistance with setting up your import is included in the plan.