Squarespace gets one big thing right: a Squarespace site almost never looks bad. The templates are genuinely well designed, and for a lot of businesses that's the whole reason they chose it.
But "looks good" and "works hard" are different jobs. The businesses we talk to who are leaving Squarespace usually say some version of the same things: the site is pretty but doesn't generate calls, the blog and SEO controls feel limited, page speed is mediocre and there's nothing to tune, or they've outgrown what a template can do and every workaround adds another monthly app fee on top of the subscription itself.
If that's you, the good news is that Squarespace is one of the easier platforms to leave, easier than Wix, for one specific reason we'll get to. The risk isn't the leaving. It's losing the search rankings your current URLs have earned. This guide covers the whole move in order: what exports, what doesn't, and the redirect work that protects your traffic.
What actually exports from Squarespace (and what doesn't)
Squarespace has a real export feature, which puts it ahead of most builders. But you need to know its exact boundaries before you plan around it.
What exports cleanly:
- Blog posts. Squarespace exports to a WordPress-format XML file. Text, titles, and publish dates come through well. If you're moving to WordPress, this is a one-click import on the other end. Even if you're moving to a custom-built site, the XML file is a structured copy of all your writing, which beats copy-paste.
- Regular text pages. Standard pages generally come through in the same export.
- One blog. If you have multiple blogs on your site, only one comes along. Plan for the others manually.
What does not export:
- Product pages and store data. Your e-commerce catalog needs to be exported separately as a CSV, and inventory, customer accounts, and order history don't transfer the way you'd hope.
- Images, mostly. The export references your images but doesn't reliably package them. In practice you download images separately and re-upload them on the new site. Same advice as always: give them real filenames, not IMG_4032.jpeg.
- Galleries, events, album pages, and most "fancy" blocks. Anything that depended on a Squarespace-specific content type gets rebuilt by hand.
- The design. Templates, fonts, spacing, the look itself, none of it is portable. You're not moving your design; you're replacing it. For most people leaving, that's the point.
- Scheduling, member areas, email campaigns. These are Squarespace services, not website content. They get replaced with equivalents, not migrated.
The honest summary: your words travel well, your structure travels partially, and your design doesn't travel at all. Budget your time accordingly.
The URL audit: the step that protects your rankings
Before anyone builds anything, make the spreadsheet. Every live URL on your current site in column A, the planned URL on the new site in column B.
Squarespace URLs have recognizable patterns: blog posts often live under /blog/post-title, and pages get whatever slug you (or the template) chose years ago. Some of those URLs have backlinks from directories, local press, suppliers, and partners. Some of them rank for searches that bring in actual customers. Each of those URLs is a small asset, and the spreadsheet is your asset inventory.
Two tools tell you which URLs actually matter:
- Google Search Console. Free, from Google, shows exactly which pages get impressions and clicks. If it's not set up on your current site, set it up today and let it collect data while you plan. A few weeks of data will tell you more than any guess.
- Your own analytics. Which pages do visitors actually land on? Those entry pages are the ones that need careful redirect treatment.
While you're auditing, record each important page's title tag and meta description too. If a page ranks, its title is part of why, and rebuilds have a way of quietly replacing "Roof Repair in Wilmington NC, Free Estimates" with "Our Services." Carry the titles over deliberately.
Build the new site in parallel, then cut over
Your Squarespace site stays live while the new one gets built on a staging address. No gap, no half-launched limbo. The cutover, when it comes, is a DNS change that takes effect in hours.
What to carry over beyond the words:
- Heading structure. Each page's main heading should keep its core topic.
- Internal linking. If the homepage linked to your three biggest service pages, keep that pattern.
- Image alt text where it existed and was meaningful.
And what to fix, since you're rebuilding anyway: real page speed (test the before-and-after with the free tools at web.dev), service pages that are built to convert visitors into calls rather than just look composed, and locally-targeted pages if you serve specific towns. This is where a rebuild pays for itself. The migration protects what you have; the rebuild improves it. Our website and SEO service page goes deeper on what that foundation includes.
301 redirects: Squarespace's one genuinely nice exit feature
Here's the reason Squarespace is easier to leave than most builders, in reverse. When sites move to a new platform, the redirects live on the new host, and that's true here too. But Squarespace also gives you a clean URL-mapping panel while you're still on it, which means many Squarespace site owners already half-understand redirects, and the concept transfers directly.
On the new site, the rules are the same as any migration:
- Every old URL that had traffic or backlinks gets a 301 redirect to its specific new counterpart. A 301 is a permanent forwarding address; it's how Google transfers the ranking equity from the old URL to the new one.
- Page to page, never everything to the homepage. Mass-redirecting to the homepage tells Google "these pages are gone," and their rankings evaporate instead of transferring.
- Mind the patterns. Squarespace blog URLs (/blog/post-title) often need a systematic rewrite rule if your new blog uses a different structure. One pattern rule can handle hundreds of posts; just verify a sample by hand.
- Keep redirects forever. They're not scaffolding. They cost nothing and protect old links from directories and bookmarks indefinitely.
Google's own documentation on site moves says essentially this: map old to new, redirect permanently, keep the redirects in place. It's not secret knowledge. It's diligence.
Launch day: DNS, Google Business Profile, and the cancellation question
On launch day, three things happen:
- DNS changes. Your domain points to the new host instead of Squarespace. If your domain is registered through Squarespace, you don't have to transfer it the same day, you can simply point its DNS elsewhere, but plan to transfer it to a neutral registrar eventually so your domain isn't tied to a platform you've left.
- Google Business Profile gets updated. If you're a local business, your Business Profile is often your biggest source of calls. Make sure the website link, and any appointment or menu links, point at the right new URLs, not at old paths that now bounce through redirects.
- Search Console gets the new sitemap. This invites Google to recrawl promptly and discover your redirects, which shortens the turbulent period.
Do not cancel Squarespace yet. Keep the subscription through at least a full billing cycle. You will think of something you forgot, a form submission, an old draft, a setting you need to reference, and it's worth a month's fee to have the old site available read-only while the new one settles.
The first six weeks: what's normal and what's not
Expect fluctuation. Even flawless migrations wobble for a few weeks while Google recrawls everything, follows the redirects, and re-scores the new pages. Rankings commonly dip slightly and recover; sometimes they improve outright because the new site is faster and better structured.
Watch Search Console weekly:
- 404 reports. Every 404 is an old URL you missed. Add the redirect and move on. This is normal cleanup.
- Indexing of new pages. Days to a couple of weeks is typical.
- Clicks on your money pages. A soft dip through week three or four is normal. If a key page is still flatlined at week six, dig into its specific redirect and indexing status rather than waiting longer.
One more honest note: if your Squarespace site never ranked for anything and never got search traffic, much of the redirect ceremony above matters less for you. You're not protecting an asset; you're building one for the first time. That changes the project from "careful migration" to "proper launch," which is its own discipline, especially for local service businesses like HVAC or cleaning and restoration where the local map results drive the phone.
If you'd rather watch it get done than do it
Omnyra builds done-with-you websites live on a call. You're on the screen with us while the site takes shape, first draft within 24 hours, live in 7 days guaranteed, with the URL mapping and 301 work handled as part of the job, not as an upsell.
Pricing is flat and public: Minimal sites from $500, Standard at $2,000 plus $200/mo including SEO and AI-search optimization, Max at $3,500 plus $400/mo with a 24/7 AI receptionist answering your calls, and Super Max custom back-office systems from $6,000. Pay-in-4 and Klarna available. Veteran-owned, Wilmington NC, 1,500+ small business sites built in the last 90 days.
Check the pricing or book a call, bring your Squarespace login and we'll audit what you have together, free, before you decide anything.