Can you move a Squarespace site to another platform?

Squarespace’s export produces one .xml file in the format WordPress reads. According to its help centre, the file contains:

• layout pages;
• one blog page, with all of its posts;
• text blocks and image blocks;
• gallery pages.

Products can be exported separately as a spreadsheet file, and so can the contact list.

Squarespace is direct about the limit: not everything exports, because many features rely on its own JavaScript and CSS. Its list of what is left out includes store pages, portfolio and index pages, a second blog, product, video and audio blocks, drafts, style settings and custom CSS.

In short, the words and pictures of the simpler pages travel. The design does not, and nor does the shop.

The design, the page layouts, the forms, the shop and anything on a page type the export skips are rebuilt on the new platform. A rebuild is also the chance to make the pages lighter, as our guide to why a Squarespace site is slow describes.

The move is safe when it is done in this order.

1. Record the old site. List every address, and export from Search Console the pages and searches that bring visitors.
2. Export what Squarespace allows, and copy the rest by hand.
3. Build the new site on a private address, carrying over the content that ranks.
4. Map each old address to its new one, and set up a permanent redirect for each.
5. Point the domain at the new site, submit the new sitemap and watch Search Console for four weeks.

Our guide to redesigning a website without losing rankings covers each step.

A domain registered with Squarespace can be transferred to another provider. Squarespace’s steps are to switch off the domain lock, request a transfer code, and give that code to the new provider. The code arrives by email within 24 hours, and the transfer itself can take up to 15 days.

Two locks can delay it: a domain bought in the last 60 days, and a change to the registrant’s name, organisation or email address in the last 60 days.

Keep the Squarespace subscription running until the new site is live, the redirects are tested and the domain has moved. A site that goes dark before its replacement answers loses visitors and rankings in the gap.