Wix and Squarespace are great for getting a site up quickly. Many businesses outgrow them, though, and start looking at WordPress for more flexibility, better SEO control or simply owning their site outright. Here’s what the move really looks like.
01 Why businesses make the switch
- More control. WordPress lets you build almost anything, without being limited to one company’s features.
- You own it. Your site lives on your own hosting, and you can move it any time.
- Better SEO tools. Full control over page titles, redirects, speed and structured data.
- Room to grow. Booking, online stores, memberships and more can be added as you need them.
02 What moves over, and what gets rebuilt
This is the part that surprises people. There’s no button that moves a Wix or Squarespace site to WordPress as-is. The design is always rebuilt, because each platform works differently.
ContentMoves over. Your text, images and blog posts come across, either with an import tool or by hand.
DesignGets rebuilt. Which is usually a good thing: it’s the perfect time to improve it.
DomainStays yours. Your domain can be pointed to the new site, or transferred to a registrar you control.
EmailNeeds care. If your email is tied to your domain, the settings have to be moved carefully so nothing gets lost.
03 Keeping your Google rankings
The biggest risk in any move is losing the search rankings you’ve built up. When page addresses change and nothing tells Google where they went, those pages show up as errors.
The fix: 301 redirectsBefore launch, every old page address gets mapped to its new one. Anyone, including Google, who visits an old link lands on the right new page automatically.
04 How I handle a migration
- List every page, blog post and form on your current site, along with its address.
- Build the new WordPress site on a private staging address, so your current site stays live.
- Move your content, set up redirects and double-check email and domain settings.
- Switch the domain over, then watch Google Search Console for any errors in the weeks after.
Done carefully, most visitors never notice the switch, except that the new site is faster and easier to use.
