Moving from Wix or Squarespace to WordPress is a good way to gain control over your site, and an easy way to lose search traffic you spent years building. The new design is rarely the cause. Traffic drops when old page addresses stop working and Google can’t find where the content went. If every old URL points to the right new one, rankings have the best chance of settling once Google has recrawled the site. This guide covers what each platform lets you export, how to map and redirect your pages, and what to watch after launch.
What you can and can’t export
Squarespace
Squarespace has a built-in export that produces an XML file in WordPress’s import format, according to its export guide. It covers layout pages, one blog with its posts and comments, and text and image blocks. A lot is left out: store pages and product blocks, album, portfolio and calendar pages, page-specific headers and footers, audio and video blocks, drafts, style settings and custom CSS. Squarespace also warns that images imported into a self-hosted WordPress site may keep pointing at Squarespace’s servers and break once you cancel, so download and re-upload images as part of the move.
Wix
Wix offers much less. Its help centre says plainly that it is not possible to export blog posts to other platforms. In practice that means copying content across by hand, using a third-party migration tool or plugin, or having a developer script the copy. Budget time for this, especially for a large blog.
Step one: list every URL that matters
Before you build anything, make a spreadsheet of your current URLs. Google’s site move guide suggests building the list from your sitemaps, your most visited pages in analytics, the Search Console links report and your content management system, and it reminds you to include images and other files. For each URL, note its monthly visits and whether other sites link to it. Those are the pages you can’t afford to break.
Step two: map and redirect from Wix or Squarespace to WordPress
Wix and Squarespace use their own URL patterns, and a WordPress site will usually use different ones. Add a second column to your spreadsheet with the new URL for each old one. Where you can, keep the same slug, which makes the mapping simple. Where pages are merged, point the old ones to the closest new page.
Google’s guidance on the redirects themselves is specific:
- Use server-side permanent redirects (301 or 308).
- Send each old URL straight to its final destination, avoiding chains; if a chain is unavoidable, keep it to three hops or fewer.
- Don’t send lots of old URLs to an unrelated page such as the home page.
- Keep the redirects for at least a year, and longer if you can.
- Give each new page a self-referencing canonical tag and update your internal links to the new URLs.
On WordPress, redirects can be added at server level by your host or through a redirect plugin that imports a CSV. Test every row before launch on the staging site.
Keep your old platform subscription running for a few weeks after launch. It gives you a reference copy if a page or image turns out to be missing.
Step three: launch and watch
When the redirects are tested, point your domain at the new host. If the domain stays the same, Google says you don’t need its Change of Address tool, which is only for moving between domains or subdomains. Submit a sitemap of the new URLs in Search Console as soon as redirects are live.
Then watch. Google warns that rankings may move around while it recrawls, and that for a medium-sized site the switch can take a few weeks or more. Check the Search Console pages report and your server’s 404 log every few days for the first month, and add redirects for any old URL you missed. Say a physiotherapy clinic in Dubai moves its 60-page Wix site: a missed redirect for its most-visited treatment page could cost more enquiries than the rest of the move combined, which is why the inventory comes first.
If you would like the move handled for you, our website team does migrations to WordPress, starting with a free 30-minute call and a written scope agreed before any work begins.
Frequently asked questions
Will I lose my Google rankings if I move from Wix to WordPress?
Some movement is normal while Google recrawls the site, and Google says the switch can take a few weeks or more for a medium-sized site. Lasting losses usually come from missing redirects, removed content or a much slower new site. Map every important URL, use permanent redirects and keep the content that ranked, and you give the site the best chance of holding its positions.
Can I export my Squarespace site straight into WordPress?
Partly. Squarespace exports an XML file in WordPress format that includes regular pages, one blog and basic text and image blocks. Store pages, products, portfolios, calendars, custom CSS and style settings are not exported. Images may still point to Squarespace after import into a self-hosted site, so download them and re-upload them to WordPress before cancelling.
How long should I keep redirects after a site move?
Google recommends keeping redirects for at least one year, and longer if possible. Other websites, bookmarks and old emails will keep sending people to the old addresses long after search engines have updated. Redirects cost almost nothing to keep, so the safest approach is to leave them in place permanently unless they cause a technical problem.