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How to Migrate from WordPress to Squarespace Without Losing SEO (Step-by-Step Guide)

October 27, 2025 How-to, Code, integration by Ambrose Kolurejo

Moving from WordPress to Squarespace can simplify maintenance and design, but if you don't manage redirects, metadata, and crawling correctly, you risk losing organic traffic. This guide walks you through a careful migration that preserves SEO — with technical steps, code snippets, and verification checks you can run yourself or hand to a developer.

Quick Migration Overview (The High-Level Plan)

Audit current WordPress site and inventory URLs, meta, and performance
Export content and media from WordPress
Import content to Squarespace and rebuild templates
Map old URLs → new URLs; configure 301 redirects (critical step)
Reconfigure domain, DNS, and SSL on Squarespace
Verify indexing, sitemap, canonical tags, and Search Console settings
Monitor traffic, fix broken links, and iterate

Step 0 — Pre-Migration Audit (Don't Skip This)

Before touching anything, run an audit so you can measure success and know what to migrate:

Export a list of all public URLs (use an XML sitemap or a crawling tool like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs)
Export key SEO data: meta title, meta description, H1s, canonical tags, structured data (JSON-LD)
Check Google Search Console for top-performing pages and queries
Back up WordPress database and wp-content/uploads (media)

Tools & Resources: Use Screaming Frog (SEO Spider), Ahrefs / SEMrush, and Google Search Console (GSC) for audits and post-migration monitoring.

Step 1 — Export Content from WordPress

WordPress provides built-in export tools and REST API options. Two approaches:

Quick export: WP Admin → Tools → Export → choose "All content" to get an XML export
Developer export (recommended for full control): Use the WordPress REST API to export posts, pages, featured images, and custom fields

# Example: GET latest posts via WP REST API (curl) curl "https://yourdomain.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts?per_page=100" \ -H "Accept: application/json"

Download your wp-content/uploads folder (all media). If you have a lot of media, consider using rsync or SFTP for a reliable transfer.

Step 2 — Plan URL Mapping & Permalink Strategy

Squarespace URL structure differs from WordPress. You must map old URLs to new ones and keep them consistent to preserve ranking signals.

Export a CSV of all WordPress URLs and target Squarespace URLs (new path)
Prioritize mapping for pages with organic traffic and backlinks
If exact matching is possible, keep the same slugs (recommended for key pages)

# Example CSV format: old_url,new_url https://example.com/blog/my-old-post,https://example.com/my-old-post https://example.com/category/old,https://example.com/category/old

Squarespace supports 301 redirects via a simple redirect mapping interface. See Squarespace's redirect docs: Squarespace import & redirects.

Step 3 — Import Content into Squarespace

Squarespace can import WordPress XML to populate pages and posts, but complex custom fields, shortcodes, and plugins won't transfer. Recommended steps:

Create a dev/staging Squarespace site (private) for the migration
Use Squarespace's import tool for standard posts/pages: Settings → Advanced → Import / WordPress
Manually recreate templates for landing pages, custom layouts, and page builders
Upload media to the Squarespace site or link to a CDN if you have many files

Tip: When importing, check that featured images, authorship, and published dates are preserved. If not, set them manually for priority posts.

Step 4 — Recreate Important SEO Elements

Squarespace manages basic meta tags but you should verify and, if necessary, set them manually for top pages:

Meta title and description (per page) — keep original copy to preserve CTR
Canonical tags — ensure Squarespace outputs the canonical to the page's final URL
Structured data (JSON-LD) — recreate it in Squarespace's code injection area

Step 5 — Configure 301 Redirects (Critical)

If you don't set up 301 redirects from the old WordPress URLs to the new Squarespace URLs, you'll lose ranking and traffic.

# Apache (.htaccess) 301 redirect examples # Redirect single URL Redirect 301 /old-blog-post https://example.com/new-blog-post # Redirect entire directory to new path RedirectMatch 301 ^/category/(.*)$ https://example.com/category/$1

# Nginx redirect example location /old-blog-post { return 301 https://example.com/new-blog-post; }

If you cannot keep the old server live to serve redirects, you must add mapping in Squarespace and ensure DNS cutover doesn't break the mapping period. For high-traffic sites, run redirects from the original host for at least 90 days.

Step 6 — DNS, Domain & SSL Setup

Squarespace provides domain connection instructions. Key steps:

Decide whether to transfer domain to Squarespace or keep DNS at your registrar
Update A records and CNAME records exactly as Squarespace requires
Squarespace auto-enables SSL (HTTPS) after DNS propagates — verify certificate

Resource: Squarespace DNS & SSL docs: Squarespace help center. If you use Cloudflare, see Cloudflare configuration guides: Cloudflare DNS guide.

Step 7 — Verify & Submit Sitemaps

After the site is live:

Generate or locate your Squarespace sitemap (typically /sitemap.xml)
In Google Search Console, add the site property, submit the new sitemap
Monitor Coverage & Indexing reports for 404s and redirect issues

# Example: Submit sitemap via curl to Ping Google curl "http://www.google.com/ping?sitemap=https://example.com/sitemap.xml"

Common Migration Mistakes & How to Avoid Them

Not inventorying pages — always export full URL list first
Switching DNS too early — run redirects in parallel before cutting live DNS
Neglecting canonical tags — set canonical tags to preferred pages
Forgetting robots.txt — test with Google's URL Inspection tool

Handy Resources & References

Need Professional Migration Help?

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