If you’re ready to migrate or switch your website from Wordpress (or any other platform) to Squarespace, you may be concerned about how the move may affect your SEO.

You’ve worked hard for the search engine ranking that your website now enjoys and you don’t want to lose momentum.

Rest assured that it’s not the disaster you may have imagined.

It’s true that you may see a slight dip in your website’s search rankings. But by following best-practice guidance for your website’s SEO, that dip will likely have a very short life.

But first let’s talk about some of the reasons you may want to switch over to Squarespace in the first place.

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Reasons why you may want to switch your website from Wordpress to Squarespace

If you’ve been considering moving or building your website on Squarespace instead of Wordpress, you’re not alone. There are many beginner users or small business owners who are just looking to simplify and streamline their website.

They’re tired of endless plug-in or theme updates or some of the security issues that arise when using these third-party products. They just want their website to WORK… and look good of course… so that they can get back to running their business.

I’m obviously a huge fan of Squarespace and wholeheartedly recommend it to small business owners looking to have a polished and professional online presence. But I speak from years of personal experience, having used and designed websites on various platforms including Wordpress, prior to discovering Squarespace.

Having said that, below are just a few reasons why you may want to switch from Wordpress to Squarespace, and fully enjoy the benefits of this powerful website platform.

The Squarespace 7.1 platform

All-in-one hosting and domain name registration under one umbrella
Squarespace hosts your entire website and all the files that will be used (images, fonts, PDFs, etc.). Squarespace also provides simple domain name search and registration. If you’ve already purchased a domain name from a third party such as GoDaddy, Squarespace makes it incredibly simple to point your domain name to your new website.
Building your website on the Wordpress platform will require you to identify and pay a separate website hosting company which supports Wordpress and FTP for transferring files to your website.
A more beginner-friendly interface
Squarespace’s intuitive user interface has drag-and-drop features that make it simple for even beginners to grasp. The dashboard is so well organized, with a user-friendly panel to manage your website pages and settings. With Squarespace 7.1, there are pre-built templates and page sections that are interchangeable and help get users started right away simply by adding images and text content.
A site built on the Wordpress platform will involve a much steeper learning curve, especially for someone who’s never built a website or needs to add additional functionality. The user interface, although packed with many features, may feel overwhelming to a beginner user.
All the tools you need are already built-in
With your Squarespace website subscription, you’ll have access to so many built-in tools already at your fingertips. No need to install third-party add-ons, extensions, or plug-ins that could result in errors or code conflicting with other elements on your website. Squarespace provides powerful SEO tools, out-of-the-box blogging and e-commerce capabilities, an option to incorporate email marketing campaigns, and a scheduling tool. It also connects seamlessly with your social media accounts, Google Search Console, as well as Google Workspace email.
While Wordpress is quite scaleable and there are endless third-party extensions and plugins (free and paid) to choose from, users still need to do their own research and separately install the plugin needed for a particular feature.
Built-in security and less time spent updating software
Squarespace’s platform software is consistently and automatically updated so that you don’t have to do a thing. There is no need to monitor third-party plugins or perform manual updates. SSL comes with each website subscription
As referenced above, Wordpress users will need to do their own research/verification and keep all themes (templates) or plugins updated manually. This road may lead to outdated and poor quality plugins that may pose security risks for your website. Wordpress requires frequent platform updates, and users are responsible for maintaining all aspects of their website.
Support included
With your subscription to Squarespace, you have access to phenomenal support via live chat and email. Also, Squarespace has a huge collection of video tutorials and a dedicated forum network of Squarespace experts ready to answer your questions online.
There is a wide community of Wordpress resources and tutorials, but it’s not centralized or organized very well. There is no dedicated support service. Many Wordpress users end up having to consult with and pay for a professional website developer.

Switching from Wordpress to Squarespace

Now that you’ve decided to switch platforms from Wordpress to Squarespace, should you be worried about your website losing its SEO traction?

Although there may be a slight dip in rankings after the transition, by following best-practice SEO guidelines you can minimize any negative effects, and the dip should be short-lived.

Likewise, by having a well-designed, more engaging website, the overall positive user experience will increase, thereby organically boosting SEO.

Best-practice SEO tips to follow to help minimize ranking dips when switching from Wordpress to Squarespace:

Make careful note of the URL structure
Search engines like Google have already indexed your current website, so it has a “catalog” of your website’s pages, each page having its own unique URL (ie: yourwebsite.com/about).
If transferring your website from Wordpress to Squarespace and your page URLs suddenly change, Google won’t be able to find the old website page, which will result in a broken link.
Similarly, if you have backlinks from other websites to your own, any change to your page URLs will also result in broken links, thereby causing your search engine ranking to slip.
In a perfect world, you’d want the page URLs from the old website to match exactly to the page URLs of the new website, but that’s not always possible.
Use 301 redirects to prevent broken links
If it’s not possible, you’ll want to create 301 redirects to tell search engines where the new website page(s) are located. This will prevent broken links and ensure that Google can find and index the new page URL.
Before transitioning my client’s website from a different platform to Squarespace, I comb their existing website and create a spreadsheet of all the page names and URLs. I’ll add an extra column to the spreadsheet and make note of a page’s new URL (if it will be different). This will help me keep track of how many 301 redirects I’ll need to create. More on that with the link below!
✨ Read more: How to create 301 redirects on your Squarespace website
Create a custom 404 error page
You’ve probably seen these unsightly error pages before on different websites. A “404” page is displayed when a user tries to navigate to a non-existent page on your website. Squarespace has a default 404 page, but I always recommend creating your own.
But why create your own 404 error page? Because just like all the other pages of your Squarespace website, you can style it as part of your brand, customize it with your own message (I recommend getting creative!), and generally provide a better user experience.
Instead of the visitor getting frustrated that they’ve encountered some generic error message and risking them leaving your website all together, you can direct them to other relevant content on your website and keep them engaged.
And a better overall user experience is good for SEO.
Resubmit your sitemap to Google Search Console
After completing the new website and adding any 301 redirects, you should resubmit your website to be scanned and indexed via Google Search Console. This is a request and gives Google a heads-up to index your new website and take note of the website’s new structure and content.
Create a free Google Business listing
If you haven’t done so already, it’s also advisable to create a free business profile on Google. This takes a few minutes and will confirm your presence as a verified business on Google - always a good thing!

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Taking that next step to move your website to Squarespace…

It’s normal to see a slight dip in search engine rankings when changing website platforms. But don’t let that discourage you from making a change. The benefits of using Squarespace to develop and grow your website, and the many tools it provides to help you boost SEO should give you the confidence to make the move. And if you’ve followed these best-practice tips, the effects should be minimal and short-lived.