Yes, you can move from Squarespace to self-hosted WordPress without losing your content or your search rankings, and you don’t need to be a developer to pull it off. The order matters more than the tools: prepare your host and staging site, export your Squarespace XML, import it into WordPress, bring your images over, set your permalinks and redirects, point your domain, then test and monitor. Watch out for three things — images, store data, and redirects — all need manual attention, because none of them come across cleanly on their own.
TL;DR:
- Nearly half of small business pages, especially store and album pages, may require manual rebuilding after export due to platform differences.
- Image URLs often remain hosted on Squarespace servers and must be manually re-uploaded or fixed with plugins like Auto Upload Images to avoid broken links.
- Building a detailed redirect map from old URLs to new ones is critical, especially for high-traffic pages, and should prioritize server-level redirects for speed and reliability.
- Changing DNS records to point your domain to the new site usually takes less than a day and preserves email, while domain transfers can trigger longer delays and locks.
- Migrating a site with over 50 pages or a complex store often benefits from professional help to ensure rankings, layouts, and data are preserved efficiently.
Table of Contents
- What Squarespace Exports (and What It Doesn’t)
- Getting Ready: Hosting, Staging, Backups, and Your URL Map
- How Do You Import a Squarespace Site Into WordPress?
- Fixing the Image Problem After Import
- Setting Permalinks and Building Your 301 Redirect Map
- Pointing Your Domain Without Losing Email
- Rebuilding What the Export Left Behind
- Launch Day and Your First 30 Days on WordPress
- What a Studio Sees After Dozens of These Migrations
- When Migration Actually Makes Sense for a Small Business
- Get Hands-On Help With Your Migration
- Where to Verify the Details Yourself
- Sources
- FAQ
What Squarespace Exports (and What It Doesn’t)
Squarespace’s export tool is honest about its limits, but a lot of people find that out the hard way. The export function hands you a WordPress-compatible XML file, and that file carries your layout pages, one blog collection (including posts and up to 1,000 comments per post), plus your text, image, and embed blocks. Everything else stays behind on Squarespace’s servers.
Here’s what typically doesn’t make the trip:
- Product listings and store data (inventory, pricing, order history)
- Album, index, and event pages
- Audio and video blocks
- Custom CSS and code injections
- Form submission records
That gap has real consequences. Images referenced in your export often stay hosted on Squarespace’s servers instead of moving with your content, which means they vanish the moment you cancel your plan. Store owners face the biggest rebuild, since WooCommerce or a similar plugin has to be configured from scratch. As a rough planning number, expect close to half of a typical marketing site to need manual rebuilding rather than a clean import. That’s not a reason to panic. It’s a reason to budget your time honestly before you start.
Getting Ready: Hosting, Staging, Backups, and Your URL Map
Rushing the prep work is the single biggest reason migrations go sideways. Handle these steps in order, and you’ll have a safety net the whole way through.
- Pick WordPress hosting and spin up a staging URL. Working on a private staging address means you can build, test, and fix mistakes without the public ever seeing an unfinished site. Many hosts offer managed migration help or one-click WordPress installs, which is worth considering if you’d rather not configure a server yourself.
- Build a complete URL inventory. Pull your live URLs from your sitemap.xml, your Google Search Console index, and a crawl from a tool like Screaming Frog, then combine all three lists.
- Flag your highest-traffic pages first. These get priority when you build your redirect map later.
- Record your DNS and MX settings, and confirm your domain registrar isn’t locked. Screenshot key pages for reference while you rebuild.
- Back up your Squarespace content and save your exported XML file somewhere safe, separate from any working folder you might accidentally overwrite.
- Decide whether you’ll repoint DNS or transfer the domain outright, and check for any lock windows tied to a recent registration or transfer.
Pro Tip: Building the URL inventory takes about an hour for most small sites, and it’s the single highest-leverage hour of the entire project. Skip it and you’ll spend days later chasing broken links you didn’t know existed.
How Do You Import a Squarespace Site Into WordPress?
Once your prep work is done, the actual squarespace to wordpress migration comes down to three moves: install WordPress, export from Squarespace, and run the import. None of them are difficult on their own, but each has a spot where small sites commonly stumble.
1. Install WordPress on your staging environment.
Most hosts either install it for you during setup or offer a one-click installer in their dashboard. Confirm you can log into /wp-admin on your staging URL before moving forward. If you can’t get in, fix that first. Nothing downstream works without it.
2. Export your Squarespace site.
Go to Settings, then Advanced, then Import/Export inside your Squarespace dashboard. Choose the WordPress export option and download the XML file it generates. Save a copy somewhere permanent, not just in your downloads’ folder.
3. Import the XML into WordPress.
In your WordPress admin, go to Tools, then Import. If the WordPress importer isn’t already installed, WordPress will prompt you to install it from the official plugin directory, which is also the place to look for any import-related plugin down the line. Run the importer, upload your XML file, and assign an author to the imported content when prompted. Critically, check the box for “Download and import file attachments” before you run it. Skipping that checkbox is one of the more common reasons people end up with broken images later.
Here’s a number worth sitting with: on a typical small business site, roughly half the pages you had on Squarespace won’t survive the export process intact, because album pages, index pages, and store pages simply aren’t part of the XML format. That’s not a WordPress problem. It’s a structural difference between the two platforms, and it’s exactly why the next few sections of this guide exist.
Troubleshooting common import snags:
- If your XML file is too large for your server’s upload limit, split it into smaller files by date range using a plugin like WordPress Importer’s chunking options, or ask your host to temporarily raise the limit.
- If the import stalls partway through, don’t panic. Re-running the importer on the same file typically skips content that already imported successfully and picks up where it left off.
- If posts import but images show broken icons, that’s expected at this stage. The image fix comes next.
- If your author names show up wrong, reassign them in bulk from the Users screen after the import completes rather than mid process.
Fixing the Image Problem After Import
The WordPress importer brings over your text and your image tags, but not always the images themselves. Left alone, those images stay hotlinked back to Squarespace’s servers, meaning your “migrated” site is quietly still dependent on the platform you’re trying to leave. Cancel your Squarespace plan, and every one of those images disappears at once.
- Install a plugin such as Auto Upload Images, which scans your published posts for external image URLs.
- Run it across your content in batches rather than all at once, especially on a shared hosting plan.
- Spot-check your media library count against your old Squarespace image count to confirm nothing got missed.
- For stubborn holdouts, manually download the images from Squarespace and re-upload them directly through the WordPress media library.
- Run the Regenerate Thumbnails plugin afterward so every image size WordPress needs actually exists.
Pro Tip: Stagger large batch updates instead of running them all at once. Processing hundreds of images in a single pass is a common way to trigger a server timeout, and you’ll end up rerunning the whole batch anyway.
Setting Permalinks and Building Your 301 Redirect Map
This is the section that actually protects your search rankings, and it’s the one people are most tempted to rush. Go to Settings, then Permalinks in WordPress, and try to match your old Squarespace URL structure as closely as you can. Test one sample URL carefully before committing. Squarespace sometimes uses unpadded numbers in date-based URLs, while WordPress pads the month and day, and that small mismatch can silently break a much larger set of URLs than you’d expect.
Building the redirect map itself follows the same three-source approach from your prep checklist:
- Pull URLs from your sitemap.xml, your Search Console index, and a fresh crawler pass.
- Combine and deduplicate the list into a single master sheet.
- Prioritize your top-traffic pages first if time is tight.
- Map each old URL to its exact new equivalent, not just to your homepage.
On implementation, server-level redirects run before WordPress even loads, which makes them faster and more durable than plugin-based ones. Use your host’s server configuration where you have access to it. When you don’t, the Redirection plugin handles long lists well and logs which redirects are actually firing. Either way, test every redirect by checking its HTTP response header, not just by clicking the link, and never lazily point a retired page at your homepage. That kind of catch-all redirect tells Google the page’s original content is gone, not relocated.
Pointing Your Domain Without Losing Email
You have two real options here: update your DNS records to point at your new WordPress host, or transfer the domain to a new registrar entirely. Updating DNS is faster and is the right call for most small businesses. A full registrar transfer takes longer and can trigger a 60-day ICANN lock, so save that move for when you actually want to change who manages the domain.
- Copy your existing MX records before touching anything else, so your email keeps working through the switch.
- Don’t change registrar settings until your new WordPress site has been fully tested on staging.
- DNS propagation typically finishes within a day, though it can take longer depending on your provider.
- Confirm the switch worked by loading your domain from a different network and checking that it lands on WordPress, not Squarespace.
Rebuilding What the Export Left Behind
Your album pages, index pages, store pages, and any layout built on custom CSS need to be recreated by hand inside WordPress, not migrated. Prioritize by traffic and revenue impact: rebuild your highest-value pages first, and let low-traffic legacy content wait.
- Choose a WordPress theme or page builder that can reproduce your old layout, and preserve your original heading structure (H1, H2, H3) along with your meta titles and descriptions for SEO continuity.
- For contact and inquiry forms, a plugin like WPForms or Gravity Forms covers most small business needs.
- For a Squarespace store, WooCommerce is the standard rebuild path, though expect real time investment reentering products, since none of that data exports.
- Budget roughly 15 to 30 minutes per simple page and considerably more per store product with images and variants.
- If you’re looking at a large store, custom integrations, or a brand identity that has to look exactly right, that’s the point where hiring a professional starts paying for itself. Our guide to planning a website redesign walks through how to scope that kind of project.
Launch Day and Your First 30 Days on WordPress
Before you flip the switch, run through this list one more time.
- Turn off “Discourage search engines from indexing this site” under Settings, then Reading. Leaving this enabled is the most common post-launch mistake, because staging environments default to it and it’s easy to forget it’s there.
- Verify your redirects and top pages one final time, and confirm your SSL certificate is active.
- Point your DNS to go live, then submit your updated sitemap to Google Search Console immediately.
- Watch your indexing coverage report daily for the first week, checking for crawl errors or unexpected drops.
For the following month, check Search Console and your analytics regularly, review your 404 log for anything that slipped through your redirect map, and run one more full crawl to catch broken internal links. Keep your Squarespace subscription active for at least 30 days after launch. It costs you a little more, but it’s a live fallback if you discover something the export missed.
Pro Tip: After the import finishes, search your new site’s HTML for any absolute links still pointing back to your old Squarespace domain. These often hide inside embedded content and quietly create redirect chains that slow your site down.
What a Studio Sees After Dozens of These Migrations
The pages that keep ranking after a migration are always the ones where redirects and heading structure got attention first. Skip that step, and even a beautiful new site loses the search visibility that took years to build. If your site is under roughly 50 pages with no store, a motivated owner can usually handle this in a focused weekend. Once you’re dealing with a product catalog, custom integrations, or a brand that can’t afford to look “off” for even a day, that’s when bringing in a studio starts making financial sense rather than feeling like an indulgence.
When Migration Actually Makes Sense for a Small Business
I recommend migration when a business has genuinely outgrown Squarespace’s flexibility. Squarespace is built for fast setup with minimal friction. WordPress trades some of that simplicity for scalability, custom functionality, and long-term control over your own platform. That trade only pays off once you actually need the features on the other side of it. When a client is ready, the studio’s WordPress design work picks up exactly where this guide leaves off.
— Charles
Get Hands-On Help With Your Migration
If everything above sounds doable but you’d rather not spend a weekend buried in redirect spreadsheets, professional services can assist with staging setup, XML import and image migration, full 301 redirect implementation, custom WordPress theme builds, and support after launch, to ensure nothing gets left behind on the old platform.
This kind of project makes the most sense when you’re short on time, running a store with real inventory to rebuild, or working with a brand that needs to look sharp from day one rather than “good enough for now.” A rushed DIY migration can quietly cost you rankings you spent years earning back, and that’s a hard thing to undo. If you want a second set of hands on your redirect map or a full custom rebuild instead, visit our Phoenix WordPress design page to see how we scope migration projects, or start with our home page to get a feel for the studio’s work before reaching out.
Where to Verify the Details Yourself
- Squarespace’s own export documentation for the exact list of what does and doesn’t transfer.
- The WordPress for import tools and layout resources.
- Babylovegrowth’s migration SEO guide for a deeper look at URL mapping and ranking preservation during a site move.
Sources
- Exporting your site
- How to Migrate From Squarespace to WordPress (7 Steps) — Kinsta
- Squarespace to WordPress Migration Guide | SiteAim
FAQ
Is Squarespace Easier to Use Than WordPress?
Squarespace is easier for a beginner starting from zero, since it’s a closed system with built-in templates and no server setup required. WordPress asks more of you upfront but gives you far more control once your site’s needs grow beyond what a template can handle.
Can I Keep My Domain If I Leave Squarespace?
Yes. You can either update your DNS records to point your existing domain at a new WordPress host, or transfer the domain to a new registrar entirely, though transfers can involve a waiting period tied to your registration date.
Can Squarespace Integrate With WordPress?
Not directly. There’s no live sync between the two platforms. A squarespace to wordpress migration works through a one-time export and import process, which is why the redirect map and image handling steps matter so much.
What Is WordPress’ Biggest Competitor?
Squarespace, Wix, and Shopify are the platforms most often compared to WordPress, each trading some of WordPress’s flexibility for a more guided, all-in-one setup experience.
How Long Does a Squarespace to WordPress Migration Take?
A small site under roughly 50 pages with no store can often be migrated in a focused weekend by a motivated owner, while larger sites or those with e-commerce typically need more time and may benefit from professional help.