Move from Wix or Squarespace to WordPress

  • wordpress
  • squarespace
  • wix
  • migration
  • redirects

Updated

Moving from Wix or Squarespace to WordPress means rebuilding the site, not copying it. Squarespace can export some content to a WordPress file; Wix can't export your site at all, so its content is copied over by hand or with a migration service. Plan the move in four parts: list what you have, bring the content across, rebuild the design, then switch the domain with redirects so you keep your search traffic.

What you can bring across

Squarespace exports a WordPress-ready file of your layout pages, one blog (with its posts and comments), and text, image, and some embed content. It doesn't export store pages, other page types such as index, album, and portfolio pages, audio, video, and product blocks, drafts, or your styles. If you have more than one blog, you choose one. Source: Squarespace: Exporting your site.

Wix says its sites can't be moved to another host, because they only run on Wix's own system. Text and images have to be copied across. Source: Wix: Exporting or embedding your Wix site elsewhere.

On either platform, download the original images you uploaded, and export what the platform's apps allow, such as store products, contacts, or form submissions.

The design never transfers. The new site is built fresh on a WordPress theme.

1. List what you have

  1. Make a spreadsheet of every page and blog post, with its current address.
  2. Note what each page does: forms, bookings, store, member areas, newsletter signup. Each needs a WordPress equivalent.
  3. Note where your domain is registered and where your email is hosted. Squarespace and Wix often manage both.

2. Set up WordPress and bring in the content

  1. Set up WordPress hosting and install your theme.
  2. From Squarespace: go to Tools → Import in WordPress, install the WordPress importer, and upload the export file. Check every imported page: layouts and spacing usually need tidying.
  3. From Wix: copy each page's text into the new pages and upload the images to the media library.
  4. Rebuild forms, then test that their emails arrive. See Build a contact form with Gravity Forms.

3. Keep your search traffic

Page addresses almost always change. Squarespace and Wix each have their own address patterns for pages and blog posts, and WordPress uses its own.

  1. Match each old address in your spreadsheet to its new page.
  2. Add a 301 redirect for every one that changes. See Set up a 301 redirect in WordPress.
  3. After launch, follow Keep your SEO when you redesign or move a website.

4. Switch the domain, carefully

  1. Keep email working. Before touching DNS, copy every DNS record, especially the MX and TXT records your email depends on.
  2. Point the domain at the new host, or transfer it to a registrar you control. See Own your domain and transfer it to a new registrar.
  3. Check everything once the change takes effect: pages, forms, email in and out, and the padlock in the address bar.
  4. Cancel the old plan last, once the new site has run for a while and you've kept a copy of anything you might need.

If your site has a store, member accounts, many blog posts, or years of search traffic, a migration is worth planning with someone who has done one before, because missed redirects and email records are the expensive mistakes.