How to Move a Wix or Squarespace Site (Without Losing Your Rankings)

People say "move my site" and picture downloading a folder and dropping it somewhere new. With Wix or Squarespace that isn't how it works. Both are closed, hosted platforms, so there's nothing clean to download. The good news is that a move is still very doable. It's just a rebuild plus a careful redirect step, and once you know the order it isn't scary.

This guide walks through why the export you're hoping for doesn't exist, the exact steps to move without dropping in Google, what you actually gain by owning your code, and the easy way to do all of it.

Why you can't just export a Wix or Squarespace site

Both Wix and Squarespace are closed, hosted platforms. Your pages live inside their system, built from their blocks and served from their servers. There's no button that hands you your whole site as HTML and CSS files you can host elsewhere. At most you can export a blog's posts or a data file, and even that leaves the design, layout and page structure behind.

So a "move" is a faithful rebuild, not a download. Your text, images and structure get recreated as real pages on the new platform, and then the URLs get pointed across so you don't lose your place in Google. This is the lock-in that their own alternatives pages quietly warn about, which we cover in the Wix alternatives and Squarespace alternatives guides.

Step by step: move without losing rankings

Do these in order. The sequence is what keeps you online and keeps Google following you across.

Rebuild the site. Recreate your pages on the new platform. A tool that reads your live site and rebuilds it for you saves the most effort here, because you're not copying every page by hand.
Keep or transfer the domain. Either transfer it to another registrar with the authorization (auth) code from your Wix or Squarespace account, or leave it where it is and repoint the DNS to the new host. Keep it live during the move so visitors and email aren't interrupted.
Map and 301-redirect every URL that changes. Go page by page, pointing each old address to its matching new one. Never send everything to the homepage, that throws away the ranking each page earned. A 301 redirect is the permanent kind that passes ranking on.
Carry over your page titles, meta descriptions and structured data. These are what Google reads to understand and place each page, so recreate them on the new pages rather than leaving them blank.
Resubmit your sitemap in Google Search Console and watch the Pages report over the following weeks to confirm the new URLs get indexed and the old ones drop out cleanly.
Only then cancel the old plan. Keep Wix or Squarespace running until the new site is live, the redirects are working and the domain points to the new host. Closing early can take your site and its redirects down with it.

The redirect side is the part that makes or breaks the move, so it's worth its own read: see moving without losing rankings and how to tell Google you moved. For the official rules, Google documents this in Google's guide to a site move with URL changes.

What you gain by moving to code you own

Rebuilding sounds like work, so it's fair to ask what you get for it. Owning your site as clean code means it loads fast, it isn't locked to one company's platform, and the code is portable, so you can host it anywhere later. Over time it usually costs less than an ever-growing subscription too. The honest trade-offs of that approach are in the benefits and weaknesses of static sites.

To be fair to them, Wix and Squarespace have genuinely nice editors, and if all you need is a simple site you rarely touch, that's a real point in their favor. The win in moving isn't a prettier editor. It's ownership and speed, plus an editor you keep. With ShiftPress you still edit the site yourself, so you don't trade the builder's ease for going back to needing a developer.

The easy way

You don't have to do the rebuild and the risky redirect step by hand. ShiftPress reads your existing Wix or Squarespace site, rebuilds it as clean code you own, and hosts it. It detects the old addresses and sets up the 301 redirects automatically, so your rankings carry over without you wiring anything. From then on you edit the site by chatting with an agent or by clicking the element on the page, so both the rebuild and the part that usually costs people their rankings are off your plate.

Move off Wix or Squarespace, keep your rankings

ShiftPress rebuilds your Wix or Squarespace site as clean code you own, hosts it, sets up the redirects so Google follows you, and lets you edit it yourself by chat or by clicking the page. Start free now.

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Frequently asked questions

Can I export my site from Wix or Squarespace?

Not as clean, portable code. Both are closed, hosted platforms, so at most you can export a blog's posts or a data file, not the whole site as HTML and CSS you can host somewhere else. In practice, moving means your text, images and page structure get rebuilt on the new platform. The domain is separate: you can keep or transfer it independently of the site.

Will I lose my Google rankings if I move off Wix or Squarespace?

Not if you do the move carefully. Set a 301 redirect for every URL that changes, pointing each old page to its matching new one rather than sending everything to the homepage. Carry over your page titles, meta descriptions and structured data, then resubmit your sitemap in Google Search Console. Those steps protect your rankings, and the redirects are where a careless move loses them. ShiftPress sets up the redirects automatically so that step isn't on you.

How do I move my domain from Wix or Squarespace?

You have two options. Transfer the domain to another registrar using the authorization (auth) code from your Wix or Squarespace account, or leave it where it is and repoint the DNS to the new host. Either way, keep the domain live during the move so visitors and email aren't interrupted, and only change the DNS once the new site is ready.

Is it worth moving off Wix or Squarespace?

It's worth it if you want to own your code, load faster, and pay less over the long run instead of an ever-growing subscription. It's less worth it if you only need a simple site, rarely change it, and genuinely like their editor. ShiftPress gives you portable code you own plus an editor you keep, so you get the ownership and speed without going back to needing a developer for every change.

The bottom line

Moving a Wix or Squarespace site isn't a download, it's a rebuild plus redirects, and that's completely doable when you take it in order: rebuild the pages, keep or transfer the domain, 301-redirect every URL that changes, carry over your metadata, resubmit your sitemap, and only then cancel the old plan. Their editors are nice, but if you want code you own, a faster site and lower long-term cost, moving is worth it, and ShiftPress can do the rebuild and the risky redirect step for you so your rankings hold.

How to Move a Wix or Squarespace Site Without Losing Your Rankings