Migrating From Wix or Squarespace to a Custom Site

This post covers what changes when you leave a site builder. For the step-by-step SEO side of any migration, use our website migration SEO checklist. If you're still deciding whether to leave, start with what a Wix website really costs.

What Moves When You Leave Wix or Squarespace?

Your content, domain, Google Business Profile, reviews and the rankings your pages earned can all move. The design and the platform's page structure don't. A Wix site can't be exported at all, and Squarespace exports only some page types, so a move off either is a rebuild with your content carried across.

Sources: Wix Help Center, Exporting or Embedding Your Wix Site Elsewhere; Squarespace Help Center, Exporting your site. Checked October 31, 2026.

Leaving Wix

Wix's Help Center says that for a site to work properly, it needs to be hosted and operated on Wix's servers. So there is no "export site" button. Text and images are copied across, products can be exported from the store, and the domain can be transferred away or pointed at the new site.

Leaving Squarespace

Squarespace exports a WordPress-format .xml file. It includes layout pages, one blog with its posts, text and image blocks, and gallery pages. Store pages, other page types, a second blog, video and product blocks, drafts, style settings and custom CSS don't export. Squarespace also notes that images may not carry over to a self-hosted WordPress site, so download them yourself.

Will I Lose My Google Rankings If I Leave Wix?

Not for good, if you redirect every old URL to the matching new page. Rankings belong to your content and URLs, not the platform. Google's site move guide says to expect temporary fluctuation while it recrawls, and that for a medium-sized site it can take a few weeks or more for the new URLs to show.

Google also says to keep redirects for as long as possible, and generally at least one year, so it can transfer signals to the new URLs. Both points are from Google's guide to site moves with URL changes. The full pre-launch and post-launch steps are in our migration SEO checklist, so we won't repeat them here.

How 301 redirects work when you leave a builder

Once your domain points at the new site, the old platform's redirect settings stop mattering. The new site has to answer every old URL with a 301 to its new home. Builder URLs often differ from what you'd choose on a custom site; Wix blog posts, for example, sit under /post/ by default. Map each one, page by page.

Avoid redirecting everything to the home page. Google's guide warns that it can confuse users and might be treated as a soft 404, and the visitor who clicked a result for "gutter cleaning" lands somewhere that doesn't answer the question.

What Is the Checklist for Migrating Off Wix or Squarespace?

Capture everything before you build: every URL, your top pages and queries, form entries, products, text and images. Then map old URLs to new ones, rebuild forms and tracking, and launch with redirects live. Cancel the old plan only after the new site is confirmed working. The table below is the order we follow on every website redesign and migration.

On the domain: you don't have to transfer it. Pointing its DNS at the new site works. If you do transfer, Squarespace's help center notes that a domain registered or transferred in the last 60 days is usually locked, and that a transfer can take up to 15 days. Don't start one the week you launch.

How Long Does It Take to Migrate From Wix or Squarespace?

Most of the time goes into the new build and the URL map; launch day itself is short. At Verlua a migration usually fits inside the launch months of an engagement, commonly the first 2. After launch, Google needs a few weeks or more to show the new URLs, so judge results over months.

1. Inventory: URLs, top pages, content, form entries and products saved.
2. Build: the new site, with service and town pages written properly instead of copied thin.
3. Map and test: every old URL matched to a new one, forms and tracking tested.
4. Launch: domain pointed, redirects live, sitemap submitted.
5. Watch: Search Console checked for errors and clicks on top pages.

Page count and content decide the length more than the platform does. A 10-page site with good copy moves faster than a 60-page site where every page needs rewriting. For build timelines in general, see how long it takes to build a website.

How Much Does It Cost to Move From Wix to a Custom Website?

At Verlua, a custom rebuild including the migration runs $2,500 – $5,000 as a one-time project. If you prefer monthly billing, launch months run $2,500/mo, then ongoing SEO is $1,500/mo. Billing is month to month with no minimum contract. Once the new site is live and stable, the Wix or Squarespace plan can be cancelled.

Exact pricing depends on scope, competition, and timeline. These figures reflect what we typically quote for local service businesses; every engagement is confirmed after a free audit or discovery call.

Migrations are part of our website redesign service, for businesses in Sacramento, Roseville, Rocklin and Folsom. To see what a finished build includes, our website design services page lists it, and our guide to what's included in a website design package covers what to ask any agency.

What Changes Day to Day After You Switch?

You edit content in a CMS instead of a drag-and-drop editor, you own the code and can move hosts, and the site is set up to bring in leads: a page for each service and town, tracked calls and forms, and pages built to be found on Google and in AI answers. The tradeoff is that someone has to look after updates.

• Editing: text, images and new posts through a CMS; layout changes go through your developer.
• Ownership: your domain, code and accounts, so leaving later is a move, not a rebuild.
• Speed: the code is yours, so anything that slows a page can be removed.
• Tracking: every call and form tied to the page it came from.
• Upkeep: hosting, updates and backups are no longer bundled into a platform fee; see our website maintenance guide.

Sacramento Gutter Guard is a custom site we built and run. It went from 60 to 776 Google clicks over the same 12 weeks a year apart (Jul 27–Oct 18, 2025 vs Jul 26–Oct 17, 2026). The Sacramento Gutter Guard case study shows the build. One site, not a forecast.

Should You Stay on Wix or Squarespace Instead?

Stay if the site's job is to look credible and you don't rely on it for leads. Both platforms handle hosting and security, and both are easy to edit. Move when you need many service and town pages, tracked calls and forms, or full control over speed and code.

Our Squarespace vs Wix vs WordPress comparison and DIY builder vs web designer guide help with that call.

Frequently Asked Questions About Migrating From Wix or Squarespace