Why This Migration Quietly Kills SEO (And Nobody Warns You)
Quick Answer — What You Need to Know
- Squarespace XML only exports blog posts and basic text — images, galleries, pages must be migrated manually
- Squarespace 7.1 (the current default) does NOT support XML export at all
- Your Squarespace URLs follow /blog/post-slug — WordPress must be configured to match before launch
- 301 redirects are mandatory for every URL that changes, or Google drops your rankings
- Expect 10–15% traffic fluctuation for 3 weeks — normal if redirects are set correctly
Most Squarespace-to-WordPress migration guides focus on the mechanical steps: export the XML, install WordPress, click Import. The content appears. The screenshots look identical. The blogger feels confident. Then three months later, they check their Google Search Console and wonder why their search traffic dropped 40%.
The problem is not the migration itself — it is the SEO decisions made before, during, and immediately after it. Squarespace and WordPress handle URLs, metadata, and site structure differently enough that a technically successful migration can be an SEO disaster if you don't account for the gaps.
This guide covers both: the complete technical migration and the SEO protection layer. Read the pre-migration section before you touch anything else.
5 Decisions to Make Before You Click Export
These decisions need to be made before you start the migration. Changing them after the fact requires undoing work, rebuilding redirects, or — worst case — starting over.
Check your Squarespace version first
Squarespace 7.1 — the default for all new sites since 2020 — does NOT support XML export. If your site is on 7.1, you cannot use the built-in export feature. You will need to use a third-party migration service (like LitExtension or MigrationPro) or migrate content manually. Check your version in Squarespace: Home → Design → and look for "Page and Content Layout" in the sidebar. If you see it, you're on 7.1.
Crawl your Squarespace site before touching anything
Before you export anything, crawl your live Squarespace site with Screaming Frog (free up to 500 URLs) or Ahrefs' Site Audit. Export the full list of URLs, their meta titles, meta descriptions, and H1 tags into a spreadsheet. This becomes your SEO preservation checklist. Without it, you'll be rebuilding metadata from memory.
Map your URL structure before setting up WordPress
Squarespace blog posts live at /blog/post-slug by default. Your WordPress permalink structure must match this or you must 301 redirect every single post. Decide now: will you match the Squarespace structure (/blog/%postname%/) or use a cleaner WordPress structure (/%postname%/) with redirects? Both work — but the decision dictates everything that follows.
Identify what will NOT export automatically
The XML export only includes blog posts and basic page text. It does NOT include: images, image galleries, portfolio pages, product pages, audio/video blocks, custom CSS, or your navigation. Make a list of all non-blog-post pages on your Squarespace site now. These will need to be rebuilt manually in WordPress.
Choose your WordPress hosting before migrating
Do not import content to a temporary or cheap host and then migrate again later. Every re-migration risks orphaned images, duplicate URLs, and redirect chain confusion. Choose your permanent WordPress host first. Configure it. Then migrate once.
What Squarespace Actually Exports (And What It Silently Drops)
Understanding the export limitations upfront prevents the worst surprise in this process: finishing the import and discovering half your content is missing.
✅ What exports in the XML
- Blog posts — title, body text, publish date, tags
- Basic pages — text content only
- Post slugs / URLs (used to create redirects later)
- Author names
- Post categories
❌ What does NOT export
- Images — must be downloaded and re-uploaded manually
- Image galleries — must be rebuilt block by block
- Portfolio pages and project entries
- Product pages (ecommerce)
- Custom CSS and design settings
- Navigation menus
- Audio and video blocks
- SEO meta titles and descriptions
- Contact forms and third-party embeds
- Everything if you're on Squarespace 7.1
How to export from Squarespace (7.0 only)
On Squarespace 7.1? Use a migration plugin instead
If your site is on Squarespace 7.1, skip the XML export entirely. Use a tool like LitExtension or install the free CMS2CMS WordPress plugin to pull content directly from your live Squarespace site via API. It handles images too, which the XML method never did anyway.
Setting Up WordPress & Matching Your Permalink Structure
This step is where most bloggers make the irreversible mistake: they install WordPress, leave the default permalink structure in place (/?p=123), import their content, and go live. Their Squarespace URLs no longer exist. 100% of their inbound links and Google rankings point to dead pages.
Configure permalinks before importing anything.
Match Squarespace exactly (recommended for SEO)
/blog/%postname%/Zero redirects needed for blog posts. Safest option for SEO.
Clean WordPress structure
/%postname%/Shorter URLs, better for SEO long-term — but requires 301 redirect for every blog post.
Date-based (avoid)
/%year%/%monthnum%/%postname%/Creates long URLs, hard to maintain. Only use if you were already using this.
Default WordPress (never use)
/?p=123Destroys all existing SEO. Every URL becomes broken.
How to set permalinks in WordPress
Importing Content & Manually Rebuilding What Didn't Export
Part A — Import the XML
Part B — Manual content that must be rebuilt
⚠️ Images not pulled by the importer
Fix: Download from Squarespace Media Library (Settings → Advanced → Import/Export → Export Media). Upload to WordPress via Media → Add New. Then re-link them inside posts using Find & Replace in the database (or use the Better Search Replace plugin).
⚠️ Navigation menus
Fix: Rebuild in WordPress under Appearance → Menus. Map each Squarespace nav item to its equivalent WordPress page or post.
⚠️ Static pages (About, Contact, Services)
Fix: These export as text only with no layout. Rebuild them in WordPress using your chosen page builder (Elementor, Gutenberg blocks) to recreate the visual design.
⚠️ Contact forms
Fix: Squarespace's native forms don't export. Install WPForms (free) or Contact Form 7 and recreate your form fields. Update any email notification addresses.
⚠️ Image galleries and portfolios
Fix: Must be rebuilt manually. Download the gallery images from Squarespace, upload to WordPress Media Library, then use the Gutenberg Gallery block or a plugin like Envira Gallery to recreate them.
Setting Up 301 Redirects — The Step Most Guides Gloss Over
A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect that tells Google: “This page has moved here forever. Transfer all ranking signals to the new URL.” Without them, every inbound link from other websites, every Google-indexed URL, and every bookmark points to a page that no longer exists.
Even if you matched your permalink structure perfectly, you still need redirects for pages that were on Squarespace but do not have equivalent WordPress URLs.
Setting up redirects with the Redirection plugin
Never create redirect chains
A redirect chain is when URL A redirects to URL B, which redirects to URL C. Google follows chains but loses link equity at each hop. Always point old URLs directly to the final destination in one step.
Rebuilding Your SEO Layer in WordPress
The XML import brings over your post content but not your SEO metadata. Every meta title and description you had on Squarespace needs to be manually recreated in WordPress. This is where your pre-crawl spreadsheet from Step 1 pays off.
Install Rank Math or Yoast SEO
- 1Plugins → Add New → search "Rank Math SEO" → Install → Activate
- 2Run the setup wizard — connect your Google Search Console account when prompted
- 3Enable the sitemap module in Rank Math → General Settings → Sitemap
- 4Verify sitemap is live at yourdomain.com/sitemap_index.xml
Rebuild meta titles and descriptions from your spreadsheet
- 1Open each WordPress post that was on Squarespace
- 2In the Rank Math / Yoast panel at the bottom, paste in the original meta title from your spreadsheet
- 3Paste in the original meta description
- 4Verify the focus keyword is set
- 5Update the post — repeat for every migrated post and page
Submit your new sitemap to Google Search Console
- 1Open Google Search Console → select your property
- 2Sitemaps (left sidebar) → Add a new sitemap
- 3Enter: sitemap_index.xml → Submit
- 4Request indexing for your 10 highest-traffic pages individually via URL Inspection
Verify structured data (schema)
- 1Use Google's Rich Results Test (search.google.com/test/rich-results)
- 2Test your homepage, a blog post, and your About page
- 3Fix any schema errors Rank Math reports — especially Article and BlogPosting schema
Post-Launch: Your 30-Day Monitoring Plan
Expect 10–15% traffic fluctuation for approximately 3 weeks after launch. This is normal — search engines are re-crawling your site, re-processing the 301 redirects, and updating their index. It is not a sign something went wrong unless the drop is larger or does not recover.
What you are watching for during this period:
Check Search Console for crawl errors — fix any 404s immediately by adding redirects
Verify all 301 redirects are functioning with a redirect checker
Confirm your sitemap has been submitted and Google is crawling new URLs
Check Google Search Console → Coverage report for any indexing issues
Monitor your top 10 ranking pages individually — flag any that lose more than 20 positions
Run your site through Screaming Frog again — check for broken internal links that were created during the rebuild
Check page speed on WordPress (GTmetrix or PageSpeed Insights) — install WP Rocket or enable caching if TTFB is over 600ms
Traffic typically stabilises here — compare GSC impressions vs. pre-migration baseline
Cancel Squarespace only after you have confirmed all content is live, all redirects work, and traffic has stabilised
Keep Squarespace live until Day 30
Do not cancel your Squarespace subscription the moment the WordPress site launches. Keep it live as a reference during the monitoring period. The import step relies on your Squarespace images being accessible at their original URLs — cancelling early breaks any images that weren't manually re-uploaded.
The Verdict
Migrating from Squarespace to WordPress is not technically difficult — it is procedurally exacting. The danger is not in any single step being hard. It is in the small missteps — wrong permalink structure, skipped redirects, forgotten metadata — that individually look minor but compound into a significant ranking drop.
Follow the pre-migration checklist before touching the export button. Set up WordPress and configure permalinks before importing anything. Build every 301 redirect before going live. Rebuild your SEO metadata from your crawl spreadsheet. Monitor for 30 days before cancelling Squarespace.
Migration checklist — the short version
WordPress hosting ready for your migration
MevoHost WordPress hosting includes PHP 8.5, cPanel, free SSL, and one-click WordPress install — everything configured before you import your first post. Free migration assistance included.
Sarah Kim
WordPress Migration Specialist at MevoHost
Sarah has managed hundreds of CMS migrations — from Squarespace, Wix, and Webflow into WordPress — with a particular focus on preserving search rankings through the transition. She specialises in making technically correct migrations that non-technical bloggers can actually execute.