Website builder guide covering tools, design tips, and best practices for creating professional websites without coding.
So you have decided to move your website from one builder to another. Whether you are outgrowing your current platform, seeking better SEO capabilities, looking for lower costs, or simply wanting a fresh design aesthetic, migrating between website builders is a significant undertaking. Unlike moving files between folders on your computer, website migration involves transferring content, preserving SEO value, maintaining design integrity, and ensuring nothing breaks along the way.
This guide covers everything you need to know about migrating between the most popular website builders. We walk through migrations from Wix to WordPress, Squarespace to Webflow, and other common transitions. We also address the critical topic of preserving search rankings during migration — a mistake here can set your organic traffic back months.
There are many valid reasons to switch platforms. Perhaps you started on a free builder like Wix or Weebly and now need the advanced SEO capabilities of WordPress or Webflow. Maybe your ecommerce business has grown and you need the robust product management and lower transaction fees offered by Squarespace Commerce or Shopify. Some users find that their current platform's template selection is too limited, or they want more control over responsive design. Others discover hidden costs — like transaction fees or storage limits — that make an alternative platform more economical in the long run.
Whatever your reason, the key to a successful migration is careful planning. Rushing the process almost always leads to broken pages, lost SEO rankings, and frustrated visitors.
1 Audit your current site. Before you move anything, take a complete inventory of your existing website. Document every page, blog post, image, video, form, and custom functionality. Note which pages drive the most traffic and conversions — these deserve extra care during migration.
2 Choose your new platform carefully. Do not just jump to the next shiny builder. Evaluate your new platform against the specific shortcomings of your current one. Read our Website Builder Choose Guide for a structured decision framework. Consider taking advantage of free trials to test drive the new platform before committing.
3 Export your content. Most website builders offer some form of content export. Wix allows you to export your site via the Wix Editor (Settings > Export Data). Squarespace lets you export content as an XML file through Settings > Advanced > Import/Export. WordPress.com provides a built-in export tool under Tools > Export that generates an XML file containing all your posts, pages, comments, and media references. Webflow allows you to export your site's code and CMS content. Weebly offers export options through the editor settings. Framer provides export capabilities, though formatting may need adjustment after import.
4 Backup everything. Save copies of your exported files, take screenshots of critical page layouts, and document custom CSS code, tracking scripts (like Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager), and third-party integrations. Having a complete backup gives you a safety net if something goes wrong.
5 Set up your new site structure. Before importing content, configure the basic structure of your new site. Create your page hierarchy, set up navigation menus, choose and customize your template, and configure global settings like fonts, colors, and SEO defaults.
6 Import content. This is the most time-consuming step. Depending on your source and target platforms, you may be able to import directly (for example, Squarespace has a WordPress import tool), or you may need to do it manually. When importing blog posts, pay close attention to preserving publication dates, categories, tags, featured images, and author information. For pages, recreate the layout using your new builder's editor. Do not expect layouts to transfer perfectly — visual design rarely survives platform migration intact.
7 Recreate design and functionality. Now comes the heavy lifting. Using your screenshots and notes from step 1, rebuild the visual design of your site on the new platform. Recreate forms, galleries, sliders, and any custom functionality. Set up any necessary third-party integrations — email marketing, analytics, booking systems, social media feeds — and verify they are working correctly.
8 Set up 301 redirects. This is the most critical step for preserving SEO. Your old site's URLs likely differ from your new site's URL structure. Every page that changed URLs needs a 301 redirect pointing from the old URL to the new one. This tells search engines that the page has permanently moved and transfers the accumulated ranking authority. Most platforms support 301 redirects either natively or through plugins. Create a complete redirect map before you switch your domain. Failing to set up redirects will result in 404 errors and lost rankings.
9 Test thoroughly before going live. Before pointing your domain to the new site, test every aspect of it. Check all pages render correctly on desktop, tablet, and mobile. Test forms, ecommerce checkout flows, video embeds, and contact forms. Verify that your analytics tracking code is firing correctly. Run Google's Mobile-Friendly Test and Core Web Vitals assessment.
10 Update DNS and go live. When you are confident everything works, update your domain's DNS to point to your new platform. This typically involves changing nameservers or updating A records. DNS propagation can take 24 to 48 hours, so expect some transitional period where some visitors see the old site and others see the new one.
11 Monitor and fix. After going live, monitor your site closely for at least two weeks. Check Google Search Console for crawl errors, 404 issues, and indexing problems. Review your analytics to ensure traffic levels are recovering. Fix any broken links or redirect chains you discover.
12 Keep the old site active temporarily. Do not cancel your old subscription immediately. Keep the old site accessible for at least 30 to 60 days after migration. This ensures that visitors who land on old URLs (via bookmarks, old links, or lingering search results) can still find you, ideally via your 301 redirects.
This is one of the most common migration paths as users outgrow Wix's limitations. Wix offers an export feature that generates a ZIP file with your site content. You can then use the WordPress import tool or a third-party plugin like "Wix to WordPress Migration" to bring content into your new WordPress site. The free version of these plugins may have limits; premium versions are typically $50–$100. Be prepared to manually recreate your design — WordPress themes look very different from Wix templates.
Designers often migrate from Squarespace to Webflow to gain more design control. Squarespace allows content export via XML, but there is no direct import tool for Webflow. You will need to manually transfer blog posts, pages, and media to Webflow's CMS. Webflow's CMS is powerful but requires upfront configuration of content fields. This migration is labor-intensive but the design payoff can be substantial.
For those moving from self-hosted WordPress to Webflow, there are plugins like "WP to Webflow" that can automate some of the process. These tools typically export your WordPress content as a CSV or JSON file that can be imported into Webflow's CMS. Media files need to be downloaded and re-uploaded to Webflow. The biggest challenge is that WordPress themes are PHP-based and do not translate to Webflow's visual canvas, so design must be rebuilt from scratch.
Squarespace offers a direct import tool for Wix sites. Through the Squarespace admin panel, you can import content from Wix by providing your Wix site URL. The tool imports pages, blog posts, and images. However, the design and layout will not transfer — you will work with Squarespace's template system to recreate the visual presentation. Squarespace also has a handy migration checklist within the platform to guide you through the process.
| Task | Importance | Done? |
|---|---|---|
| Map old URLs to new URLs | Critical | |
| Implement 301 redirects | Critical | |
| Update internal links | High | |
| Preserve meta titles and descriptions | High | |
| Update XML sitemap and submit to Google | High | |
| Preserve image alt text | Medium | |
| Recreate structured data / schema markup | Medium | |
| Monitor Google Search Console for issues | High | |
| Update backlinks pointing to your site | Medium | |
| Keep old site live for 30+ days | High |
Planning a migration? Start by choosing the right destination platform. Read our Website Builder Choose Guide and compare features with Wix vs Squarespace or Webflow vs Framer to make an informed decision.
Yes, if you follow best practices — especially implementing 301 redirects correctly, preserving meta tags, and monitoring Search Console post-migration. Most sites that follow a careful migration process see a temporary dip followed by full recovery within 4–8 weeks.
For a small site with 10–20 pages, expect 1–2 weeks. For larger sites with hundreds of pages, blogs, and ecommerce products, allocate 3–6 weeks. Complex migrations with extensive custom functionality can take 2–3 months.
For simple sites with few pages, a DIY approach is fine. For ecommerce sites, membership sites, or sites with heavy SEO traffic, consider hiring a professional developer who specializes in platform migrations. The cost is typically $500–$5,000 depending on complexity.
Partially. Tools like CMS2CMS, LiteSpeed Migration, and platform-specific importers can automate content transfer. However, design, custom functionality, and SEO optimization almost always require manual attention.
Keep your old subscription active for at least 60 days after migration. Export a full backup of your old site before canceling. Some platforms allow you to downgrade to a free plan for archival purposes.