If you've had a site on Wix, JouwWeb or Squarespace for years, you probably face the same dilemma. The site has become too limited, but customers do find you through Google. You want to move without those rankings disappearing. That's possible, as long as you treat the switch as a migration and not as a new layout you simply put online.

Two kinds of moves

Google makes a clear distinction. In the first kind, your URLs change: a new domain name, or new paths within the same domain. That's covered in the guide How to move a site. In the second kind, you only change hosting and the addresses visitors see stay the same. Google has a separate guide for that: Changing your hosting.

When you leave a site builder, you're almost always in the first category. Even if your domain name stays the same, your pages usually get different paths on a new system. Every page that changes address has to be caught.

Why this matters now

Google updated the guide on moving with URL changes on 20 August 2026, and the hosting guide on 10 December 2025. The basics haven't changed, but it's a good moment to revisit them. Google itself names two points where things often go wrong: a noindex or a robots.txt block from the build phase that's left in place, and old URLs redirecting to new URLs that don't exist. Both are mistakes you only notice after launch.

Change one thing at a time

Google recommends changing one thing at a time. If you want a new domain name, a different CMS and a new layout, do them one after the other. In its explanation of the Change of Address tool, Google also warns that you'll probably lose some traffic if you combine a move with new content and a new URL structure, because Google then has to learn your pages again.

Leaving a site builder means changing systems by definition. So my advice is: keep the domain name, the URL structure and the content as similar as possible during the switch. Rewriting and restructuring are better done afterwards.

According to Google, small and medium sites are best moved all at once, not section by section. Do expect fluctuations. For medium-sized sites it takes a few weeks or longer before the new URLs replace the old ones in search results.

Redirects that work

The core of every move is permanent server-side redirects, such as 301 or 308. According to Google, they don't cost PageRank. Browser-side redirects are only a last resort.

A few rules I always follow:

  • Redirect straight to the final destination. Googlebot follows up to 10 hops, but if direct isn't possible, keep the chain to 3 at most and certainly under 5.
  • Don't send everything to the homepage. Many old URLs pointing to one unrelated page can be treated by Google as a soft 404.
  • Content you don't bring along should return a 404 or 410.
  • Don't forget images, videos, PDFs, JavaScript and CSS files. You move those the same way.
  • Give every new URL a rel="canonical" pointing to itself, and on a multilingual site update the hreflang.
  • Keep the redirects in place as long as possible, usually at least a year. For visitors they can stay forever.

Search Console and the Change of Address tool

Verify both the old and the new site in Search Console, for every variant: with and without www, with http and https. If you use the HTML file method, put the verification file on the new site too, or verification may be lost.

You only need the Change of Address tool when moving to another domain or subdomain. Not when switching from http to https, not when switching between www and non-www, not for moved paths within the same domain and not for a hosting change alone. You must own both properties and manage them with the same Google account. The tool doesn't move subdomains, www included, so submit an address change for every variant of the old domain.

After an address change, Search Console shows a notice for 180 days. Keep the redirects at least that long, because after that Google no longer sees a connection between old and new. Also keep paying for the old domain for at least a year, so nobody else can buy and misuse it.

Detaching your domain from the platform

At Squarespace you turn off Domain Lock and request a transfer code. It arrives by email to the registrant within 24 hours. The transfer can take up to 15 days, a free domain doesn't stay free at the new provider, and a transfer doesn't cancel your site. Record your DNS settings beforehand with a screenshot, because most providers can't keep them during a transfer. If DNSSEC is active, remove it first.

At JouwWeb you can request a transfer code yourself. With Wix and other platforms I keep the same order: get the code first, note your DNS, only then cancel. More per platform: switching from Wix, switching from JouwWeb and switching from Squarespace.

If your domain stays and only the hosting changes, lower the TTL of your DNS records at least a week in advance, for example to a few hours. A temporary drop in crawl rate afterwards is normal.

The order I follow

  1. Verify the old and new site with all variants in Search Console.
  2. List all old URLs: sitemap, pages with the most traffic, pages with links, images and PDFs.
  3. Map every old URL to an equivalent new URL. What disappears returns a 404 or 410.
  4. Keep the URL structure as similar as possible and change one thing at a time.
  5. Set canonical tags, hreflang and internal links correctly and create a new sitemap.
  6. Request the transfer code and note your DNS settings. Only then cancel your subscription.
  7. Lower the DNS TTL a week ahead if the domain stays.
  8. Move all at once, preferably in a quiet period, with 301 or 308 redirects and no chains.
  9. Remove noindex and robots.txt blocks.
  10. Test the redirects with the URL Inspection tool.
  11. If the domain changes, submit a Change of Address for all variants.
  12. Submit the new sitemap and monitor indexing, 404 errors and search queries.
  13. Ask sites linking to you to use the new URLs, and update your social profiles and ads.
  14. Keep the redirects for at least a year and keep paying for the old domain.

When to outsource it

A ten-page site on the same domain is something you can handle yourself with this list. I'd outsource it if you have hundreds of URLs, a webshop with product pages, a multilingual site, or if you can't access the server settings yourself. That's where the mistakes creep in that you only see in your traffic weeks later. If you'd like me to take it on, have a look at custom websites.