How to move off Wix (or Squarespace) without losing your Google ranking

Short answer: you keep your Google ranking when you leave Wix (or Squarespace) by keeping the same domain, making a list of every page that gets traffic, and sending each old page address to its new one with a permanent (301) redirect on the day you switch. Carry over each page's title, description and image text, test the new site before you point the domain at it, and keep an eye on Google Search Console for the first few weeks. Done this way, most sites keep their place, and many do better because the new site is faster.

Why rankings drop after a move

Google ranks pages, not businesses. Each page on your Wix site has an address, like yourbusiness.com/services-1, and Google has learned what that page is about and how useful it is. When you rebuild the site, the page addresses usually change. If the old addresses suddenly show "page not found", Google treats those pages as gone, and the ranking they built up goes with them.

So the whole job is making sure nothing Google already knows about disappears without a forwarding address.

Step by step

1. Keep your domain. The domain is yours, not Wix's. Moving the site does not mean changing yourbusiness.com. Changing the domain at the same time as the platform is the riskiest version of a move; avoid it unless you really must.
2. List every page that matters. Export the current page addresses: your Wix sitemap (yourbusiness.com/sitemap.xml) is a good start, and Google Search Console shows which pages actually get clicks. Those are the ones you must not lose.
3. Map old to new. For each old address, write down the new page it belongs to. Where the address stays the same, nothing is needed. Where it changes, that line becomes a redirect.
4. Carry over what Google reads. Each page's title, meta description, headings and image alt text. Rewrite them if they were weak, but don't throw away a page's main topic.
5. Build and test before switching. The new site should be complete and checked on a temporary address first: every page, every form or contact button, mobile and desktop.
6. Switch, then add the redirects. Point the domain at the new site and turn on the 301 redirects in the same step, so there is no window where old links break. Check a handful of old addresses by hand: each should land on the right new page, not the home page.
7. Move your email with the site. If your email is on the same domain, its records (MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC) must be carried over when the DNS moves, or your email stops. This is the part most people forget.
8. Tell Google. Submit the new sitemap in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, and request indexing for your main pages.
9. Watch the first few weeks. In Search Console, look for "not found" errors and for pages whose clicks dropped. A missed redirect is easy to fix once you see it.

Common mistakes

• Redirecting everything to the home page. Google treats that almost like a missing page. Each old page should go to its closest new match.
• Forgetting the email. The site moves, the email records don't, and the business goes quiet for a day.
• Leaving the new site set to "do not index". Builders and test setups often block search engines; that switch has to be turned off at launch.
• Cancelling Wix before the move is finished. Keep the old plan until the new site and the redirects are live and checked.

Is it worth it?

For most small businesses, yes. A builder plan is a monthly cost forever; a hand-built static site can be hosted for free, loads faster, and you own every file. The move itself is a few hours of careful work, not a gamble, as long as the redirects and email are done properly.

Questions

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