Changing Your Squarespace Domain? Here’s How to Protect Your SEO
Changing your business name or website domain can feel like a big step. One of the first questions I usually hear is:
“Will I lose all my Google rankings?”
The good news is that, in most cases, the answer is no – provided the change is handled properly.
Recently, I worked with a client on an hourly basis to help them change the primary domain on their existing Squarespace website. They’d updated their business name, refreshed their logo and made a few wording changes throughout the site, but the website itself didn’t need rebuilding.
The biggest concern was making sure visitors could still find the website and that the SEO they’d already built wasn’t lost in the process.
It’s exactly the kind of project I enjoy. Not every website needs a complete redesign. Sometimes you simply need someone who knows Squarespace to help with the technical jobs that don’t come up very often.
If you’re thinking about changing your business name or moving to a new domain, here’s what you should know.
Your website doesn’t need to be rebuilt
One of the biggest misconceptions is that changing your domain means starting your website from scratch.
In most cases, that’s simply not true.
Your pages, images, blog posts, products, forms and content all stay exactly where they are. You’re simply changing the address people use to reach your website.
Think of it like moving house without replacing all your furniture. The contents stay the same – you’re just giving everyone your new address.
Connecting your new domain
The first step is connecting your new domain to your Squarespace website and making it the primary domain.
Once that’s done, visitors who type your new web address will arrive at the correct website.
But there’s one thing you definitely shouldn’t do…
Keep your old domain connected
Many business owners assume they can disconnect or cancel their old domain as soon as the new one is live.
In reality, it’s usually best to keep it connected to your Squarespace website.
Why?
Because there may still be people who:
Have bookmarked your old website.
Find an older Google search result.
Click a link from social media.
Use a business card or brochure with your previous website address.
Follow a link from another website.
Keeping your old domain connected helps make sure those visitors still arrive exactly where they expect to.
What is a 301 redirect?
This is one of those technical terms that sounds far more complicated than it really is.
A 301 redirect is simply a permanent forwarding address.
When someone visits your old website, they’re automatically sent to the matching page on your new website.
For example:
Old domain www.oldbusiness.co.nz/about automatically becomes your new domain of www.newbusiness.co.nz/about.
The visitor doesn’t have to do anything, and in many cases they won’t even notice it’s happened.
Just as importantly, Google understands exactly what’s going on.
A 301 redirect tells search engines:
“This page hasn’t disappeared. It’s permanently moved to a new address.”
That helps preserve the SEO authority you’ve already built instead of forcing Google to treat your new website as an entirely new one.
Squarespace makes domain changes much easier
One of the things I really like about Squarespace is that when you change your primary domain and keep the previous domain connected to the same website, Squarespace automatically takes care of these domain redirects.
That means visitors who type your old website address are seamlessly redirected to the new one without you having to manually create redirects for every page.
It’s a simple feature, but one that makes changing domains far less stressful.
Automatic redirects aren’t the whole story
While Squarespace does a great job of handling domain redirects, there are times when manual 301 redirects are still needed.
For example, if you decide to change the URL of an individual page during a redesign:
/our-services
might become
/services
Without a manual redirect, anyone visiting the old page could end up on a 404 error page, and Google may think that page has disappeared altogether.
Whenever I rebuild or restructure a Squarespace website, I always check for page URL changes and create manual 301 redirects where they’re needed. It’s a small detail that can make a big difference to both user experience and SEO.
Tell Google about your new domain
Although redirects do much of the heavy lifting, it’s also important to let Google know about the change.
After changing a domain, I normally:
Add the new website as a property in Google Search Console.
Submit the new XML sitemap.
Check that pages are being indexed correctly and manually ask Google to index each page on the site.
Monitor search performance over the following weeks.
These steps help Google discover the new domain more quickly and understand that your website has simply moved rather than disappeared.
Don’t forget the rest of your online presence
Your website isn’t the only place your domain appears.
It’s also worth updating:
Your Google Business Profile.
Facebook and Instagram.
LinkedIn.
Email signatures.
Business directories.
Marketing material.
Printed brochures and business cards.
Keeping everything consistent helps customers find you more easily and reinforces your new branding.
Will my rankings drop?
It’s completely normal to see some small fluctuations after a domain change.
Google needs time to process the redirects and transfer the authority from your old domain to the new one.
Provided everything has been set up correctly, those rankings will usually stabilise again over time.
The important thing is making sure the move is planned properly rather than simply pointing a new domain at your website and hoping for the best.
Sometimes you just need a helping hand
One of the advantages of working with a small, independent Squarespace specialist is flexibility.
Not every job needs a complete website rebuild or a large project budget. Sometimes you simply need an experienced pair of hands to help with a specific task, answer a few questions or take care of the technical details that you’re not comfortable doing yourself.
Alongside designing new Squarespace websites, I regularly work with clients on an hourly basis to help with existing sites. That might be changing a domain, setting up Google Search Console, improving SEO, creating 301 redirects, updating content, troubleshooting an issue or making design tweaks.
These smaller jobs are often the ones that business owners put off because they’re worried about breaking something or simply don’t have the time to figure it out.
Whether you need an hour of support or a complete website project, I’m happy to jump in where it’s needed.
If you’ve got a Squarespace website and there’s something on your to-do list that you’ve been avoiding, I’d love to help. Get in touch to chat about hourly Squarespace support or your next website project.
