Maintaining Your SEO Ranking When Moving to Squarespace
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After you've worked so hard to build a great website, migrating it to another platform can be a little scary!
However, if you're looking to switch your website to the Squarespace platform, there are numerous benefits in doing so that will outweigh your fears and the initial downsides:
Incredible ease-of-use
Top-notch customer support
No more updates or hosting issues
A flawless commerce experience
Built-in search engine optimization (SEO) features
And more…
Do any of those benefits match your primary reason switching platforms? As long as you take a few simple steps, your website migration can be quite seamless!
What About My SEO Ranking?
It's important to note that any type of website migration can cause your search rankings to dip for a short period of time. This outcome is normal. It happens because it takes time for search engines to catch up to the change.
Maintaining SEO migrating to Squarespace can be challenging. However, you can avoid a major SEO hit and win over the Google search console tools if you know how to respond.
In this blog, we'll dive into all the checklist items you should know to help your Squarespace SEO bounce back as quickly as possible. We'll also discuss things you should do during the actual transfer and when it's safe to completely delete your old site.
Let's jump right in!
Table of Contents in Detail Hide
Ensure all SEO Metadata is Transferred
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Your metadata includes all of the information about the content on your site. The metadata boosts your SEO ranking because it helps search engines (and potential website visitors) easily identify what your site and content are about.
For example, the metadata on a blog post may consist of things like the publish date, author name, location, tags, categories, source URL, comment links, etc. All this information is relevant, and including it in your metadata can improve your search engine ranking and encourage people to click on and read the blog post.
It's easy for you or your designer to overlook SEO metadata during the transfer. That's very normal, considering all of the other things that have to be moved over to the new Squarespace site.
However, metadata plays an extremely important role in your SEO. In fact, 43% of people click on a result solely based on the meta description. Therefore, you must make sure all the metadata for your pages, products, images, events, and blog posts gets transferred to the new platform.
Metadata Transfer Tips for Your New Squarespace Website
There are a couple of things to note when looking at the transfer of your metadata. Add these two tips to your Squarespace SEO checklist:
First, you'll want to enable the metadata importing setting by following the steps below in your Squarespace dashboard:
In the Home Menu, click Settings, then click Advanced
Click Image Metadata Importing
Check Enable Image Metadata Importing
Next, note that any tags and categories that are too long for Squarespace will be cut off (which can interfere with your SEO). As a quick fix, you can bulk-edit them to fit Squarespace's character limits (80 characters for tags and 25 characters for categories).
Put 301 Redirects In Place
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Dead and broken links can wreak havoc on your SEO by creating high bounce rates from visitors. To ensure this doesn't happen when you migrate your site, you're going to want to place some 301 URL redirects.
301 redirects help to automatically redirect users who might be using an old URL, taking them to your new site's home page, a specific page or blog post, or a new product URL.
You must set up 301 redirects even if you're keeping the same domain. Some link formats won't transfer exactly, meaning you won't have matching URLs.
For example, a product on your old site might have had the URL slug www.website.com/productname. However, your new Squarespace URL might be www.website.com/products/productname.
If you put your 301 Redirects in place while your old site is still live, make sure to delete the old pages, disable them, or change their URLs. Otherwise, the redirects might not work.
How to Set Up 301 Redirects
Here are the steps you'll take in Squarespace to set up your 301 redirects:
In the Home Menu, click Settings, then click Advanced.
Click URL Mappings
Click into the text field and add your redirects (we'll talk about how to format them below)
Click Save
Before moving forward with your site migration and putting 301 redirects into place, be sure to familiarize yourself with the following rules:
If your domain is currently being hosted by a third-party provider, you'll have to connect it to your new site before using URL redirects
While capitalization doesn't usually matter for URLs, it will matter for redirects. Keep the same capitalization in your redirects as you have in your original URLs
You can't use symbols such as ?, &, or # in your redirects
Double-check that your redirects don't use any reserved URL slugs (Squarespace reserves some URL slugs for internal parts of your site)
Formatting your 301 Redirects
The more you know about how Squarespace structures URLs, the easier it'll be to format your URL redirects properly. Listed below is all the information you'll need to create a 301 redirect:
The old URL
An "arrow", which is a dash immediately followed by a greater than sign (->)
The new URL for your page
The redirect type (which will be a 301 (permanent) redirect
So, your URL mapping will be formatted like this: /old-url -> /new-url 301
When migrating your entire blog from your different host (or other collection items like products and event pages), you can redirect all of the URLs in your collection at one time using URL mapping as well: /blog/[name] -> /posts/[name] 301
You may find it helpful to create a URL tracking spreadsheet during this phase. This document can help you keep track of old and new URL structures, ensure you stay organized when moving to a new Squarespace site, and avoid SEO errors.
Transferring and Connecting Your Domain to Squarespace
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If at all possible, keep your original domain name when you transfer your site to Squarespace.
Keeping the website domain is especially helpful if you already have some built-up Squarespace SEO. If you maintain it, you will help the search engines (and your customers) find your new website more easily after you've migrated.
When you're ready to use your domain for your Squarespace site, you'll have two options:
Transfer the domain to Squarespace
Connect your domain to Squarespace
Transferring Your Domain to Squarespace
Transferring is the first option. Doing so will allow you to manage your domain and website in the same place.
It's important to note that in order to transfer a domain to Squarespace, it must have been with the previous host 60 days prior to initiating the transfer. Once the transfer is initiated (which is quite simple to do, as you'll see below) it can take between 24-72 hours to go into effect.
To initiate a domain transfer in Squarespace, follow these steps in your Squarespace ‘Domains' panel:
First, get the authorization code from your current host. (This may also be called an EPP code or transfer key.)
Then, in your Squarespace Home Menu, click Settings, then click Domains.
Click Use a Domain I Own.
Enter the full domain name you're transferring in the Domain Name field, then click Continue.
Click Transfer to Squarespace.
In the Enter Authorization Code field, paste the authorization code, then click Continue.
After this is finished, review your DNS (Domain Name System) and registration details. If all looks correct, continue confirming your transfer by following these steps:
Review the terms of your transfer and accept
Click Transfer.
You'll see a message confirming you've initiated the transfer
Connecting Your Domain to Squarespace
If you choose not to or are unable to transfer your domain, you can connect it instead.
This option is preferable for users who have a website and email address through a third-party domain (like GoDaddy). Otherwise, you'll have to create a new email account after transferring and may lose access to your current inbox. It's also your only option if the Squarespace website platform doesn't support your domain type.
Note that if you choose to connect your domain, you'll have to continue maintaining it and the website in their own respective dashboards. Also note that if you are going to be using a different domain completely, you'll need to connect both the old and new one to your Squarespace site.
This process also takes between 24-72 hours.
To begin the process of connecting your domain, do the following:
In the Home Menu, click Settings, then click Domains.
Click Use a Domain I Own.
Enter the full domain name you're connecting in the Domain Name field, then click Continue.
Click Connect from Provider.
Select your domain provider from the drop-down menu. If you don't see your domain provider, select Other. You can still connect your domain if you don't see your provider in this list.
Click Connect Domain.
In the message that appears, click Okay.
After the steps above are complete, you'll need to log into your domain provider dashboard and do the following:
Add the first CNAME record (the unique code that appears directly below the Host column in your new Squarespace DNS records)
Add the A records
Then, wait for the transfer to complete
If you have issues in doing any of the above, take advantage of Squarespace's well-regarded customer service. They can help you work through any kinks, whether you're trying to update URLs, preserve inbound links, or navigate any other website migration obstacles.
Creating a Custom 404 Page in Squarespace
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A 404 page is the error page that appears when a user clicks a link for a non-existent URL.
Encountering an error page is frustrating for users and can lead to serious penalties when it comes to SEO for Google and other search engines!
Users will often quickly press the back button or leave your site, signaling to search engines that your site is not relevant to their search query. No good.
The best way to combat this issue is to adjust your page settings and create custom 404 pages for your Squarespace website.
Oftentimes, including some key elements on your 404 page will not only help re-engage your visitor but help build their trust. It will also help search engines continue to crawl your site without errors and boost your SEO.
What to Include on Your Custom 404 Page for Better SEO Rankings
Adding the following will help you create a custom 404 page that benefits your long-term search results ranking:
A visible navigation menu for the rest of your website
A few custom links to your most popular web pages or blog posts
Your logo
Your site map
A clear message about why the user is seeing a 404-error message
A way for the customer to get in touch with you
To create a custom 404 page in Squarespace, follow these steps:
In the Home Menu, click Pages.
Click the + icon next to the Main Navigation section. Place your new page in the Nonlinked section and customize it.
You can also take this approach to send visitors to your new URLs:
View your current 404 page, then use the drop-down menu to select the customized page.
On your custom error page include all of the elements we listed above
Other Items to Keep in Mind When During Website Migration
When you choose to migrate your website, don't forget to also connect the new Squarespace site to third-party sites like Google Analytics and your Google Search Console.
Here's how to connect them from the Squarespace dash:
In the Home Menu, click Analytics.
Click Search Keywords.
Click Connect in the panel's pop-up.
Log in to the Google account you want to connect to your site.
Review the permissions, then click Allow.
Wait 72 hours for the data to populate.
Next, turn off all current advertising (PPC, social media ads, etc.) during your transfer. You can turn them back on once your transfer is final and you've double-checked that the Squarespace URL structure is correct.
Finally, triple-check that all your 301 redirects are working correctly before proceeding to the final phase of your migration— canceling your old site!
When Should You Cancel Your Old Website?
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When your site transfer is complete, and you have everything in place for your new site (and a copy of all possible content from the old site URL, just in case!) you can cancel your old website.
Ideally, you'll want to do this as soon as possible after you initiate the transfer of your current domain.
Note that you can also hide, disable, or lock your old site for about 30 days after launching your new site if you want that extra layer of protection.
After you've taken these extra steps, go ahead and delete the website. Out with the old; in with the new!
Need Some Help Migrating Your Website to Squarespace?
From keeping the domain consistent to making sure visitors can still access important pages without any interruptions, migrating to a new Squarespace site can be tricky. If you follow the steps discussed above, though, moving from your current website to a new one will be much easier.
Want to make the process even simpler?
If you'd like to sit back and be reassured that your migration to Squarespace will be seamless, get in touch with us! We'll help make sure your SEO page descriptions, metadata, redirects, URL structure, etc. are good to go!
