Moving your site to a new domain

If you’re renaming your site or brand, you may want to switch to a new domain name. As long as you keep the old domain connected, all traffic to the old domain will automatically redirect to the new one.

This guide reviews best practices for transitioning to a new domain and what this means for SEO and your social media presence.

Before you begin

• You can rename a new Squarespace Domain for free within five days of registration.
• To cancel your site and create a new one, review our options for starting over instead. Changing your domain doesn’t affect your site content.

Step 1 - Add a new primary domain

1. Add the new domain you want to use. You can add a domain to your site in three ways: 

• Register a Squarespace Domain
• Transfer a domain to Squarespace
• Connect a third-party domain 

2. After your new domain is ready, set it as the site’s primary domain. All other domains for your site will redirect to the primary domain. This helps return visitors who use your old domain land on your site. To learn more, visit Multiple domains and SEO.

Step 2 - Reindex your site with search engines

Moving to a new domain might affect your site's search ranking. However, you can tell Google that your domain has changed, which could help counteract the SEO effects of a domain move.

1. Verify your new primary domain with Google Search Console.
2. Use Google's Change of address tool.

You can follow a similar process with Bing Webmaster tools.

Step 3 - Update everywhere you share your domain

After you’ve switched to your new domain, you may need to update other areas and accounts that still use your old domain or brand name. It's a good idea to check everywhere you mention your domain and update the URL or the name. For example:

• Site title
• Site and page descriptions
• Social account profiles that use your old domain (like the URLs in your Instagram profile or Facebook page)
• The domain listed for any third-party integrations like Google Analytics

Traffic from the old URL will automatically redirect, so links to your old domain in these areas won't break. However, updating the URL anywhere you've shared it keeps your brand consistent across the web.

Step 4 - Remove the old domain (optional)

Unless you want to completely lose the original domain and stop all traffic to that domain from leading to your site, we recommend skipping this step. It's best to keep your old domain connected to your site, at least for a little while. This gives visitors time to learn about your new address. Even if the domain has an error or is outdated, it can be helpful to let it continue redirecting traffic to your site and new domain.

You can remove the old one if you need to by following these steps:

Note: This will break any links to your old domain. Traffic to the domain you remove won't direct to your site.

• Squarespace Domain - Disable auto-renew, so the domain will expire at the next billing date.
• Third-party domain - Disconnect it.