How to Transfer a Website from Squarespace to WordPress

Squarespace has risen in popularity within recent years. But many users reach a point where they want more customization capabilities for their website(s). Many decide to migrate to the WordPress CMS (WordPress.org, not WordPress.com) for many reasons such as how easy it is to learn and its capabilities for novice and experienced users alike.

Squarespace has an export function specifically for WordPress, although it doesn’t fully migrate a Squarespace website into WordPress. The following will export:

• Regular pages
• Blog pages (as WordPress posts)
• Gallery pages
• Text, Image, and social media blocks
• Comments

Install WordPress Export Squarespace Manual Migration Upload Images Permalinks DNS Settings

Install WordPress

1. Install WordPress manually with via Softaculous.
2. Install and customize a preferred WordPress theme.
3. Install any preferred and recommended plugins such as for backups, security, and optimization.
4. Modify your primary menu to match your Squarespace website.

Import Squarespace File

After installing WordPress, we’ll need to download the Squarespace export file to import into WordPress.

1. Login your Squarespace website.
2. Select Settings, Advanced, and Import / Export.
   

   

   
3. Select Export, the WordPress logo, and Download the XML file. What’s available in the export file will be listed.
   

   

   
4. In WordPress, after downloading your Squarespace export file, select Tools and Import.
5. Select WordPress to install and activate the WordPress Import Plugin.
   
6. Select Run Importer at the top of the screen.
   
7. Browse for your RSS file before selecting Upload file and import.
   
8. Make any preferred changes on the Import Settings and assign an author to the imported posts. You can create an author or use an existing user.
   

   The imported content should now show in their respective sections in WordPress.

Import Content Manually

For anything the RSS feed doesn’t import, copying text from your Wix site to individual WordPress pages and posts will be the only option for migrating content.

1. Create a new WordPress page or post.
2. Copy the text from a page on your Wix website and paste it into the WordPress visual editor.
3. Edit the WordPress page or post to your preference.
4. Save Draft or Publish to save your work.

Import Images

There are two ways to import images from your Squarespace website:

1. Use a WordPress plugin such as Save & Import Image from URL to import directly from Squarespace.
   The easiest way to get an image URL:
   Chrome: Right-click the image and select Open image in a new tab.
   Firefox: Right-click the image and select View Image.
   Generic: Right-click the image and select Inspect Element to view the URL within the source code.
2. Download then manually upload all media files to your WordPress media library.

Note: Although you can upload images using FTP or cPanel File Manager, only media files uploaded to the WordPress media library can be selected from it.

Fix Permalinks

Permalinks determine the format of your website URL’s. You’ll likely want to change this to match the URL’s from your older website to ensure users don’t get 404 errors while trying view any saved links. The most common options are Post name and Month and name. You can reset these settings at any time.

1. While logged into your WordPress site, hover over Settings and select Permalinks.
   
2. Here you can choose a common setting or create your own structure..
   
3. Your changes take effect imeediately after pressing Save Changes.

Change DNS Settings

After copying all data from Squarespace to your WordPress site, you’ll need to update your domain settings.

If you registered a domain with Squarespace, you’ll need to change the A record at Squarespace.com to match your server IP shown in cPanel or transfer your domain to us or elsewhere before changing the nameservers to ns1.inmotionhosting.com and ns2.inmotionhosting.com.

If you bought your domain elsewhere and pointed it to Squarespace, you’ll need to remove the Squarespace A and CNAME records. Afterwards, change your domain’s A record to match your server IP shown in cPanel or nameservers to ns1.inmotionhosting.com and ns2.inmotionhosting.com .

Note: We recommend checking your WordPress website using a hosts file modification to ensure everything works before changing any DNS settings. Note that DNS changes may require ~4-24hrs to take effect.

If you used a Squarespace subdomain – e.g. example.squarespace.com, you’ll need to purchase a domain to connect with your web hosting. In the meantime, you can use your temporary URL.

You can always contact our live support if you have issues migrating your website or implementing features similar to your Squarespace site related to Secure Sock Layer (SSL), Search Engine Optimization (SEO), analytics, domain settings, and more. You can also check out our WordPress portal to learn more.