The procedure to change Squarespace website to new domain appears intricate, although it exists as a complex process. Proper guidance throughout the transition enables you to complete it without difficulties. This article provides the complete sequence to modify your Squarespace website domain name.

Step-by-Step Guide to Change Squarespace Website to New Domain

The correct implementation of domain name change steps will keep your website operational no matter what your branding goals are. The present guide provides assistance to move your Squarespace website to its new domain name.

Purchase a New Domain

To change Squarespace website to new domain, the initial requirement is to buy a new domain name. You can get domain registration as a service from Squarespace templates or purchase your domain independently from GoDaddy or Google Domains. A secured new domain enables users to connect it with their Squarespace website. Selecting a domain remains the essential first step because your domain decides what your website represents in the online world.

The Key Benefits of Using Squarespace Templates Domain Registration Service

• Convenience: Squarespace themes provide domain purchase convenience that establishes direct connectivity between your website and its domain.

• Free for One Year: When you sign up for an extended annual Squarespace templates subscription, a free domain lasts one year.

• Domain Privacy Protection: Squarespace themes include free domain privacy protection as an additional security measure that protects your private information.

Customers who want to have other options for providers or certain features available through GoDaddy or Google Domains. They can purchase their domain elsewhere rather than using Squarespace.

Choosing a Domain Name

Your domain name is an important factor determining your website identity. The chosen domain name must be short, memorable, and directly represent the values of your brand. The number of hyphens in your chosen domain name and difficult terms should not be too high. A spelt domain is easy to locate by visitors quickly and gives the best user experience.

Tips to Choose the Perfect Domain Name

• Short and Simple: A short domain name remains easier for anyone to retain in their memory.

• Keywords: Incorporate relevant keywords into your domain name so search engines can better recognize your website.

• Availability: Laboratory this step to make sure your picked domain is both available and free from existing ownership.

The appropriate domain name establishes the base for your future online success.

Access Your Squarespace Themes Settings

You must access your Squarespace account through login first. Log in to your Squarespace website and navigate to its settings area. You will find domain management tools in this area that allow necessary adjustments toward linking your new domain. From this area you can handle the complete configuration of your website through features such as domains, SEO, and custom code.

Navigating to Domains in Squarespace

• Login to Account: Use your login credentials to access your Squarespace dashboard through the login page.

• Setting Options: After logging in, you can find the “Settings” in the main left-side navigation menu on the screen.

• Select Domains: Through the Settings option, users may select domains from the presented options. In this location lies the domain management area.

The current domain attached to your Squarespace site will appear, and you can attach new domains or edit the already attached ones at this point. The domain management section provides an easy and straightforward way to attach new domains along with processing existing domain transfers.

Domain Management Tips

• Check Your Present Domain: Double-check your present domain name before you add a new one.

• Manage Several Domains: Switch between several domains when needed and define the main domain automatically.

• Check your domain setting: Test your domain links and network settings to guarantee smooth navigation.

The main step begins when you reach this part to establish your new domain connection with your Squarespace website.

Connect Your New Domain to Squarespace Website

You need to connect the new domain to your Squarespace themes after obtaining it. To begin, click Add Domain located in the Domains menu. Squarespace themes let you either undergo domain connection with external owners or buy a new domain through their platform.

Linking Your Domain

• Choose this “Use a Domain I Own”: If you bought your domain from an external party, select “Use a Domain I Own.”.

• Add New Domain Name: Put in your preferred new domain name for Squarespace display.

• Confirm and Connect the Domain: Use the provided instructions to confirm your domain ownership and connect it to the platform.

Squarespace provides all the necessary instructions to join your owned domain to your site. Update your DNS server setup with your third-party hosting provider to connect your domain with Squarespace.

After finishing these procedures, your Squarespace website will connect to your new domain, and visitors will access your website through it.

Update Your Domain’s DNS Settings

An external domain needs DNS configuration to work properly. You must perform this step to direct your new domain name to your Squarespace website properly.

Configuring DNS for Third-Party Domains

• Sign in to Your Domain Provider’s Dashboard: Sign in to your domain provider by visiting its dashboard at the third-party domain registrar website.

• Manage DNS Setting: After logging in, locate the place to manage DNS settings. You will find this feature under DNS Management, DNS Settings, or Name Servers in your settings.

• The C NAME: Set a C NAME record that sends traffic to ext-cust.squarespace.com. The CNAME entry will send users from any URL to your Squarespace website.

• Record: Update your records with the IP addresses Squarespace templates provide in their support documentation.

The Squarespace guide contains full guidance on how to prepare DNS settings for these domain managers. Please follow their instructions tailored to your domain hosting company’s requirements. Configuring the proper DNS enabled the new domain to be able to connect through the Squarespace site.

Set Your New Domain as a Primary Domain

Set your new domain as a main URL at Squarespace templates for connecting to your site. The system automatically makes your new site URL work as the main web address and directs everyone to that destination.

Making the New Domain Primary

• Return to Domains in your Settings: From your Squarespace account, choose Domains from the Settings menu.

• View All Connected Domains: Your current domains appear. Check out the list of your domains and identify the latest addition.

• Select “Make Primary”: Under Make Primary, select the Make Primary option. Your Squarespace website now has a new domain that begins to work as the primary address.

• Ensure Redirection: Making the new domain your primary connection will send visitors automatically from your old domain to the new one without website traffic loss.

Your site will undergo the complete shift to the new domain where all traffic will be sent to the latest URL.

Change your old domain to a new domain.

The process of shifting your website between domains smoothly needs a permanent 301 redirect setup. The 301 redirect tells search engines that your site permanently changed address while keeping your search engine value and automatically sending visitors to the right URL.

Setting Up 301 Redirects

• Settings Page: Navigate to the settings page from your Squarespace control panel.

• Choose Advanced: From the Settings screen, you click on Advanced to take you through to more advanced configuration options.

• Select URL Mapping: Under advanced settings, you will get URL Mappings from here and create redirects.

• Add 301 Redirect: Use of 301 redirects in Squarespace URL Mappings to redirect traffic from your previous domain to the new one. Letting the search engine and browser understand that your website has permanently changed.

This secured the ranking status of your site on search pages and ensured your visitors remained online while setting 301 redirects at your old and new domains, respectively.

Refresh Your Squarespace Templates and Themes for Brand Identity

Since your website currently exists on your new domain, you can always update the designs of Squarespace templates into your new brand. Creating a new domain needs minor design updates to correctly exhibit your new details of branding.

Updating Squarespace Templates

• Design Options: See the Design Options under your Squarespace themes control panel by selecting Design.

• Choose Site Styles: Open the Design area to click Site Styles and change how your website looks across the whole site.

• Change your template: Change your template with new typefaces, text styles, and design options while fitting your new brand image. You can easily switch between buttons, headers, and navigation elements, carrying your brand identity.

• Premium templates: Premium template users are greeted with advanced options to fine-tune their Squarespace website for the new domain.

You can change your Squarespace themes while maintaining your website functionality under the new domain and giving professional brand consistency to the visitors.

Test Your New Domain After to Change Squarespace Website to new Domain 

You should be checking your new domain’s performance in its entirety before it goes live to ensure access to content for visitors and proper operation of the site. Pretest work is beneficial for us to identify and solve a problem that impacts user interactions.

Testing Your New Domain

• Visit your website through a new URL: Navigate to your website through its new URL and see if it works properly, including the right homepage display.

• Check all Links and Pages: Investigate every web page with online links to find if they still operate properly.

• Check 301 Redirects: Check if your new domain takes visitors from your old domain. Use 301 redirects to test this feature. Every user automatically transfers to new site pages when they access from the old domain.

• Check Site Speed: The site speed must be fast while all mobile device pages need proper responsiveness.

New domain testing allows you to maintain a smooth visitor experience while detecting problems that could interrupt the domain transition.

Inform Your Visitors and Update Links

You must inform your visitors about the domain change after activating your new domain. Your audience will maintain clarity about your site location through this practice. You need to update external links because it enables a smooth transition to happen.

Updating External Links

• Update Social Media Profiles: Your social media profiles require updates for the new domain name to appear in your bios and both posted content and advertising material. Update all platforms to maintain a consistent brand image.

• Marketing Material: Business cards, together with brochures and flyers, which use your previous domain, need replacement with the new domain for use in ongoing marketing materials.

• Notify Affiliates and Partners: Contact all established business partners and affiliate members for link updates regarding your new website domain. It’s a strategic step that proves that the new domain is accessible from other websites also.

By this process, you are allowing high visitor access to your website, and you don’t lose your branding identity at all.

Check SEO and Traffic after Domain Change

After to change Squarespace website to new domain, you will need to keep active track of the website traffic, along with keeping track of SEO performance metrics. A temporary decrease in traffic may appear during the search engine process of adjusting the domain change. The search engine indexing process will normalize after new domain recognition by search engines.

Tracking SEO Performance

• Google Analytics: Companies can use Google Analytics to track their website performance through before and after domain transition periods. Track favoured performance metrics, such as page views, bounce rates, and conversion rates. Your traffic metrics combined with user engagement metrics let you know what influence the change in domain made.

• Sitemap to Google Search Console: The very first step to take once changes are in effect is to submit your new sitemap to Google Search Console. Because of this submission, your new domain can get faster search engine indexing, which also helps you avoid indexing problems with your site pages. Use Google Search Console for tracking crawler errors as well as other issues.

• Organic Search Traffic: Observe organic search traffic and keyword rankings together with impressions for any trends. Your traffic recedes temporarily when issues concerning redirection arise, but your website ranking will regain the better view of matters with proper management of redirects.

• Continue to Optimized: Keep your Squarespace site constantly optimized for SEO using new page titles, better meta descriptions, and appropriate keywords. Your search engine rankings are good if users check for and quickly correct any broken links or content issues.

Monitoring site traffic and checking the performance of your SEO help you to stay on top of any problems that will arise as your website adjusts to the new domain.

Conclusion: How to Change Squarespace Website to New Domain

The process to change Squarespace website to new domain to operate on a different domain remains straightforward even though it appears complex. These steps enable a successful domain switch, which protects your search engine value together with visitor numbers. Purchase your new domain name, then modify your DNS settings, followed by the selection of your new domain as the primary one.

Squarespace themes offer a wide selection of customization options yet require designers to transform their design styles according to the new branding identity.

Finally, benchmark your website performance and maintain consistent updates with your audience about the site changes.

The described procedures allow you to launch your website on its new domain within a short time span.