Website Migration Services for UK Businesses

Moving off Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy or a host you have outgrown, without losing the pages Google already sends you traffic for. We plan the move first, rebuild on staging, then switch when it is ready.

Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy and host to hostEvery address mapped before launchBusiness email left untouched200+ websites since 2022
Platform reality check

What moves across on its own, and what does not

Wix

Blog postsPartly
ProductsPartly
Page layoutsRebuilt
SEO settingsRebuilt

Squarespace

Blog postsYes
Basic pagesYes
Galleries and shopsRebuilt
Custom CSSRebuilt

GoDaddy builder

Content exportMinimal
ImagesSaved by hand
Page layoutsRebuilt
FormsRebuilt

WordPress host move

Files and databaseYes
Plugins and usersYes
DesignYes
DNS and emailHandled

Closed platforms do not export their layouts. Anyone offering a one click move of a builder site is describing something the platforms do not provide.

What actually transfers, and what has to be rebuilt

This is the part most quotes skip. Closed platforms do not hand over their layouts, so anyone promising a one click move of a Wix or Squarespace site is describing something that does not exist. Here is the honest position for each platform.

Wix

Comes across: blog posts through the RSS feed, product data through a CSV export, and your text and images if they are downloaded properly rather than dragged from the browser.

Rebuilt by hand: every page layout, styling, forms, apps and most page level SEO settings. Wix does not produce portable code, so the pages are built again in WordPress to match.

Squarespace

Comes across: blog posts and basic pages through the XML export, and images where the export includes them.

Rebuilt by hand: product pages, galleries, event listings, custom CSS and member areas. URL patterns differ from WordPress, so redirects are required rather than optional.

GoDaddy and other builders

Comes across: very little in usable form. Most builders offer no meaningful export at all.

Rebuilt by hand: effectively the whole site. We save every asset before anything is cancelled, because once the subscription lapses the content is gone.

WordPress to a new host

Comes across: everything. Files, database, plugins, users and settings move as a complete copy.

Watch for: DNS and email records, SSL reissue and cached pages pointing at the old server. This is the fastest kind of move and still needs testing on staging first.

Why businesses move off closed platforms

Builders are easy to start on and harder to grow on. The reasons people give us are consistent.

You do not own the site

Stop paying and the site disappears. A WordPress build sits on hosting in your name, and the files are yours to take anywhere.

The SEO ceiling

Closed platforms limit control over schema, canonical tags, redirects and server side caching. WordPress with a proper SEO plugin gives you all of it.

Rising subscription costs

Plan prices rise and features move up a tier. Hosting plus a maintenance plan is usually more predictable over three years.

Speed you cannot fix

When bloat comes from the platform itself, there is no setting to change. On WordPress the build is yours to optimise.

Functionality you have outgrown

Bookings, memberships, multi currency, stock feeds and integrations that a builder either cannot do or charges heavily for.

Nobody else can work on it

A closed platform narrows the pool of people who can help you. WordPress powers a large share of the web, so support is never one supplier away.

How do you move a site without losing search rankings?

By deciding where every existing address will point before a single page is built. Google confirms that permanent redirects pass ranking signals to the new address, so the danger is never the redirect itself. It is the pages that were forgotten, sent to the homepage, or replaced with something thinner than what ranked before.

1

Crawl and record

Every live address, every image, every PDF and every page that earns traffic is listed before work starts. Analytics and Search Console data comes with it.

2

Match the URL structure where possible

If the old addresses can be recreated on WordPress, they are. Fewer changes means fewer things that can break.

3

Build a one to one redirect map

Anything that must change is pointed at the closest equivalent page with a 301, in one hop. Nothing gets dumped on the homepage.

4

Rebuild on staging

The new site is assembled on a private address while your current site keeps trading. Nothing goes live until it has been checked page by page.

5

Protect the email records

DNS is the step that breaks businesses, not design. Mail records are documented before nameservers change so your inbox keeps working through the switch.

6

Switch, then verify

Redirects tested live, SSL confirmed, sitemap submitted, Search Console and analytics reconnected the same day.

7

Watch for thirty days

Crawl errors, index coverage and lost pages checked weekly after launch, and corrected as part of the project.

Redirect handling follows Google Search Central guidance on site moves with URL changes.

Mistakes that cost people their traffic

Every one of these turns up in sites we are asked to rescue after somebody else moved them.

Cancelling the old plan too early

Once a builder subscription lapses the content is unrecoverable. The old site stays paid for until the new one is live and verified.

Leaving the default permalinks in place

Importing content while WordPress is still set to numbered URLs bakes in addresses nobody wants and creates a second round of redirects.

Migrating twice

Moving to cheap temporary hosting and then moving again produces orphaned images and redirect chains. Pick the permanent host, then move once.

Forgetting images are not automatic

Builders compress images for you. WordPress does not until it is set up to. Skip that and the new site launches slower than the one it replaced.

Pointing DNS before the site is ready

Nameservers change last, after the build is finished and tested, never as a way to see how it looks.

Redirecting everything to the homepage

Google treats a mismatched redirect as a missing page. Each address needs a relevant destination or it loses what it had.

How much does a website migration cost?

Migration is quoted on what your current site is built with and how much is on it, because a straight host to host copy and a full platform rebuild are very different pieces of work. A WordPress host to host move is usually done inside a week. A platform move is a rebuild with content carried across, so it runs closer to a redesign timeline of four to six weeks. We look at your existing site first and then give you a fixed figure in writing. We quote after looking, never before.

Host to host

Quote

Same platform, new hosting. Full copy, staging test, DNS and email handled, SSL reissued. Typically two to five working days.

Platform move

Quote

Wix, Squarespace or GoDaddy to WordPress. Content migrated, pages rebuilt, redirect map, forms and tracking. Four to six weeks.

Shop migration

Quote

Products, categories, customers and orders moved to WooCommerce, with payment and delivery reconfigured and tested.

Hosting and domain fees are paid by you directly to the provider, so there is no markup and no lock in.

Once the move is done, looking after the site starts at £25 a month. Updates, backups, monitoring and security, billed monthly with no minimum term.

See care plans

Local to the North East, working across the UK

Our UK business partner is based in County Durham. If you are in Durham City, Chester-le-Street or anywhere along the Tyne and Wear corridor, we can go through your current site with you in person before anything is agreed.

Durham CityChester-le-StreetNewcastle upon TyneGatesheadSunderlandNewton AycliffeSpennymoorBishop AucklandConsettSeahamPeterlee

Questions people ask before moving a site

Will my site go down during the move?

No. The new build sits on a private staging address until it is signed off, and the switch itself takes minutes. We schedule it outside your busy hours.

Will I lose my Google rankings?

Not when addresses are mapped properly. Google passes ranking signals through permanent redirects. Small movement in the first few weeks is normal while pages are recrawled, and we monitor it rather than guess.

Can I keep my domain name?

Yes. The domain stays where it is and simply points somewhere new. If you would rather move the registration to your own account as well, we can walk you through it.

What happens to my business email?

Nothing, if it is handled correctly. Mail records are documented before any DNS change and put back exactly as they were. This is the single most common thing rushed migrations break.

Can you move my blog posts and product pages?

Blog posts usually transfer. Products transfer through a CSV in most cases. Page layouts almost never do, on any closed platform, so those are rebuilt to match.

How long should I keep paying for my old platform?

Until the new site has been live and verified for at least a fortnight. Cancelling early is the one mistake that cannot be undone.

Is WordPress harder to manage than Wix or Squarespace?

Day to day editing is comparable once it is set up properly. The difference is upkeep. WordPress needs updates and backups, which is what a maintenance plan covers if you would rather not do it yourself.

Can you move a WooCommerce or Shopify shop?

Yes. Products, categories, customer accounts and order history can be migrated, then payment gateways and delivery rules are rebuilt and tested with real transactions before launch.

Do I need new hosting?

Usually, yes. We recommend a host based on your traffic and where your customers are, and you buy it in your own name so nothing is tied to us.

What if my old site was built badly?

Then the move is a chance to fix it rather than carry it. We rebuild the structure properly instead of copying the same problems onto a new platform.

Services that pair with a platform move

Tell us where your site lives now

Send us the address and we will tell you what will transfer, what has to be rebuilt, how long it takes and what it costs. If staying put is the better answer, we will say that too.