Timing of URL redirects and whether to connect old site

Hi, I am close to completing my client's site - yay! - and now need to put in place the necessary processes to make sure their old site points to this new site.

Their existing site is in a completely different name.

I have asked my client's IT guy to create a list of page URLs for the existing site.

This is my 1st build so the questions I have are:

- Do I have to connect the existing site to the new one on Squarespace to allow URL redirects to happen? (or transfer the domain after the new site is live, to say my client paying for 2 hosting fees) and when should I do that. Once a connection is done, is the old site then unaccessible?

- At what point do I paste in the URL redirect summary (I am OK setting that spreadsheet up) into Advanced settings in Squarespace - after the site goes live?

- How does Google know to point the old site to the new site if they are in completely different domain names and we only use the end part of the URL slug name?!

Your help is really appreciated!

Thanks.

Hi. You should post your questions on some Facebook Groups, you will get more answers.

• Squarespace COmmunity
• Squarespace Rockstars
• Squarespace Entrepreneur
• Squarespace Customization Resource Group

Hi @Aitch congrats on being close to finishing the site! 

We wrote a guide to managing URL redirects through website migration to Squarespace that will answer a couple of your questions: https://www.bluehillsdigital.com/articles/squarespace-migration-seo-rankings

For the other questions, can you share:

• Is the old site also hosted with Squarespace, or with a different host?
• Where are domains registered (the "before" migration domain and the "after" domain)?

The article linked above outlines the steps for a migration if the root domain is staying the same, but since you're planning to change domains, there are some extra steps to plan and sequence, and an extra notification step with Google once the changes are complete to help the new site get indexed.

Thanks to both of you for replying. 

@edharris, I read your guide and it was really helpful, thanks. @tuanphan, would never have been able to build this site without the coding solutions that you have shared on the forums, which I have copied! Thank you!

So the existing site is hosted and registered with 1&1 Ionos and is in a different name to the one I have built in Squarespace. I am not sure on whether I need to connect that site to Squarespace first, before I can put the 301 redirects in place (because the domains are in different names). And if so, at what point do I do that, i.e. what happens to a site once it has been connected, can it still be accessed? My client needs her existing site to stay visible until next Wednesday when the new Squarespace site goes live. It's really just understanding the steps to be taken and the correct order, so that nothing goes missing or gets missed!

Thanks.

Hi @edharris would you be able to point me in the right direction from the additional details I added.

Thanks!