How to change website URL on Squarespace depends on which URL you mean, and the search covers three: the page URL (the slug after your domain, edited in each page’s settings), the built-in Squarespace address (yoursite.squarespace.com, renamed under Domains), and the custom domain (a new domain connected or transferred in). The first two take a minute; only the page slug change breaks anything, because Squarespace does not redirect old slugs automatically (its slug guide says so), and an old link, a Google result or a printed QR code will 404 until you add a URL Mapping. All three are below, with the redirect step for slugs, the rules for slugs that help SEO, and what happens to blog and product URLs, which behave differently.
How to change website URL on Squarespace at page level (the slug)
- Open the Pages panel and click the settings cog on the page.
- In the General tab, edit the URL slug: lowercase, words separated by hyphens, no spaces or special characters.
- Click Save.
- Immediately add a redirect (next section). Squarespace’s URL slug guide is explicit that traffic will not redirect on its own and old links show a 404.
- Update any internal links you typed as full URLs, and any QR codes; page links chosen from the Pages list update themselves.
How do you redirect the old URL to the new one?
- Go to Settings, Developer Tools, URL Mappings.
- Add one line per changed URL, old to new, with the redirect type:
/old-slug -> /new-slug 301. - Save. Test by opening the old URL in a private window.
Use 301 for anything permanent; Squarespace’s URL mappings guide notes that search engines transfer the old page’s ranking to the new one on a 301, and that the old URL must no longer exist for the mapping to fire. For a blog page or store whose slug changed, one wildcard line covers every item: /blog/[name] -> /journal/[name] 301. The same panel handles redirects after a domain change.
How do you change the built-in squarespace.com address?
- Open Domains.
- Under Built-in Domain, click the current address.
- Enter a new Site ID (the part before .squarespace.com) and save.
This only matters while the site has no custom domain, or for the editing address you see when logged in. Anyone else editing the site should save first, because the change logs everyone out to the new address. Once a custom domain is connected and set as primary, the built-in address redirects to it and visitors never see it.
How do you change the custom domain?
- Add the new domain under Domains: register it there, or Use a Domain I Own and follow the DNS steps.
- Set it as primary once connected.
- Keep the old domain connected and it forwards to the new primary automatically; keep it registered for at least a year so old links, listings and emails still resolve.
- Update Search Console with a Change of Address, Google Business Profile, social profiles, email signatures and directories.
Slugs do not change in a domain move; /about stays /about on the new domain, so no page-level mappings are needed unless slugs change at the same time.
What makes a good page URL?
| Do | Avoid | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Two to four words that say what the page is | The page title copied in full | /wedding-photography not /wedding-photography-packages-and-pricing-2026 |
| Hyphens between words | Underscores, spaces, capitals | /contact-us not /Contact_Us |
| The main keyword once | Keyword repeated | /seo-services not /seo-seo-services |
| A stable slug you will never change | Dates, years, “new”, “v2” | /pricing not /pricing-2026 |
| Blog page slug short | A long collection prefix on every post | /blog/post-title not /news-and-updates/post-title |
Slugs are part of the SEO directory structure: decided once from the page’s purpose, then left alone. If a slug already ranks and merely looks untidy, leave it; the redirect works but a new URL starts with less than the old one had.
How do blog post, product and event URLs work?
- Blog posts live under the blog page’s slug:
/blog/post-title. Change the post slug in the post’s settings, Options tab; change the/blogpart by editing the blog page’s slug, which changes every post URL at once (wildcard redirect needed). - Products live under the store page slug; edit the product URL in the product editor.
- Events follow the same pattern under the events page.
- Duplicated collection items get extra characters added to their slugs; fix those before publishing, as noted in duplicating a Squarespace site.
- Home page has a slug too (often
/home), but it serves at the root; changing it changes nothing visible.
Why is the old URL still showing, or the new one 404ing?
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Old URL 404s | No mapping | Add the URL Mapping |
| Mapping does nothing | Old page still exists, or a typo in the line | Disable or rename the old page; check the exact old slug |
| Google still shows the old URL | Not recrawled yet | Request indexing of the new URL; the redirect handles clicks meanwhile |
| Menu link goes to the old address | A typed link rather than a page link | Edit the link to use the Pages list |
| QR code broken | Codes encode the slug | Map the old slug, or reprint; see the QR code post |
| Built-in address change logged me out | Expected | Log back in at the new address |
URL changes are the most common way a working site loses traffic after a tidy-up, which is why any URL that has ever been printed, linked or indexed gets a mapping before it changes on the Squarespace sites I look after; the QR code guide has the same rule for print.
Frequently asked questions
Pages panel, click the page’s settings cog, edit the URL slug in the General tab, save. Then add a 301 in Settings, Developer Tools, URL Mappings from the old slug to the new one, because Squarespace does not redirect automatically.
Connect or register a custom domain under Domains and set it as primary. The built-in .squarespace.com address then redirects to it. To rename the built-in address itself, click it under Domains and change the Site ID.
Old links, search results and QR codes return a 404 until a URL Mapping exists. Page links chosen from the Pages list update automatically; typed links do not.
Settings, Developer Tools, URL Mappings. Add a line per redirect: /old-path -> /new-path 301. Use /section/[name] -> /new-section/[name] 301 to redirect every item in a blog or store at once.
Open the post, Options tab, edit the post URL. To change the /blog part for all posts, edit the blog page’s slug and add a wildcard URL Mapping from the old path.
Only if redirects are missing. A 301 from the old URL passes the ranking to the new one after Google recrawls. Avoid changing URLs that already rank unless there is a real reason.
