How to Set Up Redirects in Squarespace

Website redirects are an essential tool for managing website navigation, ensuring visitors reach the right content even when URLs change. Whether you are restructuring your Squarespace website, rebranding with a new domain, or simply optimizing old URLs for SEO, properly setting up redirects will help maintain a seamless user experience. Without them, outdated or broken links can lead users to frustrating 404 errors, which can negatively impact your credibility and search engine rankings. Implementing redirects correctly ensures search engines understand the new URL structure and pass SEO value accordingly.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about setting up redirects in Squarespace, from basic 301 redirects to advanced SEO strategies, helping you keep your website organized and user-friendly.

Why Redirects Matter

Redirects play a crucial role in website maintenance, SEO, and overall user experience. They ensure visitors don’t land on outdated or broken pages, which could increase bounce rates and reduce engagement. More importantly, they help retain the authority of old URLs, preventing you from losing hard-earned search rankings due to content restructuring.

There are several common scenarios where redirects are necessary:

• Website restructuring: If you’re changing your website’s structure or URL paths, redirects prevent users from encountering missing pages.
• Rebranding or domain changes: If you switch to a new domain, setting up redirects ensures traffic and SEO rankings are properly transferred.
• Fixing broken links: Redirects help prevent 404 errors when pages are deleted or moved.
• Improving SEO: Redirecting outdated URLs to new, optimized ones helps search engines understand your content structure and rankings.

Understanding 301 Redirects

A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect that tells search engines and users that a page has permanently moved to a new location. This is the preferred redirect type for SEO, as it transfers the ranking power and traffic from the old URL to the new one. If implemented correctly, it prevents ranking loss and ensures smooth transitions for both search engines and visitors.

301 vs. 302 Redirects

While a 301 redirect is the best choice for permanent URL changes, a 302 redirect (temporary redirect) is used when you intend to bring the old page back at some point. Search engines treat 302 redirects differently and may not transfer link equity to the new URL, which can hurt long-term SEO.

How to Set Up Redirects in Squarespace

Squarespace makes it simple to create and manage redirects without needing to edit .htaccess files or add custom code. The built-in URL Redirects feature allows users to handle 301 redirects in just a few clicks.

Follow these steps to set up a redirect:

1. Log in to your Squarespace account.
2. Go to Settings in the left panel.
3. Click on Advanced.
4. Select URL Redirects.
5. Enter the old and new URL paths in the respective fields.
6. Click Save to apply the changes.

Creating a Redirect

For example, if you want to redirect an old product page to a new one, enter:

Old URL: /old-product  
New URL: /new-product  

This ensures visitors and search engines recognize the new URL as the authoritative one.

Redirecting Entire Sections of Your Website

If you have restructured multiple pages, setting up individual redirects for each URL can be time-consuming. Squarespace allows the use of wildcard redirects to handle entire sections efficiently.

For example, if you moved your blog from /blog-old to /new-blog, you can use:

/blog-old/* /new-blog/$1 301

This ensures that all pages under /blog-old/ are automatically redirected to the corresponding pages under /new-blog/, preserving SEO value and user experience.

Best Practices for Website Redirects

• Use 301 redirects for permanent changes: This ensures SEO value is properly transferred.
• Avoid redirect chains: If URL A redirects to URL B, and URL B redirects to URL C, it slows down loading time and confuses search engines.
• Keep redirects documented: Maintain a record of old and new URLs to prevent misconfigurations.
• Regularly audit your website for broken links: Use Google Search Console to identify and fix 404 errors.

How to Fix Broken Links on a Squarespace Website

Broken links harm user experience and negatively impact SEO. Regular audits can help detect these issues before they become a problem.

To fix broken links:

1. Use Google Search Console or a broken link checker to find 404 errors.
2. Identify whether the missing page has a relevant alternative.
3. Set up a 301 redirect to guide users to the correct content.

Useful Links

Connecting a Third-Party Domain to Your Squarespace Site – This guide explains how to connect a domain purchased from another provider to your Squarespace website, ensuring proper URL redirection and domain management.

Connecting a Third-Party Domain to Your Squarespace Site – Learn how to connect a domain purchased from another provider to your Squarespace website with this step-by-step guide.

Site Launch Checklist – Ensure your website is ready for launch by following this comprehensive checklist, covering content review, design polish, functionality testing, and SEO optimization.

Enhance Your Squarespace with Powerful Plugins!

Elfsight created dozens of useful plugins to make your website more attractive and boost its performance in so many ways. Try these no-code solutions for free on Squarespace!

Conclusion

Setting up redirects in Squarespace is a critical step in website management, ensuring that visitors reach the correct pages and search engines understand your content structure. By implementing proper 301 redirects, avoiding common mistakes, and keeping a well-maintained redirect strategy, you can enhance both user experience and SEO performance.

Regularly auditing redirects, preventing broken links, and keeping an organized record of URL changes will help maintain a smooth and optimized website experience.