How to Switch From a Website Builder Without Losing Your Google Rankings: A UK Owner’s Checklist

You can leave a DIY website builder without losing your Google rankings if you keep the same domain, send every old page address to its new equivalent with a permanent (301) redirect, and keep those redirects for at least a year, which is what Google’s own site-move guidance recommends. Google says to expect some temporary ranking movement while it recrawls, which it says can take a few weeks for a medium-sized site. The rankings that vanish for good are almost always lost through a domain the owner did not control or pages that were deleted without a redirect.

Will I lose my Google rankings if I change website?

Not if the move is done properly, but some movement is normal. Google’s guidance on site moves with URL changes says to “expect temporary fluctuation in site ranking during the move”, and that recrawling and reindexing take time. For a small business site of 5 to 30 pages, that period is short. What Google ranks is your domain’s history, the links pointing at your pages and the content on them. A move that keeps all three, and tells Google clearly where each page went, keeps the rankings.

Rankings disappear when one of these breaks. The three classic failures are: the domain was registered by the builder or a former designer and cannot be moved; old page addresses return “page not found” on the new site; or the new site drops the text that was ranking, such as the old services page that mentioned every town you cover.

Step 1: Make sure you actually control your domain

This is the single most important check, and it should happen before you tell anyone you are leaving. Log in to wherever the domain is registered and confirm the registrant is you or your company. If the domain was bought inside the website builder, it is usually still yours, but the builder is acting as the registrar, so you will either transfer it out or point it at the new site from where it sits.

• 1For .com and other generic domains, ICANN’s rules say your registrar must give you the transfer code (AuthInfo code) within five calendar days of asking.
• 2A registrar may refuse a transfer within 60 days of the domain being registered or last transferred, so check dates before you plan the switch.
• 3.uk domains move differently, by changing the domain’s registrar tag to the new registrar’s; no transfer code is needed.
• 4You do not have to transfer the domain to switch websites. Changing the DNS records to point at the new host is enough, and the transfer can come later.
• 5Turn off any automatic “renew with the builder plan” before cancelling, and check the domain renewal date so it does not lapse mid-move.

If a former designer registered the domain in their own name, ask them in writing to move it to you now, while the old site is still running. It is far easier to resolve this calmly than in the week of launch.

Step 2: Save everything the builder will not export

Builders differ a lot in what they let you take with you. One of the most popular builders says in its own help pages that sites made with it cannot be exported to another host at all. Another lets you export only some content types: basic pages, one blog, and text, image and gallery blocks, but not shop products, headers, footers or styles. Assume you will rebuild the site rather than lift it out.

Before you cancel anything, collect: the text of every page (copy it into a document), every image at full size, your blog posts with their publish dates, form settings and where enquiries were sent, any product data, and your page titles and descriptions, which you can see in the page settings or the browser tab. Screenshot each page as well. When the old plan ends, the builder may delete the lot.

Step 3: List every old address and map it to a new one

Google’s guidance calls URL mapping important, and it is the heart of a safe move. Builders often create addresses with extra pieces in them, such as a folder for blog posts or a numbered product page, and a new site will usually have cleaner ones. Each old address needs a destination.

• 1Get the list: your builder’s sitemap (usually your-domain/sitemap.xml), plus the Pages report in Google Search Console, which shows what Google has indexed.
• 2Add any addresses that other sites link to, from Search Console’s Links report. These carry the most value.
• 3Write a two-column sheet: old address on the left, new address on the right.
• 4Keep the same address wherever you can. If /services/boiler-repair can stay as it is, leave it.
• 5Every old page goes to its closest new match. Do not send everything to the home page; Google tends to treat that like a missing page.
• 6A page you are genuinely dropping can go to the nearest relevant page, such as an old offer page to the services page.

Step 4: Set up 301 redirects the right way

A redirect sends anyone who visits an old address, a person or Google, straight to the new one. Google recommends permanent server-side redirects, meaning HTTP status 301 or 308, and treats JavaScript redirects as a last resort. Google says to keep them “for as long as possible, generally at least 1 year”, and suggests keeping them indefinitely for visitors who bookmarked old pages.

Test after launch by typing five to ten old addresses into a browser. Each should land on the right new page, in one hop, without a “page not found”. Redirect chains, where an old address goes to a second old address and then a third, slow things down; point every old address straight at its final destination.

Step 5: Keep the content that was ranking

A new design is often the moment owners cut text they think is boring. Check Search Console’s Performance report before you start: it shows which searches brought visitors to which pages. If “emergency plumber Bromley” sent people to your old services page, the new page needs to keep saying, in plain words, that you do emergency plumbing in Bromley. The design can change completely; the useful words should not disappear.

Carry over page titles and descriptions where they were working, keep headings that match how people search, and keep your name, address and phone number exactly as they appear on your Google Business Profile.

Step 6: Tell Google and check the results

If your domain is not changing, which is the usual case when leaving a builder, you do not need Google’s Change of Address tool; Google says it is only for moving from one domain or subdomain to another. Instead, submit the new sitemap in Search Console, and use URL Inspection on your most important pages to ask Google to recrawl them. Google notes that after a hosting move its crawl rate often dips briefly and then rises.

For the next six weeks, check Search Console weekly for pages reported as not found and add a redirect for each one. Also update the website link on your Google Business Profile and any directory listings, and set up Bing Webmaster Tools, which can import your Search Console data.

When is the best time to switch?

Google suggests timing a move for lower-traffic periods where possible. For a UK business that means avoiding your busy season: not the week before Christmas for a gift shop, not the first cold snap of autumn for a heating engineer, not January for a gym. Launch early in the week, so problems surface while you can still fix them, rather than on a Friday afternoon.

Should I move to another builder, a freelancer or a done-for-you service?

If the builder simply bores you and you like doing it yourself, another builder is fine, but check its export rules before you commit so the next move is easier. A freelancer can handle the migration well; ask for the redirect sheet in writing as part of the quote. Our guide to builders, designers and done-for-you services compares the options in full.

Owners usually come to Adyft Sites after a builder because they want to stop doing the work, not just change tools. We rewrite every page from your WhatsApp answers, and you can tell us which wording was bringing visitors so it stays; every site is set up to be found on Google. Whoever builds your new site, agree in writing before launch how each old address will be handled, using the redirect sheet above. The domain stays registered in your name, hosting and security are included, and you get a monthly visitor report so you can watch visits settle. Starter in the UK is £999 plus £49 a month for five pages; Growth is £1,999 plus £99 a month for 25.

If your builder site has hundreds of products, customer accounts and years of order history, the migration is a bigger project. Our larger store builds start from £9,999 after a free call, and a specialist agency is also a sensible route.

Sources: Google Search Central, site moves with URL changes — https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move-with-url-changes · Google Search Central, site moves without URL changes — https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move-no-url-changes · ICANN, domain name registrant FAQs — https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/name-holder-faqs-2017-10-10-en · Export and hosting help pages of two leading DIY website builders, read October 2026 (brand names omitted)