Connecting a Squarespace domain to another website
A domain registered with Squarespace can open a website hosted anywhere else. You keep the domain at Squarespace, open its DNS settings, remove the Squarespace default records that point at Squarespace's servers, and add the records your new website provider gives you. The email records stay as they are. This works the same for domains bought on Squarespace and for the many that arrived from Google Domains.
Where your domain lives in Squarespace
There are two ways people end up with a Squarespace domain, and they reach the settings slightly differently.
- You have a Squarespace website. Log in, go to the account dashboard or the site's settings, and open Domains. Click the domain.
- You only have the domain, often because it used to be at Google Domains. Go to Squarespace's domains area and sign in with the same account you used for Google Domains, often the "Continue with Google" button. What happened to Google Domains explains that move if you are not sure how your domain got there.
Inside the domain, open DNS (on some screens, "DNS Settings"). Before changing anything, take screenshots of everything on that page.
What you will see on the DNS page
Squarespace groups records into blocks. The usual ones:
- Squarespace Defaults. A set of records that point the domain at a Squarespace website: four A records for "@" pointing at Squarespace IP numbers, and a CNAME for "www" pointing at a Squarespace address. These are the records you will remove.
- Email presets, such as a Google Workspace block with MX records, if your email is with Google. Keep these.
- Email forwarding records, if you use the free forwarding many Google Domains customers had. Keep these too.
- Custom records, anything added by hand: TXT verification codes, records for a booking system, a shop on a subdomain. Keep them unless you know they belong to the old site.
Pointing the domain at the new website
- Remove the Squarespace Defaults block. There is usually a delete or trash icon next to the whole group. Removing only one of the four A records is not enough: the remaining ones would send some visitors to Squarespace.
- Add the A record for the bare domain. Choose "Add record", type A, host "@", and paste the IP address your new website provider gave you.
- Add the www record. Usually a CNAME, host "www", pointing to the name your provider gave you. If they asked for an A record for www instead, add that.
- Add any extra records your provider asks for, such as a TXT record to prove you own the domain.
- Save and check the page now shows only the new website records plus your email and custom ones.
Changes on Squarespace's DNS usually take effect within an hour or so. We keep a step-by-step page for connecting a Squarespace domain if you want to follow along with pictures.
If a Squarespace website was using the domain
If your old site is also on Squarespace, the domain is linked to it in the website's settings. Removing the default records disconnects the domain from that site in practice, and Squarespace may show a warning that the domain is not connected. That is expected.
A few things to handle:
- Do not click "Fix" or "Restore defaults" on a warning. It puts the Squarespace records back and undoes your change.
- Keep the Squarespace site plan until the new site is working. Then decide whether to cancel it. The domain renews separately from the site plan; cancelling the website does not cancel the domain, and the domain keeps billing on its own date.
- Save your content first. Squarespace's export is limited, so copy text and download photos you want to keep before cancelling.
- Keep old page addresses in mind. Squarespace page addresses often look like "/about-1" or "/blog/post-title". The new site should send those addresses to matching pages, so links from Google and from your customers still work.
Your email during all this
The website records and the email records are separate, so pointing the website elsewhere does not affect email as long as you leave the email blocks alone. Three situations come up with Squarespace domains:
- Google Workspace. The Google preset holds your MX records. Leave it.
- Email forwarding. If messages to [email protected] are forwarded to a Gmail address, that is a Squarespace domain feature with its own records. Leave them. If you want to know whether forwarding is enough for your business or whether a real mailbox would serve you better, see email forwarding vs a real mailbox.
- Microsoft 365 or another provider. Their records are usually in the custom block. Leave them.
After the change, send a test email to your business address from a personal account and reply to it.
Testing the new connection
- On your phone with Wi-Fi off, open "yourbusiness.com" and "www.yourbusiness.com". Both should show the new site.
- Look for the padlock in the address bar. Your new provider usually issues it automatically within the hour.
- If you still see Squarespace, look again for a leftover default A record or a "www" CNAME still pointing at Squarespace.
- Try a private browser window, since your computer may remember the old site.
Should you move the domain off Squarespace?
You do not have to. Many owners keep the domain at Squarespace and point it elsewhere for years. Reasons to transfer later: you want all domains with one registrar, you prefer another company's prices, or you are leaving Squarespace entirely and want one less account. When you are ready, how to transfer a domain to another registrar walks through it. Pointing now and transferring later is a perfectly sensible order.
Your list for this week
- Sign in to Squarespace and open the domain's DNS page.
- Screenshot every block of records.
- Remove the whole Squarespace Defaults block and add the new A and www records.
- Leave email presets, forwarding and custom records alone.
- Test on your phone and send a test email both ways.
- Keep the old Squarespace site plan until the new site has worked for a few days.
If you want to see a new site before you touch any of this, you can see your site rebuilt first and point the domain once it is ready.