How to migrate from a old website builder to a new one

To migrate from an old website builder to a new one, save a copy of everything on your current site, rebuild it on the new builder while the old one stays live, then point your domain (your web address) at the new site once you've checked it. Most of the work is moving your words, photos, and page addresses. The design usually gets rebuilt rather than copied. Done in that order, visitors never see a broken site.

What should you save before you touch anything?

Start with an inventory. Open your current site and write down every page: home, about, services, contact, blog posts, product pages, all of it. A simple list in a spreadsheet works fine. Next to each page, note its web address (the text in the browser bar, like yoursite.com/about).

Then save the actual material:

• Text. Copy your page text and blog posts into documents. Some builders have an export button, but it's often limited, so don't count on it.
• Images. Download your logo and photos. Use the originals on your computer if you still have them, since they're usually better quality than what's on the site.
• Products and customer lists. If you sell online, look for an export to a spreadsheet (a CSV file). Do the same for any email sign-ups or form submissions.
• The behind-the-scenes text. Each page has a title and a short description that show up in Google results, and photos have short descriptions (called alt text) for screen readers and search engines. Copy these too. They're part of how people find you, and they're the pieces most people forget.

Before you move on, it helps to know how your current site is doing. The free website grader scores an existing site, so you'll have a before picture to compare against later.

How do you rebuild the site without taking the old one down?

Keep your old site running the whole time. Build the new one in a private or draft state on the new builder, and don't cancel anything yet.

Plan to rebuild the look, not copy it. Each builder stores designs in its own way, so layouts rarely travel from one to another. Think of it like moving house: your belongings come with you, but the furniture gets arranged again.

This is where an AI-led builder like SimplePath saves effort. Instead of dragging boxes around, you describe the site you want in plain words, and it builds a starting version you can adjust. Then you drop in the text and photos you saved. SimplePath can build sites, stores, blogs, and member areas, so check that what you run today fits one of those.

A few things to get right while you rebuild:

1. Keep your page names the same where you can. If your old page was /services, call the new one /services too. Matching addresses means old links keep working.
2. Bring over the titles and descriptions you saved, rather than writing new ones from scratch.
3. Check every link and button on your phone as well as your computer.
4. Send yourself a test message through any contact form to confirm it arrives.

If you're still deciding whether to switch at all, the comparison of SimplePath with other website builders lays out the differences.

How do you switch over without losing visitors?

Your domain is your web address, and it's registered separately from your site. That's good news. You don't need a new address, you just change where the existing one points. This is done in your domain's settings (often called DNS), where you enter the details your new builder gives you. Your new builder's help pages should walk through it.

Here's the order that keeps things safe:

1. Finish and review the new site completely.
2. Change your domain settings to point at the new builder.
3. Wait. The change can take a few hours, sometimes up to a day or two, to reach everyone.
4. Visit your site from your phone and computer, and click through every page.
5. Keep the old plan active for a couple of weeks as a safety net, then cancel.

If some page addresses had to change, set up redirects. A redirect is a forwarding sign: when someone clicks an old link, they land on the right new page instead of an error. Without redirects, links from other websites and old Google results lead to dead ends, and your hard-won visibility slips. Ask any builder you're considering whether it supports redirects. The frequently asked questions are a good place to start for SimplePath.

After launch, check Google over the next few weeks by searching your business name and a couple of your main services. Rankings can wobble briefly after a move, and that's normal. If your pages are still being found a month later, the move worked.

Your next step

Open a blank document today and list every page on your current site. That one list makes everything else easier. If you'd like to see how the rebuild would go on SimplePath, look at what each plan includes, or get in touch with questions about your own move.