The Squarespace Handover Guide for New Site Owners
Your site has been built, populated, set up, organised, and is now live. Congratulations! You did it! Now what? Here are the answers to common questions you might have as you come to the end of your Squarespace site build.
What should I do first after handover?
Have a good look at the site both on desktop and mobile. Try to see it through fresh eyes, the way a first-time visitor would experience it. Then run through this quick checklist:
Check your contact form works
Confirm your domain is connected
Make sure all your links are working — navigation, buttons, and social media links
Review the site on mobile to make sure the layout and flow makes sense
Who owns my site?
Short answer: you! If your designer/web builder started a trial site under their name and invited you as a contributor (which I recommend as the way to go, since you will then have access to their Circle Discounts) , at the end of the process they should transfer ownership of the site to you. That means (among other things):
you own the site,
you own the info,
you have primary access to all the information,
you have your credit card details loaded on the site,
you are able to edit, change, update text, images and other info,
you are able to add and edit pages,
you can access your analytics,
you can check your billing and subscriptions,
you can invite other contributors or authors, and
you can contact Squarespace Support through your site.
Will my site subscription automatically renew?
The site is automatically set to autorenew unless you change these setting. I hate surprise bills, but for those super critical subscriptions that you can’t afford to lapse, it is helpful to set your site and your domain (if you’ve purchased it through Squarespace) to autorenew. If you have any add-on packages like email marketing, or Acuity Scheduling, these can also be set to autorenew.
Will my domain automatically renew?
If you have purchased your domain through Squarespace, typically this is set to autorenew unless you have manually gone in and switched off this setting.
How do I get help with my site if I’m stuck?
With your Squarespace subscription, you get access to an award winning help resource through https://support.squarespace.com/ If you’re logged into your site, on the left hand menu you’ll see a ‘question mark’ icon, which leads you straight to the support site. Once there you can search for articles or video tutorials, or select ‘contact us’ on the top right hand side of the navigation bar, and then start a new chat in the chat window, or send an email you can respond to later on.
Can I start a newsletter?
Of course! Squarespace has its own ‘in-house’ email marketing package commonly called ‘campaigns’. Starting from about US$9/month, Squarespace campaigns include:
Unlimited contacts
Premium email templates
Smart segmentation
Email personalisation
Marketing automations
Real-time analytics
Ecommerce tools
AI email copy
Can I start an online store?
Squarespace is an all in one platform that grows as your business does. Choose from digital or physical products, services or subscriptions.
Ecommerce isn’t limited to physical goods and products. With Squarespace, you have the tools you need to sell anything you can imagine: merchandise, subscriptions, services, content, and more. Scheduling tools make it easy to book appointments and manage your calendar, while Tock can offer reservation management and hospitality solutions. Member Areas also enables you to sell memberships for private content or videos, including classes, courses, paid newsletters, and more.
In order to access the ecommerce features Squarespace offers, you need to be on at least the “Core” (previously called Business) package.
Can I upgrade (or downgrade) my package?
You can. If at any point you want to add features to your site such as scheduling/booking, email campaigns, a member site, or an online store, you can do so. If things in your business change, you need to scale back or are no longer using certain features, you can cancel any of the additional tools you’re subscribed to such as scheduling or email campaigns right in your Squarespace dashboard. Squarespace Help is pretty good about handling changes to subscriptions and works out a pro-rata rate, and even a pro-rated refund should you be owed money.
How can I manage my SEO?
Squarespace has made it increasingly simple to manage your SEO within your site. When you’re logged in, navigate to the left hand panel menu and look for “SEO / AI Visibility” under the “Website” tab. There you’ll find an SEO Score, a way to add metadata to your pages, and a simple process to add alt-text to all the images on your site. There are also a range of resources to teach you SEO essentials, including how to verify your site with Google Search Console.
What three things can I do to keep my site up to date?
Here are three simple things to focus on to keep your site fresh and relevant:
1. Review your content regularly. Set a reminder (quarterly works well for most small businesses) to read through your pages as if you're a first-time visitor. Check that your services, pricing, contact details, and any dates or offers are still accurate. Outdated information erodes trust fast.
2. Add new content. Whether it's a blog post, a project to your portfolio, a new product, or a refreshed homepage image, fresh content signals to both visitors and search engines that your site is alive and active. Even small updates make a difference.
3. Keep an eye on your SEO. Squarespace makes this straightforward — head to the SEO / AI Visibility section under the Website tab in your dashboard. Check your SEO score, update any missing metadata, and make sure your images have alt-text. A few minutes here every couple of months goes a long way.
Do I need to pay a designer for updates?
For most day-to-day updates: swapping out text, changing an image, adding a blog post, updating your pricing, the short answer is no. Squarespace is built to be managed by the site owner, and if you've received a proper handover and walkthrough from your designer, these kinds of changes are well within reach.
One of the big advantages of Squarespace over platforms like WordPress is that there's no ecosystem of plugins to manage, update, or worry about breaking. On WordPress, "updates" can mean plugin updates, theme updates, and compatibility checks that genuinely do require a technical hand. On Squarespace, that complexity simply doesn't exist. The platform handles it all behind the scenes.
Where you might want to bring a designer back in is for more structural changes: a new page layout, a brand refresh, adding a new feature like a store or booking system, or anything that involves significant design decisions. Think of it less as "I need help with updates" and more as "I need help with evolution."
The goal of a good handover is to leave you confident and capable of running your own site day-to-day. If you're not feeling that way yet, it might be worth revisiting your handover session rather than outsourcing every small change.
Is it ‘safe’ to edit my site?
Great news: Squarespace has your back here. Squarespace autosaves your work and allows you to undo changes before you hit publish. Nothing goes live until you choose to publish it, so you have more breathing room than you might think. If you're making bigger changes and want a safety net, you can duplicate a page before editing it, that way your original is sitting safely in the background while you experiment on the copy.
The best way to get comfortable with your site is to get in and explore. Click around, try things, and remember that the Squarespace support team is available if you genuinely get stuck. Between the help centre, live chat, and email support, you're not on your own.
A great handover isn't just the end of a build. It's the beginning of you owning your online presence fully and confidently.
If you've landed on this post feeling like your handover didn't quite cover all of this, or you're still not feeling confident navigating and managing your own site, that's something I can help with. I offer both async video training and live online sessions to walk you through your site at your own pace so you finish feeling capable and in control, not dependent on someone else for every small change. If that sounds like what you need, let’s chat. I’d love to help.
