What a move to Theo involves
A move is four steps in order, and none of them takes the old site down. Your store stays where it is throughout: Shopify and Wix products appear on the new site with a cart; Etsy listings become product pages that check out on Etsy; WooCommerce and other stores keep their checkout and the site links to them.
- Theo rebuilds from your URL: enter your current address when you start the free build; the first preview is usually ready in minutes and carries the pages, photos and wording across.
- You review it in chat before anything goes live: keep a page, restore a paragraph, drop a section, swap a photo.
- You connect your domain: both root and www, forwarding and parking off at the registrar, email records left alone. The switch takes effect once the registrar's records update, usually within a few hours, and the old site stays live until then.
- Once Search Console is connected, Theo redirects the old addresses that still get traffic or carry links to the matching new pages and, on Starter and Pro, submits the new pages to Google.
What to expect in Search Console after a move
Most sites see a dip in Google traffic for a few weeks after the domain switches. Google crawls each old address, follows its redirect and reads the new page, and old addresses leave the index before the new ones settle. Redirects and the old site left live until the switch keep the dip short. Compare the 28 days after the switch with the 28 days before, and check the Pages report for old addresses listed as not found.
Moving from Wix, Squarespace, WordPress or GoDaddy
The rebuild is the same on every platform; what differs is what you take with you and where your store lives.
- Wix: as of September 2026, Wix does not export site files, so Theo rebuilds from your URL. Keep Wix Stores connected and move only the website; point the domain at Theo when the new site is ready, and unassign it from the Wix site first only if your Wix store checkout uses the domain.
- Squarespace: pages and posts export from Squarespace, and Theo rebuilds from the URL either way; the domain points at the new site from wherever it is registered, and an Etsy or Shopify store stays where it is.
- WordPress: no plugins, updates or patches afterward; posts and images come across with redirects, and a WooCommerce store keeps its WordPress hosting on a subdomain such as shop.yourdomain.com, set up before the domain switches. Theo vs WordPress has the full comparison.
- GoDaddy: the domain needs no transfer; point it at the new site from your GoDaddy account, turn off forwarding and parking there, and connect both the root and www versions.
What the move costs
A move has no price of its own on any plan. Plan prices are the same for a moved site: $29.99 a month on Basic for the site and hosting; $69.99 on Starter, free for the first 30 days, with the weekly pages, posts and fixes; $129.99 on Pro. Beyond the plan, the paid extras are top-up chat credits, a domain if you buy one inside Theo, and the optional backlink packages in the Boost checklist.
Run the free audit first; it shows what your site earns from search today, the baseline to watch after the move.
Frequently asked questions
Does moving my site to Theo cost extra?
No. The move is part of the build on every plan, so the bill is the plan price: $29.99 a month on Basic for the site and hosting, $69.99 on Starter with the ongoing search work (free for the first 30 days), $129.99 on Pro. Top-up chat credits, a domain bought inside Theo and the optional backlink packages in the Boost checklist are the extras that can add to it.
How long does a move take?
The first preview is usually ready in minutes. The time after that is your review: reading each page, asking for changes in chat and checking the store connection. The domain switch is one step at the end; it takes effect once the registrar's records update, usually within a few hours, and Google then needs a few weeks to find and re-read the pages.
Can I move my existing site over without losing my Google ranking?
Most of it carries over. Old addresses that still get traffic are redirected to the matching new pages once Search Console is connected, so the visibility those pages earned follows them; a dip for a few weeks while Google re-reads everything is normal. A change of domain adds one more step in Search Console, which Theo's team helps you with. Leave the old site running until the new one is connected and working.
Do I own the moved site?
Yes. Moving to Theo does not change who owns the site: the pages, posts and photos are yours, the domain stays registered to you, and Theo's part is hosting. Pro adds read-only GitHub access, so you can browse and copy the code as well.
What happens if I cancel after moving?
Canceling after a move works like canceling at any other time: no commitment, and the confirmation states the date the subscription ends. The site keeps running until that date, you can copy it and its images, and your domain is yours to point anywhere. Your store and booking tools were never moved into Theo, so nothing changes in them.
Will my email keep working during the move?
Yes, when the email records are left alone. Connecting your domain changes the records for the website and leaves the email settings as they are, so do not delete them while you change the domain. Write to team@theo.site before the switch and Theo's team will check your settings first.
Do I need to export anything from my old platform first?
No. Theo rebuilds from your current address, so the pages, photos and wording come from the live site. Download anything you want your own copy of anyway, such as full-size photos or a Squarespace export of pages and posts. Product lists stay in your store, which stays connected or linked.