How to Migrate Off a Free Website Builder Without Losing Everything
Direct answer: To migrate off a free website builder with minimal loss, export or manually copy all text and images first, register your own domain if you haven't already, rebuild your site structure on the new platform, then set up 301 redirects from old URLs to preserve any existing search rankings.
Step 1: Inventory Everything First
Before touching anything, list every page, image, and piece of copy on your current site. Most drag-and-drop builders don't offer a clean export, so this often means manually copying content into a document.
Step 2: Secure Your Own Domain
If you were on a builder subdomain, register your own domain now, independent of any builder, so future migrations don't require another address change.
Step 3: Rebuild on the New Platform
Recreate your pages on the new builder or host, keeping URL slugs as close to identical as possible to simplify the next step.
Step 4: Redirect Old URLs
Where possible, set up 301 redirects from old page addresses to the new equivalents. This step is the single biggest factor in preserving any existing search visibility during a migration.