The same job on two builders
The two builders put the same switches in different places, and a switch left in the wrong position has the same effect on a client: the site is up and nobody finds it, or nobody can buy from it.
| Situation | Wix | Squarespace | What an outside check sees |
|---|---|---|---|
| The whole site hidden from search | In SEO Settings, the toggle “Let search engines index your site” is switched off; the Help Center says search engines remove the pages on the next crawl | The site is Private or Password Protected, or a setting in the Crawlers section of Settings adds a Disallow: / rule to robots.txt | A noindex tag or a robots.txt block: an alert after a second sighting |
| One page hidden | “Hide this page from search results” in the page’s SEO settings | “Hide page from search results” in the page’s SEO settings, or a noindex tag in code injection | A page that becomes noindex on the checked address |
| A password on a launched site | Password protected pages are not shown in search results | A site-wide password: “Customers can’t complete the checkout process”, and the site is not accessible to search engines | A page that answers but lacks the text of the real page |
| A domain that lapses or moves | The domain’s record changes or the registration ends | The same | A change of the A records on the timeline; an alert before the registration expires |
The statements in the Wix and Squarespace columns come from the two builders’ own help pages, listed below and read on 2026-10-28. Menu names change, so confirm in the dashboard.
What goes wrong, and why a status code does not show it
The site is hidden and nobody knows. A Squarespace site is Private until it is published, and Squarespace says that changes “won’t reflect on Google until they re-index or re-crawl your site, which usually takes some time”. A Wix site with the indexing toggle off asks search engines to drop the pages on the next crawl. A client who builds a new site and publishes it with the switch still off sees a perfect site and no visitors. The page answers 200. The search-risk alert is the one that notices, and it needs the address to be checked, not the builder’s preview.
A password stays on after launch. Squarespace’s help page says a site-wide password hides the site from the public and that customers cannot complete checkout while it is on. A visitor who meets a password prompt may leave without telling anyone. A check with a status code passes; a check that requires a phrase from the live site fails. Choose a phrase from the footer or from the first heading of the home page.
The domain belongs to someone else. On a builder, the domain is often bought through the builder or at a registrar under the client’s own account. The client owns the renewal reminder and ignores it. Beamfar reads the registration date when the registry publishes one and alerts before it ends. See Domain expiry and RDAP.
An embedded app or script slows or breaks a page. Hosted builders let owners add apps and code. A page that loads slowly or pulls an http:// resource from an https:// page is visible in response times and in the crawl’s mixed-content list within the limits of the plan.
Set it up
- Add the public host name, not the builder’s preview address, in the portfolio.
- Require a phrase from the footer in the page check.
- Open the SEO or availability settings once and write down whether the site and its pages are meant to be indexed. The alert only helps if you know the intended state.
- Check the domain: who holds the registration, which e-mail receives the renewal notice and which records the builder asked for. The DNS check and the registration check run by themselves; the care notes tell you who to call.
- Send alerts to a person who can reach the client’s account, because only the account owner can change these settings.
What an outside check cannot see
It cannot see the builder’s dashboard, the permissions of the contributors, a form inbox or a draft that was never published. It cannot tell that a page was hidden on purpose. It does not log in to a member area. Orders, payments and inventory belong to the builder’s own reports. For why a page that answers is not proof that it works, read What a 200 response hides.
How Beamfar helps
Beamfar is not an app for either builder. It checks the public address from two regions and calls it down only when both agree, keeps the status code, redirects, certificate and DNS answer of an incident, and puts a change in the DNS records, the certificate, the final address or the search settings on one timeline. It alerts before a certificate or domain registration expires. It has been tried on test pages only and has no customers yet.
Questions
Can I monitor a Wix or Squarespace site if I cannot install anything?
Yes. An outside monitor needs only the public address, which is why it suits hosted builders.
How do I know a launched site is not hidden from search engines?
Compare the intended state with the page source and robots.txt of the live address, and let the monitor alert when a page becomes noindex or robots.txt starts to block it. Hidden content can take a while to disappear from search, and visible content a while to appear.
Why does a Squarespace store show a password page?
A site-wide password is on. Squarespace says customers cannot complete checkout while it is, and that the site is not accessible to search engines.
Who should receive the alert for a client’s builder site?
The person who can change the client’s settings and reach their domain account, usually the agency lead and the client’s owner of record.
Sources
Read on . Standards and vendor pages change; confirm the current text before you rely on it.
- Wix Help Center, Preventing Search Engines from Indexing Your Site (support.wix.com)
- Squarespace Help Center, Hiding your site from search results (support.squarespace.com)
- Squarespace Help Center, Site-wide passwords (support.squarespace.com)