9 Simple Squarespace SEO Tips to Boost Your Website Traffic
Updated: September 13th, 2023
Are you ready to get your website found by your target audience? In this article, I’m sharing Squarespace SEO (search engine optimization) strategies to help you rank high on search engines and reach your target audience.
Squarespace is my all-time favorite website builder because it's easy to use, customizable, and SEO-friendly. I’ve been running my Squarespace website for a few years and get organic traffic daily. In this Squarespace SEO guide, I’m sharing the secrets.
Can Squarespace rank on Google?
A common misconception is Squarespace doesn’t rank on Google, but this isn’t true. Just like other website builders like WordPress or Shopify, Google ranks Squarespace websites that meet user intent.
The search engine results pages (SERPs) don’t discriminate, and Google shares any website that’s valuable to its users.
I use Squarespace for my website, and this blog article ranks #1 on page 1 as a featured snippet. Featured snippets show at the top of Google and get a lot of organic search traffic.
Squarespace blog article ranking #1 on Google page 1
How do I optimize SEO on Squarespace?
Appropriate keyword usage, user experience, and content are necessary for optimizing your Squarespace site for SEO.
I’ve written hundreds of blog articles for myself and my clients and find these Squarespace SEO tips useful for driving results:
Perform keyword research.
Check site design.
Write valuable content.
Update URL slugs.
Verify your site with Google Search Console.
Optimize all images for SEO.
Incorporate linking.
Optimize for search engines.
Keep your website updated.
Bonus: Other SEO strategies to consider
Easy Squarespace SEO Tips to Increase Website Traffic & Conversions
Whether you're starting a new website or working on updating your existing Squarespace site, this SEO checklist is easy for just about anyone to incorporate.
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1. Perform keyword research.
You’ve probably heard it a bunch – keyword research is a must for SEO.
Keywords are the phrases that people search for on Google. When you use keywords your target audience is searching, Google shows your website to them.
Tips for performing keyword research:
Identify who your target audience is and what problems they want to solve.
Determine how your service(s) or product(s) can help them.
Think of topics they might want to read about.
Use a keyword research tool to find high-traffic, low-competition keywords related to those topics. My favorite keyword research tool is Keysearch because it’s easy to use and affordable. I’ve also seen excellent results since using it. Use code KSDISC for 20% off!
2. Check site design.
One of the most overlooked tips for Squarespace SEO is creating a user-friendly site design. Not only is this important for accessibility, but Google also assesses site design to determine your rankability.
A user-friendly design includes:
A customized 404 page: When a user clicks on a link for your website that’s broken, a customized 404 page can take them to another page on your site. This keeps users on your website for longer. Create this on Squarespace by going to “Design” then “404 Page.” See my 404 page below.
Legible font: Use dark font on light backgrounds and simple font styles with a size of 16px or larger.
Your browser icon: If you look at the tabs on your screen (on a computer), you’ll see a logo by the webpage name. You want this icon to be your logo. To update this, login into your Squarespace account, go to “Design,” then “Browser Icon,” and upload your logo.
Social sharing images: This is what shows up when you share one of your web pages via social media or text messaging. Learn how to update social sharing images here.
404 page example
3. Write valuable content.
It goes without saying valuable content is a must for optimizing your Squarespace site for SEO. The best way to do this is by blogging about topics your target audience is interested in.
Write blogs that help them solve a problem. Google is smart and doesn’t rank web pages that won’t be helpful for users. This is also why Google usually prefers ranking long-form content, like blogs.
That said, if your topic doesn’t require a lot of content, don’t add unnecessary fluff.
Quality is more important than quantity.
Tip: Search for your target keyword on Google. Use wordcounter.net to determine the word count for those pages, and use this as a guide for your word count.
As you write your content, put yourself in your readers' shoes. Consider what information they’ll want to read after searching a keyword phrase. When you're writing, think about what the reader might be looking for next. If it’s not meaningful, leave it out.
Don't forget to create skimmable content by including images, videos, charts, and lists.
4. Update URL slugs.
One thing I see so often is long URL slugs that don’t quickly show me what the content is about. This is an easy fix on Squarespace by clicking the settings icon next to any of your page titles and updating the slug.
A great rule of thumb is to match your slug to your primary keyword. For example, the primary keyword for this blog post is “squarespace seo tips,” so the slug is squarespace-seo-tips. This tells you and Google what the content is about.
Note: If you’re updating your site, I don’t recommend changing URL slugs you’ve had for a while. This can mess with linking you’ve done in the past. URL slugs alone can’t affect SEO enough to worry about this. Just make sure to use this tip going forward.
5. Verify your site with Google Search Console.
Google Search Console is one of the best tools you can use to ensure your site is ranking and getting the traffic you want. It shows you helpful information, including how your pages are doing, where your traffic comes from, how long users stay on each page, and what keywords people search for before they land on your site.
Once you've created your Squarespace site, connect it to Google Search Console. It's free to use, and you can check in regularly to track your analytics to help you know what's going on with your site and gain insight as you move forward with creating new content.
For personalized website help, check out my website consultation service.
6. Optimize all images for SEO.
Optimizing your image title before even uploading it to your blog helps Google understand your visual content, too.
When you're saving pictures to your computer, include your keyword in the file names. For example, I'll name an image I'm adding to this article as “squarespace-seo-tips-google-search-console.”
After you upload any picture to your article, you need to include alt text (text that describes an image). You’ll see this option after you upload your photo to Squarespace, then click on it. Again, incorporate your keywords in the alt text where it makes sense, but don't overdo it.
7. Incorporate linking.
Linking is when you include links to other web pages naturally in your content. These links should include links to other pages on your site, also known as inbound or internal links, and to pages on other websites or outbound links.
Internal links should be on all of your web pages. These keep your audience on your website longer as you redirect them to other places on your website.
Meanwhile, outbound links take your readers to other sites. You want to use fewer outbound links to prevent high bounce rates. You should only incorporate outbound links to high-quality sites that aren’t your competition.
For example, you’ll see internal links in this blog article to my services page and to related blog articles on my site. You’ll see outbound links to reputable tools and resources that I think you'll find helpful.
8. Optimize for search engines.
As you create your Squarespace website and add new pages to it (about page, home pages, blogs, etc.), each page must be optimized for search engines to find and rank it. As I mentioned, you can optimize by targeting a specific keyword on each page and using it in your titles, meta descriptions, alt text, and content.
To update your pages for SEO on Squarespace, go into the settings for each page. You can also find other ways to optimize your site for SEO by going to “Marketing” then “SEO.”
how to optimize for SEO in Squarespace
9. Keep your website updated.
People often think once they create a site and publish a few blog posts, that's it. However, Google needs to know your site is relevant. The best way to do this is by updating it regularly with consistent blogging.
I've worked with clients who invest a lot of time and money into their websites and then completely stop. This tells Google the site is "dead," and it stops showing up on the SERPs. Avoid this by publishing a new blog article at least once a month and updating old articles to keep them relevant.
Pro tip:
Look at your analytics via Google Search Console and Squarespace to determine the best ways to update your site. This lets you see what content your audience likes, the keywords they're searching before they land on your site, and what pages you might need to update.
You don't always have to reinvent the wheel. I often update my site by reworking blog posts that aren't getting good traffic.
Squarespace analytics example
Bonus: Other SEO Strategies to Consider
The Squarespace SEO tips above are my tried-and-true methods.
Here are a few other techniques that have helped me reach more people and increase conversions:
Disable accelerated mobile pages (AMP) – "settings" > "blog preferences" > "accelerated mobile pages." Although this can help increase your site speed, it might change the format of your blogs, so it's best to turn it off.
Add schema markup for rich snippets. This gives extra information on the SERPs, including recipes and ratings.
Update your SEO site description and title – "marketing" > "SEO appearance." This is easy to overlook when you make a Squarespace website.
Edit old blog posts. Use Google Search Console to identify old blog posts that get some traffic. These are usually the best articles to update and boost ranking for. I use KeySearch's Content Assistant Tool to edit for better SEO.
Request indexing on Google Search Console. Anytime to publish or update a page on your site, request indexing. This essentially asks Google to crawl your website and show this webpage on the SERPs.
Squarespace SEO Tips: FAQ
Below, I’ll answer common questions about SEO for Squarespace.
Is Squarespace bad for SEO?
With so many optimization features, Squarespace isn’t bad for SEO. Any website can be SEO-friendly. In fact, I have many pages on my Squarespace site that get ample organic search traffic.
What are simple ways to do SEO on Squarespace?
If you're looking for the quickest ways to boost your SEO today, do keyword research and identify 5-10 high-traffic, low-competition keywords your target audience might search for. Then, target these keywords by updating your existing content or publishing new blog articles.
What is better for SEO – Wix or Squarespace?
You can optimize any website for SEO. To decide between Wix or Squarespace, determine what your goals are.
I find that Wix and Squarespace are very similar. They're beginner-friendly, customizable, and cost about the same. That said, you can do more with your Squarespace site.
How can you increase website loading speed on Squarespace?
The best way to increase your Squarespace website's loading speed is by reducing your page size. You can do this by limiting your page blocks and reducing file sizes.
Specific ways to do this include:
Having no more than 60 blocks on a page
Using TinyPNG.com to reduce image sizes before putting them on your website
Limit videos per page
Have limited content on your blog landing page
Final Thoughts: Squarespace SEO Tips
I hope these Squarespace SEO tips help you show up more in search results and get more website traffic from your target market. With practice, SEO for Squarespace doesn’t have to be tricky.
If you’re interested in learning about how to boost your SEO with blogging, check out my blog writing start-to-finish roadmap.
