Owning a Squarespace website is more than just having a nice design. You want a high ranking in search engines, which requires strategic SEO. However, when it comes to SEO, there are many things to do, from on-page SEO to off-page SEO. So, how to do SEO on Squarespace?
This article gives you the in-depth Squarespace SEO checklist, including steps to optimize your content for higher search engine rankings:
- Optimize your site details
- Enhance your site design
- Review your domain and URL settings
- Check your location details
- Verify your site with Google Search Console
- Enhance new content
- Monitor your site traffic
Let’s delve into it!
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Why SEO on Squarespace is Important?
SEO is crucial for Squarespace because it helps your website rank higher in search engines. When your site appears on the first page of search results, more people are likely to see it.
According to Backlinko, the top result on Google is 27.6% of clicks. However, only 0.63% click on something from the second page. Improved SEO for Squarespace means more visibility, leading to increased organic traffic, better chances of conversions, and higher sales.
Additionally, SEO is a cost-effective way to enhance your Squarespace website’s visibility, especially for those with limited marketing budgets.
So, before exploring other strategies, it’s wise to use the Squarespace SEO checklist to ensure your site is search-friendly.
If you’re a beginner, it’s better to learn how to use Squarespace first.
7-Step Squarespace SEO Checklist
In general, SEO involves two practices: on-page SEO (enhancing your website itself) and off-page SEO (boosting external signals to impact your site’s authority). Both practices contribute to driving traffic to your Squarespace website from search engines.
This might seem overwhelming, especially if you haven’t done it before. But don’t worry. This part provides Squarespace SEO tips on creating quality content, mainly focusing on tips to improve the visibility of your content for search engines.
Step 1. Optimize your site information
The first and most important step in Squarespace SEO checklist is to optimize your site information for search engines. Here’s what you need to do on-page SEO:
Add a site title
Firstly, include a concise site title, even if you use a logo for your Squarespace website. This text may get indexed by search engines, so it’s advisable to keep it under 60 characters and incorporate relevant keywords.
Improve your page title tags
By default, Squarespace title tags include the page title and your site name. However, you can customize this information if you want.
Titles can include keywords, but don’t make them sound like spam. The web page’s title tag should be a brief, accurate content description and encourage users to click on your site. Remember:
- Limit titles to under 60 characters.
- Make each page’s title unique, descriptive, and interesting.
- Use keywords wisely; don’t just use a bunch of them or repeat variations. If possible, start the title with the keyword for better results.
- Utilize Moz’s free title tag preview tool to check how your title appears.
Note: If you’re using Squarespace 7.1, remove generic language like “Contact 3” or “Blog 2” from your titles.
Add an SEO site description
Your SEO site description is like the introduction to your homepage. When search engines can’t find content more relevant to what a visitor is searching for, they showcase this description in the search results for your homepage.
To include an SEO on Squarespace site description:
- Access the SEO appearance panel
- In the Search appearance section, choose the Home tab
- Modify the SEO site description field, and click on “Save.”
Ensure your SEO site description is concise (50-300 characters), relevant, and easy to read. This can boost visibility on search engines and click-through rates.
Add SEO description (meta description)
Squarespace’s SEO description stands for individual pages or collection items, such as blog posts or products. People reading search results check meta descriptions to decide which link to click. So, improving SEO on Squarespace by ensuring your descriptions are brief, relevant, and easy to understand.
To enhance your SEO descriptions for search engines:
- Keep the text between 50-300 characters.
- Optimize descriptions with keywords, but avoid using too many.
- Consider what your visitors might be looking for and how you can encourage them to click. For instance, highlight how your site, page, or product can solve their problem.
You’ve just finished the first step in the on-page Squarespace SEO checklist. While Squarespace is a famous online store builder, optimizing your site to improve SEO on Squarespace is still essential. This will be discussed further in the next part.
You can check out our Squarespace eCommerce review for more details on its website-building function and more.
Step 2. Optimize your site design
Enhancing your site design is a pivotal aspect of the Squarespace SEO checklist. It’s about making your site look good and work well, maximizing your online visibility.
Here’s how to increase SEO on Squarespace site design:
Add a browser icon
A browser icon, or a favicon, is a small square image that shows up next to your page’s title in browser tabs and other places online. Putting a custom favicon helps your site stand out in a sea of tabs or bookmarks.
By default, all Squarespace sites have a cube favicon. If you keep it as it is, those familiar with it will know you’re part of the Squarespace community. But you can swap it with your own image to match your site’s style better.
Add social sharing images
Social sharing images will appear when your site gets shared on social media. You can consider adding one for your entire site, each page, and every blog post, product, or event.
Make a custom 404 page
Your Squarespace site automatically shows a 404 error when it can’t find a page, often due to a dead link or wrong URL. Personalizing your site’s 404 page tells visitors what’s wrong and keeps your site’s style intact.
Optimize for mobile
Mobile users value fast-loading pages. So, to ensure SEO on Squarespace, ensure your site excels in mobile performance, responsive design, and voice search compatibility.
Review your content to stay relevant to your audience. If your site is good for search engines, it should work well on mobile too. You can check your site’s speed with Google’s tool to see if it’s optimized for mobile users.
Step 3. Check your domain and URL setup
Ensuring your domain and URL are correctly set up is crucial for maintaining your site’s professionalism and accessibility. Follow these steps as part of the Squarespace SEO checklist to optimize this:
Connect a custom domain
In general, a domain name is your site’s web address. On Squarespace, you can switch from the default domain to a custom one (yourdomain.squarespace.com). Custom domains make your site look professional, build your brand, and help visitors find you easily. You can manage, transfer, and connect domains in the Domains panel.
Connect to social media
The next SEO for Squarespace step is to link your site to social media. This allows you to share your content to your preferred social channels more easily, thus encouraging others to share your pages, increasing your site’s traffic. Moreover, social sharing can be seen as an off-page method that helps increase the credibility of your website.
Ensure SSL is enabled
SSL secures connections and protects against hackers. Squarespace automatically secures all domains added to your site with free SSL certificates for enhanced security. However, you need to confirm that your SSL panel is set to the Secure setting to avoid penalties for sites without SSL.
Check URL slugs
Another essential Squarespace SEO checklist step is to use URLs that describe the page’s content. If you save an item or blog post without a title, the URL will be a random string of characters. So, ensure to examine the slugs for each page and item on your site and modify any that lack meaningful words.
Select your post URL format
If you write blogs, decide how your blog post URLs are made automatically. You can choose any option that works for you, but we suggest always adding the main keywords of your article.
For example, if your post title is “Best espresso machines under $1000: A detailed review”, then your recommended URL should be: https://yourwebsite.com/best-espresso-machines-under-1000/
Step 4. Check your location information
For a successful Squarespace search engine optimization strategy, make sure your location info is correct and easy to find. This is especially important if you’re a local business or provide services in specific areas. Here are two steps to add to your Squarespace SEO checklist for better results.
Add your physical location
Increase the likelihood of your site appearing in local searches by confirming your location with Google and customers. If you have a physical business, create a Contact Us page with a map and address.
Publish your location online
You can also make a Google Business Profile to easily handle online listings, business hours, and service areas. This can effectively enhance your online visibility.
Step 5: Confirm your site with Google Search Console
An essential step in your Squarespace SEO checklist is confirming your site with Google Search Console. Follow these SEO Squarespace tips once your site is live:
- Verify your Squarespace site with Google Search Console (GSC): Once verifying your site with GSC, you can manage your site’s presence in Google search results and understand how visitors discover your site.
- Request Google to index your Squarespace site: This prompts Google’s bots to check your site and refresh search results with your latest content.
- Verify your Squarespace site with Bing Webmaster Tools: You can also strengthen your site’s presence on Bing and Yahoo by confirming it with Bing Webmaster Tools.
- Connect your site to Google Analytics: This lets you easily track visits and receive reports through Squarespace’s integrated Google Analytics.
- Enable AMP: If you run a blog, activating AMP creates a faster-loading version for mobile users.
Check out the best Squarespace plugins for improving SEO on Squarespace, boosting your site performance, and more.
Step 6. Optimize new content
As you move through the Squarespace SEO checklist, this step highlights the importance of optimizing new content for your site’s ranking. Here are some Squarespace SEO tips to ensure your new content gets the best ranking on search engines.
- Make strategic updates: Enhance your site with planned updates based on recommended content practices.
- Create redirects: If you modify a page’s URL slug, set up redirects to ensure smooth navigation for your visitors.
- Keep your site active: Maintain a dynamic site by regularly adding fresh content; think about incorporating a blog for ongoing updates.
- Understand featured snippets: A featured snippet is basically the answer box shown above regular search results. It takes information directly from blogs and articles. Unlike rich snippets, there’s no special code needed to get a featured snippet. So, it’s essential to pay attention to how having a snippet affects your click-through rates.
Step 7. Track your site traffic
The final Squarespace and SEO tip is tracking your site traffic. This step is pivotal for understanding how well your website is performing. Follow these two steps to optimize and monitor your site traffic effectively.
- Utilize your site’s analytics tools: Head to the Search keywords area and other analytics sections like Traffic, Popular content, and Activity log to monitor alterations in your site’s ranking on search engines.
- Use Google Analytics: Leverage Squarespace’s integration with Google Analytics to track your visitors and get detailed reports.
How to Improve SEO on Squarespace? 9 Best Practices
Now, you have the ultimate Squarespace SEO checklist. You can also use these Squarespace SEO tips to enhance your site performance:
1. Use keywords strategically: Integrate relevant keywords into your site’s text, including page titles and descriptions, to align with user search queries. For detailed assistance, explore Squarespace’s guide on Adding Keywords for SEO.
2. Organize your content structure: Employ clear headings to structure your pages, ensuring readability and aiding search engines in navigating your content. Follow these guidelines for effective uses of headings:
- Use consistent heading sizes throughout your site and on each page.
- Avoid repeating the same text for different headings.
- Optimize your headings by including relevant keywords.
- Steer clear of using headings for formatting effects like pull quotes, if possible. If you need to use headings for pull quotes, ensure they include important page content, such as keywords.
3. Include alt text for images: Enhance accessibility and assist search engines in understanding your content by adding descriptive alt text to images. This practice benefits both visually impaired visitors and SEO for Squarespace.
4. Use readable file names for images: Optimize image file names for readability, considering that they may also serve as alt text. Follow these best practices for creating meaningful image file names.
5. Keep pages lightweight: Maintain optimal site loading speed by keeping images under 500 KB and overall page size under 5 MB.
6. Add shareable images and SEO descriptions for social media: Boost your site’s social media presence by attaching shareable logos and SEO descriptions to new pages.
7. Apply tags and categories: Organize various content types, such as blog posts, products, and gallery images, using tags and categories. This SEO for Squarespace website tip facilitates seamless navigation for your site visitors.
8. Interlink your site’s content: Enhance user engagement by strategically incorporating page links that connect different site sections. Just make sure it’s relevant to your current post’s topic.
8. Interlink your site’s content: Enhance user engagement by strategically incorporating page links that connect different site sections. Just make sure it’s relevant to your current post’s topic.
9. Personalize URL slugs: Ensure that the URLs for your collection items and pages accurately reflect their content. This Squarespace SEO checklist contributes to a user-friendly and SEO-optimized site structure.
SEO Checklist Squarespace – FAQs
Yes, each Squarespace online store and website has built-in features and helpful guides to boost visibility in search results. Squarespace has various SEO features, including auto-generated sitemaps, SSL certificates, customizable meta tags, and more. However, success also hinges on factors like content quality and adhering to best practices. Yes, you can add SEO titles and descriptions to specific collection items, such as products, blog posts, etc. You can also customize how the titles appear in browser tabs and search results. While Squarespace has user-friendly integrated SEO features, it might not have the same depth as WordPress options. For more advanced SEO needs, WordPress often outperforms with its extensive customization.
Improving SEO on Squarespace Now!
In conclusion, mastering the Squarespace SEO checklist is the key to elevating your online presence. Follow these essential steps:
- Improve your site information
- Enhance your site design
- Review your domain and URL setup
- Verify your location details
- Confirm your site with Google Search Console
- Optimize your fresh content
- Monitor your site traffic
By following these strategies, your Squarespace site becomes more visible, credible, and successful in search engine results. If you still need help with SEO Squarespace tips, don’t hesitate to contact us anytime. We’re here to help!
