The Beginner's Guide to Squarespace SEO

What is SEO? The quality of your written content on your website gets organic traffic through SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Google uses it to rank your site when people are searching for a product or service.

7 Things you can do right now to improve your SEO on Squarespace

If you are new to Squarespace and you have built your amazing website, you don’t want to skip these steps. It is always best practice to perform SEO optimization before you launch your website. If you have already gone live, don’t worry, Google crawls websites regularly and will see that some of your content has been changed.

#1 •  Choose 10 Keywords

Narrow down your business description into 10 focused keywords that can be used in your headers and in the SEO section of your Squarespace site. These keywords will be used in Step 3 of this guide. If you aren’t sure what people are searching Answer the Public is a good source to help narrow down your keywords. I am using Belt Creative as an example for the keyword list:

• Website Design

• Digital Marketing

• Strategy / Strategic

• Sales Funnel

• SEO

• Email Marketing

• Webflow

• Squarespace

• Leadpages

• Shopify

#2 • Choose 3 Locations

Pick three cities that are close to your business location and put near before the city. This will later help with searches that include “near me”, “by me” and “near my”.

• Near Stuart, FL  

• Near West Palm, FL

• Near Vero Beach, FL

#3 • Combine Keywords and Locations

Titles on your website must be at least 50 characters. The best practice for your metadata description is 155 characters, no more.

This is important because that is the character limit on search engines. Anything over that count and your title will be cut off underneath the link to your website. See the below example. There is a combination of the above keywords with a location. Provided your website has multiple pages, this steady combination can be used throughout your site. We like using WebYurt‘s title tag and meta description length tools to track our character count.

Click the gear icon next to the page you want to edit the SEO settings for, then click on the SEO tab to add content.

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#4 • Update Your Site Title and Description

If you are using a logo in your site, make sure you include the site title under 60 characters. Include a site description that best represents your business overall as this will be the home description for your site. Using the above guidelines to create this content will give Google a concise description of website content. You can access this on your Squarespace site by going to Marketing > SEO.

#5 • Boost Your SEO with a Blog

Google ranks sites that are the most current the highest. The more frequently you update your site, the more Google will “spider” or “crawl” your site.

A blog that uses targeted keywords relevant to your industry and audience gives your website a greater rank than one without. It is worth investing the time and effort to create blog posts, and most importantly, it allows you to engage with your audience.

#6 • Connect Your Social Media Accounts

Connecting your social media accounts is another way to keep your site current, especially if you post regularly. Go to Settings > Social Links and give Squarespace the permission to access. You can also add social blocks to your site which will update as you post to social media.

#7 • Make Sure Your SSL Certificate is Active

SSL = Secure Sockets Layer which basically ensures users your site is safe and secure. It also protects your website from phishing attacks, data breaches and other threats. Login into your Squarespace site go to Settings > Advance > SSL. Make sure your SSL is active and turn on HSTS underneath for an additional security measure.

You’re on your way!

Using keywords to target your audience specific to your business will help get the customers you need. Adding a location can help you gain business from your local community. Google crawls your site description and title before the rest of your website. It is what comes up first in a Google Search. Don't skip this step!

Adding a Blog to your site enriches the content and engages your audience to learn more about your business. If you are regularly posting on Social Media by allowing Squarespace access, it gives your site another layer of validation as a legitimate business and helps with your SEO. Protect your clients and yourself by turning on SSL and HSTS.

Are you still not seeing the ranking you would like? Hire an SEO expert at Belt Creative.