The Ultimate Squarespace SEO Checklist
We love Squarespace because of how easy it is for our clients to maintain/update well after our engagement together has ended. When most clients approach us, they’ve heard about SEO but haven’t taken the steps to include high ranking keywords on their site. If you’re looking to DIY, the below Squarespace SEO Checklist is for you!
While Squarespace is built for clean indexing by search engines like Google, the content you add to your site and how you present it plays a big role in how easily people are able to find you. And trust us, you want to show up in those search results. People are looking for your services, and if they’re not finding you, they’re finding your competitors.
As you prepare to launch (or refresh) your site, go through the list to ensure that your site is optimized for search engines and visitors alike.
Squarespace SEO Checklist
Before launch
Before launching your site, optimize it for search engines:
Do keyword research - This is very obviously site one. You need to know the exact words and phrases people are using to find you/your competitors. Those are the search results you need to show up in. We will do this for you for a flat rate of $500. Contact us if you’re interested.
Add a site title - Even if you're using a logo you should add a site title, as the text may be indexed by search engines. Keep the title under 60 characters and include one or more keywords.
Add a site description - Add a short (50-300 characters), relevant, readable description of your site to your SEO site description. This text may appear below your site title in search results, depending on what your visitors search for.
Add your location - Your site has a better chance of appearing in searches for your area if Google and your customers can see your location. If you have a business with a physical location, we recommend you create a Contact us page with your address and a map. If you don’t have a physical office and work out of your home, you may not want people to know where you live, in this case you could simply plug in your city (ex: Washington DC).
Connect a custom domain - Using a custom domain (rather than the built-in .squarespace.com URL) strengthens your brand and makes it easier for potential customers to find you in search results.
Connect to social media - Set up social sharing to link to your social media profiles, push content as you publish it, and encourage people to share your pages.
Add a browser icon - Your site's browser icon or “favicon” gives visibility to your site's brand. The icon may appear in search results, browser tabs, and elsewhere on the web. If you don’t add one, Squarespace uses it’s own gray box logo. This looks unprofessional for your site.
Add social sharing images - Social sharing images display on social media when you or someone else shares your site. Add one to represent your whole site, one for each page individually, and one for each blog post, product, and event. Otherwise, the image will be randomly selected from your site and may not make sense to the viewer.
Add SEO descriptions - Ensure each page on your site has a unique SEO description. The text should be short and readable (50-300 characters), and describe the content of the page. You can also add SEO descriptions to individual blog posts, products, and events.
Check your page and title formats - Control how your page titles appear in browser tabs, social shares, and search engine results. You can set this for page titles, the homepage, and collection items (such as blog posts or products).
Create a custom 404 page - Why does everyone always forget this? Squarespace will use generic text if you don’t create a 404 Page—and it’s a missed opportunity! Customize the 404 Page with links to some of the popular or important areas of your site. This encourages visitors who encounter a broken link to stay on your site, rather than immediately going back to search results. Also, it’s a good opportunity to make people laugh with a creative 404 Page.
Choose your blog post URL format - If you're blogging, choose how your blog post URLs are automatically created. While you can choose any options that fit your needs, we recommend you always include the post's title.
Check URL slugs - It’s best to have URLs that reflect the content of the page. If you save a blog post, product, or event before adding a title, the URL slug will be a random string of characters. Check the slugs for each page and item on your site, and change any that don't use real words.
Ensure SSL is enabled - Confirm your SSL panel is set to the Secure setting. Sites without SSL may be penalized.
After launch
As soon as your site is launched, we recommend you:
Verify your site with Google Search Console - After you've verified your site with Google, you can manage your site’s presence in Google search results and see how visitors find you.
Request that Google index your site - This asks Google's bots to review your site and update search results with your new content. Google will do this eventually on it’s own, but requesting it speeds up the process and gets you in search results much faster.
Verify your site with Bing Webmaster Tools - Verify your site with Bing to manage your site’s presence in Bing and Yahoo search results. Not everyone uses Google.
Connect to Google Analytics - Track visits and other reporting on your site through Squarespace’s built-in integration with Google.
Enable AMP - If you have a blog, enabling AMP creates a stripped-down version of your site that loads faster on mobile devices.
We hope you found this Squarespace SEO Checklist helpful!
Need help or don’t want to spend time figuring this all out? Contact us. We love building websites that are beautifully designed AND fully optimized for search.
