SEO TO‐DOs for SquareSpace - spmsolutions/seo GitHub Wiki

For Squarespace, there are several SEO best practices and configurations you can implement to optimize your site for search engines. Squarespace provides built-in tools and settings that make it easier to manage SEO, even for non-technical users. Here's what you should do for SEO after deploying your Squarespace site:

• Site Title and Tagline:
  • Go to Settings > Site Title & Logo and set your site title and tagline. Ensure they reflect your brand and contain relevant keywords.
• Site Description:
  • Go to Marketing > SEO > SEO Site Description to add a site-wide description. This description should be concise, include primary keywords, and explain what your site is about.
• Page Titles and Descriptions:
  • For each page on your site, go to the page settings and customize the SEO Title and SEO Description under the SEO tab. These should be unique for each page, including relevant keywords that accurately describe the content.

• Custom URL Slugs:
  • Ensure that the URL slugs (the part of the URL after the domain) are clean, descriptive, and include relevant keywords. Avoid special characters, numbers, and unnecessary words.
  • Go to each page’s settings and edit the URL Slug under the SEO tab.

• SSL Certificate:
  • Ensure your site is served over HTTPS, which is crucial for SEO. Squarespace automatically provides an SSL certificate, but verify that it's enabled by going to Settings > Advanced > SSL and ensuring that it is set to "Secure (Preferred)."

• Alt Text:
  • Add descriptive alt text to all images on your site. Alt text should describe the image content and include keywords where appropriate. To add alt text in Squarespace:
    • Click on an image block and go to Design > Image Block settings.
    • Under the Filename field, enter the alt text.
• Image Compression:
  • Although Squarespace automatically optimizes images, you should still upload images that are already compressed and in the appropriate size to ensure faster load times.

• Automatic Sitemap:
  • Squarespace automatically generates an XML sitemap for your site. It is typically available at https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml.
• Submit to Google Search Console:
  • After launching your site, submit the sitemap to Google Search Console under the Sitemaps section. This helps Google crawl and index your site more effectively.

• Built-in Robots.txt:
  • Squarespace automatically creates a robots.txt file for your site. You can view it at https://yourdomain.com/robots.txt.
• Manual Adjustments:
  • If you need specific configurations, you might have to use custom code injection, but for most users, the default settings provided by Squarespace are sufficient.

• Clean URLs:
  • Ensure your URLs are clean and free of query parameters by avoiding the use of index pages or stacked page paths that Squarespace sometimes creates.
• 404 Pages:
  • Customize your 404 error page by going to Design > 404 Page. Make sure it includes a link back to the homepage and possibly a search bar to help users find the content they were looking for.

• Custom Code Injection:
  • While Squarespace doesn’t have built-in support for structured data, you can add schema markup via code injection. Go to Settings > Advanced > Code Injection and add JSON-LD structured data in the Header section.

  <script type="application/ld+json">
  {
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "Your Business Name",
    "url": "https://yourdomain.com",
    "logo": "https://yourdomain.com/path-to-logo.jpg",
    "sameAs": [
      "https://www.facebook.com/yourprofile",
      "https://www.instagram.com/yourprofile",
      "https://www.twitter.com/yourprofile"
    ]
  }
  </script>

• Responsive Design:
  • Ensure that your site is mobile-friendly. Squarespace templates are responsive by default, but you should still test your site on different devices to ensure that it looks good and functions properly on mobile.
• Mobile Usability:
  • Use tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to check your site’s performance on mobile devices. Make adjustments if necessary to improve the mobile user experience.

• Verify Your Site:
  • Add your Squarespace site to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. Use the HTML tag method provided by these platforms to verify ownership. Add the verification code in Settings > Advanced > Code Injection > Header.
• Monitor Performance:
  • Use these tools to monitor your site’s indexing status, identify SEO issues, and track keyword performance.

• AMP for Blog Posts:
  • Squarespace supports AMP for blog posts, which can improve load times on mobile and boost SEO. To enable AMP:
    • Go to Settings > Advanced > Blogging and toggle on AMP.

• Content Optimization:
  • Regularly update your content to keep it fresh and relevant. Ensure that your pages and blog posts are optimized with keywords, especially in headings (H1, H2, etc.) and body text.
• Internal Linking:
  • Add internal links between related pages and posts to help search engines understand the structure of your site and to pass link equity between pages.

• PageSpeed Insights:
  • Use Google PageSpeed Insights to test your site’s speed and get recommendations for improvement. Although Squarespace optimizes your site’s speed, you can still improve load times by minimizing the use of heavy media and complex elements.

• Add Google Analytics:
  • Set up Google Analytics by adding your tracking ID in Settings > Advanced > External Services. This allows you to monitor traffic, user behavior, and conversions on your site.
• Track Performance:
  • Use Google Analytics to track key metrics like bounce rate, session duration, and conversion rates to assess the effectiveness of your SEO efforts.

• Social Sharing:
  • Ensure that social sharing is enabled for your content. Go to Marketing > Social and link your social media accounts.
• Open Graph and Twitter Cards:
  • Squarespace automatically handles Open Graph and Twitter Card metadata, but you can customize it in the SEO settings of each page and post.

Squarespace provides a solid foundation for SEO, with many built-in tools and easy-to-use settings that make optimizing your site straightforward. After deploying your site, make sure to configure site titles, descriptions, URL slugs, and structured data. Additionally, optimize images, monitor site speed, and set up Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and other webmaster tools. Regularly update your content and internal linking structure, and keep an eye on your SEO performance to make necessary adjustments.