Is Squarespace good for SEO?

For an extended period, Squarespace has been the subject of much debate among SEO professionals and website designers: “SEO is bad with Squarespace!” “Search engine optimization is possible with Squarespace!” — What is the reality of Squarespace’s SEO concerns? Is Squarespace good for SEO or bad for SEO?

Squarespace is one of the most famous website creation platforms, with visually appealing themes and a simplified site building system that allows using only a mouse. But people ask whether it is suitable for SEO because sometimes the customization options can be pretty restricted than coding a site brand new.

Below is the breakdown of all the ways you will realize that SEO-friendly Squarespace is not as bad as you thought. The Basics of SEO Before we look at how Squarespace measures up regarding SEO, here are some SEO fundamentals one needs to know.

Good SEO comes down to two main factors:

On-page optimization: This is about ability of individual pages to include keywords in titles, headers, content, URLs etc.

Off-page optimization: Getting relevant and authoritative incoming links to a domain is what this is all about and getting connected to other sites.

Finally, every SEO technique that on-page and off-page optimization is correct on your site can enable you to rank on Google. Well, let’s see how Squarespace does in those areas.

Squarespace’s SEO Advantages

As the example above shows, it’s not uncommon for websites to see traffic growth when switching to Squarespace.

Squarespace SEO offers three primary benefits:

• Built-in features
• User experience design
• Convenience

1) A wide range of in-built features

Squarespace templates are built according to industry standards from the get-go, so your website will be properly optimized for search engines.

This includes a site map, automatic redirects, security certificates, and a mobile-friendly design.

Since its inception, Squarespace has also changed quite a bit. As of 2021, the platform provides several on-page SEO features that can help you optimize your website’s visibility in search engines.

The following are some of the essential features:

• Meta elements (page title and meta description),
• Clean URL,
• Image alt text,
• Google AMP,
• Headings H1-H4 to organize content,
• 301 redirects.
• Only a few actions are needed to establish integration with third-party services such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console.

2) User-Friendliness

Many website proprietors are not technically savvy. Squarespace understands this and tries to simplify SEO.

For example, the SEO tab on each page and blog post lets you see how your page snippet will look on a search engine. Squarespace has an SEO tab on each page.

In 2021, Squarespace introduced the alt text field for images.

With just a few clicks, the interface gives you all the tools you need to start optimizing your website without coding. For instance,

• When a checkbox is selected, the SSL security certificate is activated.
• Selecting a checkbox to enable AMP
• Access to search keyword analytics
• Templates are mobile responsive by default

You don’t need to be a plugin or coder to optimize your website for search engines, except for the most advanced SEO strategies. This means you don’t have to worry about breaking your site or messing up your website codes, which is a significant advantage over WordPress.

Easy-to-use features motivate you to actually do the work. A clunky interface doesn’t make SEO any more accessible. With Squarespace, you know you can create and optimize content.

3) User Experience Design

Within milliseconds, users decide to stay on your website or leave. Search engines will also receive a negative signal if your website’s bounce rate is high because your design is outdated or unprofessional.

Squarespace’s designs are primarily modern and user-friendly, which helps to engage visitors.

Squarespace also has integration with stock photo sites, so it’s easy to add visuals and make your content more attractive.

Bonus point: Rich Knowledge Base

Squarespace support pages have almost everything you need to know about using Squarespace SEO features.  A great starting point for anyone to begin setting up SEO for their site is their checklist. Their instructions are almost always accompanied by images and videos that make it easier to understand.

What Stops Squarespace Users?

There are two factors that we see holding Squarespace users back: missing or lacking functionality and education.

Squarespace does a lot to support its users (more than most alternatives), connecting them to SEO professionals, hosting webinars, and providing spaces for discussion.

Our goal with this article is to show what users can do to grow on Squarespace.

Another thing to consider, too, is the lack of Squarespace SEO tools, which might be an obstacle for users.

Limitation #1: Squarespace SEO Education

The Ahrefs study we mentioned earlier found that “Squarespace attracts people who are less SEO savvy than WordPress.”

This is consistent with our observations: Creatives who are averse to or even disinclined to SEO are drawn to Squarespace all the time.

Our data and experience suggest that Squarespace users are less SEO savvy than WordPress users. Consequently, they are less likely to be familiar with the three essential components of success: This includes obtaining high quality backlinks, writing optimized content and doing on page SEO. This takes knowledge and effort. We’ve also found that Squarespace users are either unwilling or unable to spend as much money on SEO as WordPress users.

It’s not the responsibility of Squarespace users, and it’s not impossible to fix. A few modifications would have a profound impact: Hundreds of thousands of users have likely read the official SEO checklist of Squarespace. It needs an update and contains inaccurate information, however. For instance, the following suggestions either contradict the consensus of the majority of SEO experts, do not adhere to other more recent SEO checklists or guidelines, or require additional context to be beneficial:

1. Write SEO descriptions that are between 50 and 300 characters long.
2. Keep the image size under 500 KB.
3. Enabling AMP

User-specific education

Photographers, designers, artists, and small business proprietors are most likely to use the platform.

There are specific issues/challenges that these audiences have with SEO that can be solved with particular recommendations and education.

We have found that photographers tend not to blog as often, have little text on their web pages (<300 words per page), and have a large number of oversized images. These factors are negatively impacting their SEO, but they don’t know it.

It’s an easy fix and could help them grow their businesses quicker on Squarespace – who wouldn’t want that? If you’re looking for more tailored advice and solutions, check out our SEO services for Squarespace.

Limitation #2: Squarespace SEO Features and Functionality

In the past, Squarespace has been criticized for being built in a way that’s hard for users and search engines. Do you remember index sections?

However, that’s the past. So let’s take a look at the platform and its 7.1 constructor right now.

Below are some of the features/functionality that potentially hurt SEO, particularly for those seeking to join the top 10%:

• Slow page speed: Squarespace’s code can’t be streamlined/speeded up, so Squarespace sites are continually getting hammered in page speed score tests, a top 10 ranking factor for Google, which hurts rankings.
• Image compression: In general, experts do not recommend trying to shrink down the size of images on Squarespace to less than 100kb. The truth is, Squarespace often makes images more significant than they already are, even if you’ve already compressed them.
• Squarespace doesn’t support WebP, which hurts the page speed score and prevents the use of following generation image formats.
• Default schema: All Squarespace websites have the default local business schema and it cannot be changed. It can be frustrating for businesses that are not in the same area.
• Scarcity of SEO extensions: There are not many SEO extensions and tools available in the Squarespace extension marketplace (check out the best Squarespace plugins and extensions). While SEO doesn’t require plugins and extensions, it’s clear from the use of Wix, WordPress, and Webflow that plugins are a standard part of web toolkits and valuable.

In fact, an independent team found that people who were new to SEO could increase their traffic by up to 68% in two months using SEOSpace.

• Lack of SEO settings: This is mainly a problem for eCommerce websites, as they can’t change or add meta descriptions or titles to category pages.

Like anything else, there will be pros and cons. All of the above is resolved on other web builders through manual coding, additional customization, and plugins.

Squarespace’s ease of use constrains the extent to which Squarespace can be customized.

Would you like a platform that is user friendly and does not break, or would you like the aforementioned functionality, security concerns and complexity?

If you chose the latter, Squarespace is not for you.

The Final Word: Is Squarespace Good for Search Engine Optimization?

While there are a few issues with Squarespace, it’s a reliable platform for SEO. For a small business in-house, Squarespace makes it easy to administer a website, and at the same time, it helps the site rank.

If you want to try Squarespace for free before you decide if it’s right for you, you can.