Ways Of Increasing Your Squarespace Website's Presence on Search Engines
Having a stunning website is awesome, but it's kind of pointless if people can't find it on search engines. The good news is, Squarespace already does a decent job of making your site search-friendly by default. But here's the cool part: you can make it even more visible on search engines like Google without needing to be an SEO expert. It's not as complicated as it sounds!
What Is SEO?
SEO is all about making your website more visible on search engines. It's a step-by-step process because there are many things you can tweak to improve your chances of showing up when people search for keywords related to your site.
Search engines really care about:
SEO titles: These are like the headlines for your pages, telling search engines what each page is about.
Page titles: The main title of your webpage, giving a clear idea of its content.
Navigation titles: The labels you use for the different sections of your site.
Blog post titles: The titles of your blog articles, which play a big role in search engine visibility.
Headings: The various headings and subheadings on your pages.
To boost your visibility, make sure to use keywords that your target audience is likely to search for in these areas. It's like speaking the language search engines understand!
Is Squarespace SEO Friendly?
Yes, Squarespace incorporates several SEO benefits into its platform. While their marketing literature may sometimes exaggerate with statements like "we build all known SEO best practices into every Squarespace site," the platform does offer solid SEO features.
Here are some built-in SEO benefits:
Sitemaps: Squarespace automatically generates an XML sitemap for your site, ensuring that search engines can easily index all your pages and image metadata for better SEO.
SSL Certificates: Squarespace provides free SSL certificates to all users, ensuring a secure connection for site visitors. This is also beneficial for SEO.
Mobile-friendly: All Squarespace themes are responsive, automatically adapting your content and images to different devices and screen sizes. This mobile-friendly design is crucial for Google and enhances SEO.
Clean HTML and URLs: Squarespace ensures that your HTML markup and URLs are easily indexed by search engines, contributing to better visibility.
Robots.txt: Squarespace generates a robots.txt file for you, and you have the option to block specific web crawlers if needed.
In summary, Squarespace offers a range of SEO-friendly features that contribute to the overall optimization of your website.
How to do SEO on Squarespace
Keyword Research
Modern SEO places a greater emphasis on understanding topics and searcher intent rather than relying solely on keywords. To initiate effective optimization, it's crucial to start with thorough keyword or keyphrase research. This process not only helps identify target keywords but also unveils related topics and user questions that can guide your content strategy.
Once you've compiled a list of keywords for a specific page, conduct Google searches for those topics. Analyze the competition to gauge the difficulty of ranking. Factors such as competitors' popularity, authority, and social signals should be considered in this evaluation. Recognize that stronger competition makes it more challenging to rank above them and increase organic traffic.
While conducting keyword research, it's essential to avoid over-optimization, as this can have a negative impact on your site's performance. While there isn't an exact keyword density to adhere to, strategic placement of keywords in the title tag, heading, and main content is recommended. However, the primary focus should be on writing high-quality content that addresses the needs of your audience.
In the process of content creation, prioritize writing naturally. Instead of obsessing over keyword density, concentrate on delivering valuable and relevant information. The recommendation is to write your content first and then review it for the inclusion of keywords and related terms. This approach ensures that your content remains authentic and engaging while still being optimized for search engines.
High Quality Content
In the evolving landscape of search engine algorithms, the importance of quality content cannot be overstated as a key factor for ranking. As search algorithms become more sophisticated, the emphasis on providing exceptional, unique, and helpful SEO content has become paramount. According to insights from Search Engine Journal, websites that offered substantial depth in quality content experienced significant improvements in rankings throughout the year, while those lacking in content depth suffered in comparison.
A successful SEO campaign is often underpinned by a robust content strategy that prioritizes top-notch content. In an era where Google is increasingly adept at delivering relevant search results, it is essential to align your efforts with addressing searcher intent. Writing content that naturally addresses the questions and needs of your audience is crucial. It's advised not to overuse specific words or phrases; instead, incorporate a variety of phrases and concepts associated with your main topic.
Furthermore, the quality of content should take precedence over quantity. Rather than having numerous pages of lower quality, consolidating content into fewer pages of higher quality is recommended. By focusing on your readers and providing valuable information, you not only enhance the user experience but also furnish search engines with sufficient data to understand the content of your pages. Recognizing that the content on your website plays a pivotal role in ranking, investing effort in creating high-quality content is imperative for a successful SEO strategy.
Optimize Page Title Tags
Squarespace automatically generates title tags for pages, blog posts, products, events, etc., using the page title and your site name. However, customization is possible if desired. To change Squarespace SEO settings, you can hover over a page, click the settings icon, and then access the SEO tab to make updates. It's important to note that while title tags can be keyword-rich, they should avoid being spammy.
Key considerations for optimizing individual title tags include:
Length: Keep titles under 60 characters to ensure they display well in search results.
Uniqueness: Ensure each page's title is unique, descriptive, and engaging.
Avoid Keyword Stuffing: While keywords are important, steer clear of titles that are merely a list of keywords or repeated variations.
To preview a title tag, Moz's free title tag preview tool is recommended. It helps assess how your title will appear in search results.
An essential tip for Squarespace 7.1 users is to remove boilerplate language based on page type, such as "Blog 2" or "Contact 3." This customization enhances the clarity and relevance of your titles.
In 2021, Google made changes to how it handles page titles. Following suggested best practices is crucial to avoid potential title rewrites by Google. While these rewrites aim to assist sites with <title> tag issues, adherence to best practices can prevent such rewriting. Overall, ensuring accurate, concise, and enticing title tags is fundamental for effective SEO on Squarespace.
Use Keywords in Headings and Meta Descriptions
Using keywords strategically in headings and meta descriptions can significantly enhance the visibility and appeal of your content.
For headings, it's a common practice to incorporate the main keyword of the page within the <h1> tag. Subsequent content can be organized with clarity using <h2> and <h3> tags. Google permits multiple H1 elements on different parts of a page if done appropriately, especially when building pages with distinct sections.
Meta descriptions, short summaries of your pages displayed in search engine results, offer an additional opportunity to leverage keywords. Although descriptions don't directly influence rankings, crafting highly relevant meta descriptions can encourage users to click through to your site. Writing in a natural tone is key to encouraging click-throughs from the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). It's worth noting that even if you don't create descriptions, Google may sometimes extract other text from your page to better address a searcher's query.
Here's how to add meta descriptions to various pages on Squarespace:
Home page: Navigate to Settings > SEO > Appearance > SEO Site Description.
Individual pages: Go to Pages > Page Settings > SEO > SEO Description.
Blogs, products, or events: Select the specific blog post, product, or event, then choose Edit > SEO > SEO Description.
By optimizing headings and meta descriptions with relevant keywords, you can enhance both the search engine visibility and the click-through rate of your content.
Add Internal Links
Explore internal linking opportunities within your website by incorporating links to relevant pages or blog posts directly within your content. This goes beyond the main navigation menu and serves to benefit both site visitors and search engines.
Internal linking provides a way for users to navigate and discover additional content on your site that is contextually related to the current page they are viewing. This not only enhances the user experience by offering more valuable information but also signals to search engines the interconnectedness and relevance of different pages within your site.
When implementing internal links, focus on the relevance of the linked content to the current page. This can be achieved by incorporating links within the body of your text, guiding users to related articles, resources, or additional information that complements the topic at hand.
By strategically integrating internal links, you create a network of connected content that encourages both users and search engines to explore more of your website, ultimately contributing to improved visibility and user engagement.
Submit Your Sitemap
Set up a Google Search Console account and share your sitemap with Google. Similarly, you can perform the same action with Bing. Locate your Squarespace XML sitemap at www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml.
When you add new content or make updates to your site, it often takes some time for search engines to catch up and recognize these changes. However, you can expedite the process by utilizing the free search tools provided by both Google and Bing.
To get started, establish a Google Search Console account and submit your sitemap to Google. Simultaneously, do the same with Bing by creating an account and sharing your sitemap. The Squarespace XML sitemap link is www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml.
This proactive approach ensures that search engines promptly crawl and index your website, particularly when introducing fresh content or modifications. Leveraging these free search tools is a practical way to enhance the efficiency and visibility of your website on major search engines.