Here are SM+Co, we get a lot—A WHOLE LOT—of questions about search engine optimization and Squarespace.
Due to the fact that there aren’t any plugins you can add to Squarespace (like Yoast in WordPress), it can feel like a bit of a mystery. And while there are a few structural and infrastructure issues related to Squarespace and SEO (namely the lack of child pages and only three available header styles), Squarespace sites can and do rank well in Google and Bing searches!
Fortunately, even if you’ve designed your own Squarespace website instead of working with a professional or if you worked with a designer whose wheelhouse isn’t search, have no fear! You can easily take a few steps to improve your site’s search engine visibility! Here are the three most common Squarespace SEO mistakes we see on Squarespace websites.
#1 Your Keywords Are Vague or You Didn’t Conduct Keyword Research at All
This is a biggie! A lot of folks are way too general with the keywords they target. For example, take a look at this blog post title and the first paragraph. You can see that I’ve targeted the phrase “Squarespace Website SEO.” This is far more specific than if I’d targeted “SEO.” I’ve narrowed the pool of searchers, yes, but they’re the RIGHT Googlers. So, if your website offers your business law services for startups in Washington State, you’re far better off targeting those keywords vs just “lawyers in Washington” or “business lawyers.” Think about your ideal audience. What are they searching for that you can provide?
On the other hand, I’ve seen many a website targeting keywords that are so rarely searched for that you may only have a few searches every month. Do your research and make sure that people are actually searching for the keywords you’re using. (One of my favorite tricks is using SpyFu to check up on similar websites.) I see this commonly when clients are using internal jargon on their Squarespace websites that your audience may not be familiar with. Think about the natural language that your audience will use when talking about your services. Cross reference these with Google Keyword Planner and Google Trends.
#2 You Didn’t Use Natural Language in Your Squarespace Search Engine Optimization
I still see a lot of clients still using the old school practice of simply stringing together keywords in a list of words or phrases. This looks completely bananas in Google previews and doesn’t do you any good. A quality page description or headline should use natural, comfortable language weaving in those keywords you’ve targeted. So, please don’t write a page description like “law firm Portland family law attorneys legal advice.” This makes no sense to anyone. Trust me!
Write a nice phrase like “Law Firm Name’s attorneys provide legal advice for divorce cases in Oregon & Washington State. For more details, click here!” This also has the added bonus of a call to action in the Google search preview. #protip
#3 Squarespace Website Owners Often Forget to Optimize Their Page Titles for SEO
Okay, this is a simple one and easy-peasy to fix for your Squarespace website’s Search Engine Optimization—promise. In Squarespace, you have the “Navigation Title,” “Page Title,” and “SEO Title.” Use these to your advantage! Since Squarespace recently added the latter, we now recommend a tailored, search-optimized Page Title and SEO Title. So, if you have a business law firm based in Boise, Idaho, your contact page could have the following:
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Navigation Title – Contact Us
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Page Title – Contact Law Firm Name
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SEO Title – Contact Firm Name Boise Business Attorneys
You can dig more and more deeply, but simply taking these three steps will give you a boost in comparison to most Squarespace websites we see.
Now, if this all seems like too much for you, you can grab our detailed Squarespace SEO guide (totally free!) or work with us on improving your Squarespace website’s SEO strategy. If you’re one of our website clients at the Design in a Day™ Pro level above, we’ve got your back and will take care of all of this for you.
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