How to Improve Your Squarespace SEO in 2026

Search engine optimization on Squarespace is not complicated. You do not need to be a technical person or hire an SEO consultant. Most of the work comes down to filling in the fields Squarespace already gives you and following a few best practices.

This guide covers every SEO setting available in Squarespace 7.1, what each one does, and how to use it effectively.

Page Titles and Meta Descriptions

The page title is the most important SEO element. It shows up as the clickable headline in Google search results, and it tells Google what your page is about.

To set it in Squarespace 7.1, open the page in the editor, click the gear icon to open Page Settings, and go to the SEO tab. You will see fields for both the SEO Title and the SEO Description.

Writing Good Page Titles

• Keep them under 60 characters so Google does not cut them off
• Include your main keyword near the beginning
• Make them specific. "About Us" is worse than "About Our Portland Bakery"
• Each page should have a unique title — no duplicates across your site

Writing Meta Descriptions

The meta description is the two-line summary that shows below your title in search results. Google sometimes rewrites it, but a good description increases the chance that someone clicks your link.

• Keep them between 120 and 155 characters
• Include a call to action ("Learn more", "Book a session", "See our menu")
• Naturally include keywords you want to rank for

URL Slugs

The URL slug is the part of the web address after your domain. For yoursite.com/about-us, the slug is about-us.

Squarespace creates the slug automatically based on your page title, but you should customize it. Go to Page Settings → General and edit the URL Slug field.

• Use lowercase letters and hyphens only
• Keep them short: /wedding-photography is better than /my-amazing-wedding-photography-portfolio-2026
• Include your target keyword
• Never change a slug after publishing unless you set up a redirect. Changing a slug breaks all existing links to that page.

Heading Hierarchy: H1, H2, H3

Headings tell Google how your content is organized. Think of them like an outline: H1 is the main topic, H2s are subtopics, and H3s are details under those subtopics.

• H1: Use exactly one per page. It should describe what the entire page is about. In Squarespace 7.1, the page title or your main heading text is usually the H1.
• H2: Major sections of the page. Use these to break up your content.
• H3: Sub-sections within an H2 section.

When editing text in Squarespace, you set the heading level using the text formatting dropdown (where it says "Paragraph", "Heading 1", etc.). Do not just make text bigger and bold — use actual heading levels so Google can read the structure.

Image Alt Text

Alt text describes what is in an image. Screen readers use it for visually impaired visitors, and Google uses it to understand your images (Google cannot "see" images the way humans do).

To add alt text in Squarespace 7.1, click on any image block, then click the pencil icon to edit it. Look for the Image Alt Text field (sometimes under the Design tab depending on the block type).

• Describe the image in plain language: "Woman arranging flowers in a Portland storefront"
• Include relevant keywords naturally — do not stuff them
• Keep it under 125 characters
• Skip phrases like "image of" or "photo of" — screen readers already announce it as an image

Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free tool that shows you how your site appears in Google search results. It tells you which search terms bring visitors to your site, which pages are indexed, and whether Google found any problems.

Setting It Up

1. Go to search.google.com/search-console and sign in with your Google account
2. Click Add Property and enter your domain
3. Choose the URL prefix method and enter your full site URL
4. For verification, Squarespace supports the HTML tag method. Copy the verification code.
5. In Squarespace, go to Settings → Advanced → External API Keys and paste the code in the Google Search Console field
6. Go back to Search Console and click Verify

Once verified, submit your sitemap (see below) and give Google a few days to start showing data.

Your Sitemap

Squarespace generates a sitemap automatically at yoursite.com/sitemap.xml. You do not need to create one manually. This file tells Google about every page on your site.

After setting up Search Console, submit your sitemap: go to Sitemaps in the left sidebar, enter sitemap.xml, and click Submit. This helps Google find and index all your pages faster.

Site Speed

Google considers page speed as a ranking factor. You do not have control over Squarespace's server speed, but you can control a few things:

• Optimize images before uploading. Resize large photos to a maximum of 2500px wide. Use tools like TinyPNG or Squoosh to compress them. A 5MB photo that could be 200KB is slowing down your site.
• Limit the number of fonts. Each custom font adds a network request. Stick to two fonts maximum.
• Remove unused third-party scripts. Every chat widget, analytics pixel, or tracking script adds load time. Only keep what you actually use.
• Use fewer sections per page. Pages with 20+ sections load noticeably slower than pages with 5-8 focused sections.

Mobile Responsiveness

Google uses mobile-first indexing, meaning it looks at the mobile version of your site first when deciding rankings. Squarespace 7.1 templates are responsive by default, so your layout should adapt to smaller screens automatically.

What you should check:

• Preview every page on your phone, not just on desktop
• Make sure text is readable without zooming
• Buttons should be large enough to tap easily
• No horizontal scrolling
• Images should not overflow their containers

Schema Markup

Schema markup is structured data that helps Google understand what your site is about. It can enable rich snippets in search results, like star ratings, business hours, or FAQ dropdowns.

Squarespace does not add schema markup automatically (except basic website schema). To add it, you use Code Injection to include a JSON-LD script. Here is an example for a local business:

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "LocalBusiness",
  "name": "Your Business Name",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "123 Main St",
    "addressLocality": "Portland",
    "addressRegion": "OR",
    "postalCode": "97201"
  },
  "telephone": "(503) 555-0100",
  "url": "https://yourdomain.com"
}
</script>

Paste this in your site-wide Header Code Injection (Settings → Advanced → Code Injection). Our Schema Builder tool can generate this for you without writing any code.

Blog SEO Tips

If you have a blog on your Squarespace site, it is one of the best ways to attract organic search traffic. Here is how to make each post count:

• Write about what people search for. Use Google's autocomplete suggestions to find real questions your audience is asking.
• Set a custom SEO title and description for every blog post, just like you do for pages.
• Use categories and tags to organize content — but do not overdo tags. Five to ten tags for your entire blog is plenty.
• Add internal links to other pages and posts on your site. This helps Google discover more of your content and keeps visitors on your site longer.
• Set a featured image with alt text on every post. This image also becomes the social media preview when someone shares your post.
• Write at least 800 words for posts you want to rank. Short posts (under 300 words) rarely rank well for competitive keywords.

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