Squarespace Website Design: Setting Up Google Search Console

Using Google Search Console With A Squarespace Website

Get Better Results With Squarespace Analytics & Google Search Console! Search Engine Optimization is part art, part science, and part buyer psychology and Google Search Console can help you understand SEO. Proper website search optimization requires an accurate understanding of your customer's needs, and their buying and decision-making process. You also need to have a real knowledge of your own business (Based on data, not assumptions) and how the sale of your services relates to these habits. Luckily, Google Search Console can help you know your audience through the data it provides, and it is available in the analytics section on all Squarespace websites. 

Whether your business is a brick and mortar home goods retailer or a residential home design firm, today Google search and local SEO plays a huge role in your bottom line. Refining your knowledge of how your firm gets found online and using the data to improve your Squarespace websites SEO is critical to your success. At a time when search results are customized for individuals, it's sometimes hard to measure whether your efforts are really working.

Google Search Console is a powerful tool that shows page data in search engine results pages, track keyword trends and performance and recognize the content that has the best chance for a page one ranking. Squarespace websites connect to Google Search Console allowing you to view your SEO data in the analytics section of your website. In fact, Squarespace is the first Content Management System to integrate this powerful tool enabling a one-click installation when logged into your Google Search Console. Once verified you'll have access to search console features from within the Squarespace Analytics panel.

Let's explore some of the features and benefits this powerful toolkit can provide Squarespace website owners.

Getting Started With The Google Search Console On Your Squarespace Website

Create A Google Account

Signing up is easy. Go to Google Search Console and log in. If you have a Google Analytics account, log in using the same email or phone number as you do for your Analytics account. You can also log in with a standard Google account. A Google Account is required. If you don't have one, you can sign up here. 

Google Search Console requires that you verify your website to access its powerful tools.

Connecting Squarespace To Google Search Console 

Follow these steps to verify your site with Google Search Console:

• In your Squarespace Home Menu, click "Settings."

• Then click on "Connected Accounts."

• Then click "Connect Account."

• Click "Google Search Console."

• Log into the Google account that you want to be connected to your site. If you have multiple Google accounts, ensure you select the correct one.

• Click Allow. ( For Additional Information From Squarespace Help, Click Here)

Adding Your Website To Google Search Console

Next, you want to add all of your "properties" IE: websites using “Add Property” and organize them. It might seem like overkill, but it's necessary and worth it to list any versions of your domain including SSL and non-SSL versions:

• http://yourdomain.com

• http://www.yourdomain.com

• https://yourdomain.com

• https://www.yourdomain.com

For most Squarespace website users do not use subdomains but If you have any subdomains, for example, https://shop.yourdomain.com that you'd like to analyze, add them here along with their variations. Adding this URL will allow you to see data on those specific areas of your Squarespace website.

This could be an extensive list, so Google has included a shortcut. Click “Create A Set,” and you can group your domains into “Property Sets.” This allows you to segment your website to see how pages are performing as a group, for example, your inventory listing.

Add Your Sitemap and Request a "Website Crawl"

Sitemaps are an element of SEO that should not be overlooked. Sitemaps allow search engines to index your entire site easily. Submitting your sitemap on Google Search Console increases the odds of your pages being seen in search because they are indexed. Squarespace creates an XML Sitemap for your website automatically. You can find your sitemap by adding /sitemap.xml at the end of your website's URL like this. www.means-of-production.com/sitemap.xml as an example. Submit your sitemap to Google using the Google Search Console and then have the crawlers "Fetch and Render" your entire site in the Fetch as Google section of Google Search Console. Do this with every URL you have submitted.

Reading The Search Analytics Report

This is where the Google Search Console shines. Open the Search Analytics Report, and you'll immediately notice there are a number of ways to view and use this data. You can filter for clicks, impressions, CTR, and position and then further separate the data with an array of options. You can view by queries, pages, countries, devices, search type and time range. Note that the console only shows the last 90 days of searches, so it's all about recent trends.

All of these options can give you a lot of information. The best feature is that it shows you the actual search queries that lead visitors to click through to your site. That means you can have analytical data to show you exactly what's working, and more importantly what isn't.

Breaking Down The Numbers

There are some KPIs you'll need to understand to make informed decisions. First, Clicks shows the number of clicks to your website per search query. But note, it doesn't account for everything.

Impressions are the number of times that your website came up on Google search engine results pages or SERP's. This number could include times when your site came up for an unusual query, like someone searching for a client you've listed on your website. These numbers can help you to understand your site's potential to broaden your reach.

CTR or “Click Through Rate” shows the number of impressions that resulted in a click through. Remember, there are many ways your site can make an impression without being relevant, so a low number is not necessarily bad.

Finally, “Position” shows you where your website appears in an average user's search results page. These are organic results including shopping, images, videos, etc., but not AdWords.

Using Your Data

The first step is to analyze the numbers to determine where your visitors are finding your website. Using the “Search Query Report” tool, you can find out what keyword people are searching that gets you onto a SERP, and then use that data to improve your content.

Using search terms to guide your content creation will help you to improve your placement. Consider reworking titles of critical pages, so they perform better and score a higher position. By determining keywords (working backward), you can then create content that uses these terms and gives prospects exactly what they're looking for.

The Search Console can also help you sort through search terms to see which have a high Click Through Rate or CTR and where you can improve. While some terms may end up being irrelevant, anything with a high CTR that is relevant to your business offers the possibility of driving more traffic and business.

Squarespace Website Landing Pages

One of the most powerful functions of the Search Console is the ability to break out queries by landing page. This can help you to analyze parts of your website to see how they're being found and ways you can improve their visibility. If keyword terms don't seem to be highly relevant but have a high CTR, you may uncover a new angle to optimize keywords. On the other hand, if the terms are more general, you can do a little research on how to land it more firmly into a relevant niche or use SEO tactics to boost its effectiveness.

How Google Search Console Reports Can Help You Improve Your Squarespace Website

Logging in to Google Search Console allows you to generate a series of reports that can help you to find errors in your site, that when corrected will improve its performance.

• Search Appearance HTML Improvements – This report can help you to sort out issues with your meta tags and descriptions also known as page descriptions on Squarespace.

• Search Traffic/ Manual Actions – This can tell you if your taking an action that's against Googles TOS rules and might be negatively impacting your rank.

• Mobile Usability – Let's you find pages that may have issues on mobile devices like clickable elements being placed too close together.

• Crawl Errors and Site Map – These can help you to understand if your site is speaking to Google's spiders effectively when they crawl your site for indexing. This is where you will find bad links that result in 404 pages. 

Fixing Bad Link 404 Errors

To fix 404 errors in Google Search Console, select your website and choose crawl from the left-hand menu. Scroll to crawl errors and select the “not found” tab. Click on one of the links in the not found set and then click on the “Linked From” tab. Learn More About 404 Errors by clicking here.

Google Search Console is a powerful toolset that can help you to improve your Squarespace website's search performance. Looking at the right data and understanding how prospects are finding you, what areas of your site need improvement, and how to optimize your content by including high CTR keywords can help you to place higher on SERPs. Better placement will drive more traffic to your Squarespace website.

The Google Search Console is a powerful addition to your Squarespace Analytics toolkit. It will help you to maximize your website's efficiency, visibility, and your ability to offer your users an excellent experience.

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• Search Engine Optimization: Building A Squarespace Website For SEO

• Squarespace Blog Design: Formatting Blog Articles For Improved SEO

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About Michael Conway

I'm the owner of Means-of-Production. My firm builds Squarespace websites and content marketing and advertising solutions for built environment professionals. Our all-in-one marketing approach helps attract the right clients with keyword rich website content and brand messaging that sets you apart from the competition.