On Page Squarespace Website SEO Strategies

Your Squarespace website is only as good as its ability to get found. Thankfully, Squarespace incorporates SEO capabilities into their website designs. But to supercharge your Squarespace website's SEO, you can use and add additional elements to your content to increase your search engine ranking.

Search engines function is to provide searchers with impartial results that deliver to you the information you're seeking as quickly, and accurately, as possible. To do this search engines identify the relevant information you post online and then using their proprietary algorithms, rank and order websites according to quality and relevance.

Search engine algorithms consider hundreds of data points to rank websites for organic search. They analyze billions of data points in as little as .5 seconds! The steps you take to optimize your site for search have a direct effect on your Squarespace website SEO ranking. Elements you include in your content like H1 tags, keyword density, your meta description, and backlinks are just a few considerations search engines examine that you can change to boost your ranking.

Here is a quick look at some essential elements and how Google uses these to rank your website, blog, landing pages, and other content.

Tips to Improve Your Squarespace Website SEO

The following elements are some that are considered by Google's algorithm when ranking your Squarespace website along with ways you can use them to improve your Squarespace website SEO.

Include Keywords in H1 Tags

These are the large headers used when titling your content. For example, the H1 tag in this post is the title of the blog “Vital Squarespace Website SEO Search Engine Optimization Tactics.” This article might appear if a user searched for “Squarespace Website SEO” or “Squarespace SEO Strategies.” Make sure to include relevant keywords in your H1 tags to improve your ranking.

Keywords in H2 and H3 Tags

Like your H1 tag, including one or two keywords in your H2 or H3 tags works in your favor with the search engines. These typically are the subtitles on your page. in this article, "Tips to Improve Your Squarespace Website SEO" is an H2 tag.

Maintain A Reasonable Keyword Density

Keyword density is the number of times that they searched keyword appears on your website. Keywords should not only appear in H1 tags; they should be used throughout your content. While you want to use keywords often, make sure it is used in a natural, relevant way. However, don't overuse your keyword. Google views “keyword stuffing” negatively. We recommend a 1.5% insertion rate for a primary keyword. That's nine times in a 600 word blog article.

Meta Description AKA the Page Description in Squarespace

This is the description you're providing to the search engines in your <meta> HTML tags. It is the brief description found under your title in Search Engine Results Pages or SERP's. The meta description you write should also include keywords you want your target audience to search for. In Squarespace, your meta description is called a page description. It can be found by clicking on your page's configuration gear. Keep your meta descriptions under 320 characters in length.

Acquire Backlinks

Backlinks originate from other websites that link to your content. For example, if the New York Times backlinks to a blog post you've written, that's considered a backlink. The higher the number of backlinks to your content, the more favorably Google views your site. Google values quality and the more critical your backlink source (For example Architectural Digest magazine, the New York Times, etc.) the higher you'll rank on SERPs. Lower quality backlinks may help but carry less weight in determining a higher PageRank. Moz, the SEO experts, provides a tool that will help you identify the value of the website backlinking to you with its proprietary Domain Authority tool. Never buy backlinks! They are almost always of poor quality and may come from a source that has no apparent connection regarding similar content. If you are a builder as an example, it is always better to be receiving backlinks from a home design or construction website. Buying backlinks will negatively impact your PageRank and are considered “Black Hat SEO.” Don't risk incurring the wrath of Google.

Written Content-Length

The longer the amount of page content you have the higher your page will rank in Search Engine Results Pages or SERP's. If you are writing blogs to get found online, you should write articles that are at least 800 words or more. Articles with over 1800 words seem to rank better and receive more backlinks. Longer content length is viewed favorably because it tends to keep users on your website longer, and lengthy articles usually contain better information. The longer your blog articles, the more keywords you can add that are natural and don't feel like "keyword stuffing." However, always keep your readers in mind when creating content. Mix it up and post articles of different lengths based on the needs of the topic.

Update Your Page Content Often

Search engines tend to feature new or updated content. Therefore, it makes sense to rewrite and repost content on a regular basis. Edits should consist of more than just changing a few words. Consider adding or removing an entire section to specify that there is a quality upgrade in the content. If the magnitude of the content upgrade is high and you increase the information you offer, you'll improve your search rankings.

Use Image ALT Text for Images

Alternative text is often overlooked. It's difficult for search engines to identify images unless you include a descriptive ALT tag. That means whenever you add an image to a Squarespace website; you should fill in the alt text by adding a caption and choose the "do not display caption" setting. Like headlines and written content, make sure to include keywords in your alt text. Keep in mind that alternative text is used by visually impaired website visitors so that they know what the images illustrate. Learn more about Alternative Tags and Image SEO.

Watch Out For Grammar and Spelling Mistakes

Make sure that there are no grammatical or spelling errors, especially with your keywords. These types of mistakes affect the quality of your content and are penalized by the search engines. We use Grammarly when writing articles and find it to be a valuable tool. 

Fix Broken Links

Internal and external broken links impact user experience which is an essential consideration for SEO ranking. No one wants to wind up on a 404 page. If search engine crawlers find too many broken links or 404 errors, it will reduce the value of your site which impacts your ranking. If it gets extreme, Google may tag your site as “neglected or abandoned.” Fix your broken links! There are plenty of online tools available to help you. Click Here to learn how to customize a Squarespace 404 page.

Build A Responsive Design Website

Mobile is the fastest growing online segment. It is estimated that nearly 60% of all searches are done on mobile devices. Google is now considering mobile readiness as a part of their algorithm. If your site is not mobile friendly Google will rank it lower in the search results. However, this will only affect your mobile search rankings, not those on a non-mobile device. However, mobile is a valuable source of traffic so optimize your site for mobile users! If you're using Squarespace as your website platform, you can disregard this. All Squarespace websites are a responsive design. To increase the page load speed of your blog articles, turn on the AMP setting on your Squarespace website.

Submit Your XML Sitemap To Google

Sitemaps are a key component regarding SEO. With a sitemap, the search engines can easily index your entire site. This increases visibility since all of your pages will be indexed. Squarespace automatically creates an XML Sitemap for your website. It can be found by adding /sitemap.xml to the end of your websites URL as the URL slug. This website's sitemap is www.means-of-production.com/sitemap.xml as an example. To maximize the benefit of having a sitemap, submit it to Google using the Google Search Console and then have the crawlers "Fetch and Render "your entire site. 

Squarespace Website SEO is a Long-Term Process

Optimizing your website should be an ongoing discipline. SEO strategy is a long-term and continuous practice. As new technology emerges and old technology evolves, search engines adapt to these changes and alter their algorithms to define how your site gets ranked. That's why it's important to stay on top of your SEO strategy and make sure it's up to date.

Having an SEO strategy for your Squarespace website is an essential marketing initiative that will grow your online presence. It's how to get found online for your services. Driving traffic is the first step in generating awareness of your firm, capturing lead conversions, and growing sales. With proper SEO, potential customers can find your company when searching keywords that are relevant to your business. A good practice is to check out your competitors and where they rank for key search words. Google your relevant keywords and see who places in the top five results, then visit and analyze their websites using a tool like Moz Bar to understand how and why they are attaining high rankings in SERP's. Taking a long-term approach to building SEO on your Squarespace website is a winning strategy that will grow your business!

About Michael Conway, Means-of-Production

My firm, Means-of-Production, builds Squarespace websites for architects, interior designers, design-build contractors, and landscape design firms. Our goal with every website we build is to ensure you attract prospects and close better clients. We do this with exceptional web design, search engine optimization, landing pages and drip marketing campaigns. Interested in learning more? Click here to view my calendar and schedule a call.