5 Squarespace SEO Settings Most Small Business Owners Get Wrong
You've heard you need to "do SEO" on your Squarespace site. But between vague advice and technical jargon, it's hard to know what actually moves the needle.
Here's the good news: Squarespace handles a lot of SEO automatically. But there are a handful of settings that are entirely up to you—and most business owners either skip them or set them up wrong. Let's fix that.
➻ Blank (or Generic) Meta Descriptions
The mistake: Leaving the meta description field empty, or writing something vague like "Welcome to our website."
Your meta description is the little snippet that shows up under your page title in Google search results. It doesn't directly boost your ranking, but it's often the deciding factor in whether someone clicks your link or a competitor's.
The fix: Write a unique, specific meta description for every important page—home, services, about, and each blog post. Aim for 150-160 characters, include your main keyword naturally, and focus on what the visitor gets by clicking.
Where to find it: Page Settings → SEO tab → Search Description.
➻ Image Files With Useless Names
The mistake: Uploading images straight from your phone or a stock site, so the filename stays something like IMG_4872.jpg or shutterstock_1234567.jpg.
Google can't "see" your images the way people can—it reads the filename and alt text to understand what's in them. A meaningless filename is a missed opportunity every single time.
The fix: Before uploading, rename image files to something descriptive, using hyphens between words. For example: squarespace-website-design-sydney.jpg instead of IMG_4872.jpg.
Then add alt text for every image too (Squarespace lets you do this in the image settings)—describe what's actually in the photo, naturally, without keyword-stuffing.
➻ Messy, Auto-Generated URL Slugs
The mistake: Letting Squarespace auto-generate your page and blog post URLs, leaving you with something like /blog-post-march-2026 or a long string of random characters.
Clean URLs help both Google and your visitors understand what a page is about before they even click.
The fix: Edit your URL slug for every page and post. Keep it short, lowercase, and descriptive, with your keyword included where it makes sense.
❌ /blog-post-march-2026
✅ /squarespace-seo-checklist
Where to find it: Page Settings → General tab → URL Slug.
➻ No Header Structure on Pages
The mistake: Making every heading on a page the same size, or skipping proper headings entirely and just using bold text for emphasis.
Google uses your heading structure (H1, H2, H3) to understand the hierarchy and topic of your content. Visitors scanning your page rely on it too.
The fix: Each page should have one clear H1 (usually your main title), with H2s for major sections and H3s for subsections underneath. Don't skip levels, and don't use headings just to make text bigger—use them to organize your content logically.
➻ Not Blogging at All (or Blogging Inconsistently)
The mistake: Treating the blog as optional, or publishing once and never returning.
This is the biggest one. Your homepage and service pages can only rank for so many search terms. Every blog post is a new page Google can index—a new door for someone to find you through a specific, detailed search your main pages don't cover.
The fix: You don't need to post daily. Even 2 posts a month, focused on real questions your ideal clients are asking, builds momentum over time. And when you publish a new post, link back to a relevant older one—this helps Google understand how your content connects, and keeps visitors on your site longer.
➻ The Bottom Line
None of this requires coding or hiring a developer. It's a handful of settings, done consistently, page by page and post by post.
Quick checklist to run through on your next few pages:
Unique meta description written
Images renamed with descriptive filenames + alt text added
URL slug cleaned up and shortened
Proper heading structure (H1 → H2 → H3)
At least one internal link to another page or post
Small, consistent habits like these are what separate a beautiful website that sits quietly versus one that actually gets found.
