Does my Choice of CMS Matter?
Let’s start at the beginning. No matter how your website is built, you’re probably using a content management system (CMS). The days of coding sites by hand are mostly over. That means you’re using a platform which makes it easier to create, edit and launch pages on your website.
There are variations between CMS options, and some are better for SEO than others. For example, some CMS options create redirects automatically (generally good for SEO) or give you custom fields for meta data (also good for SEO). Some CMS options make SEO a little harder by not giving users access to certain parts of the site or creating an image-heavy website, neither of which is great for SEO.
What about Squarespace?
If you’ve chosen to build your site on Squarespace, you are hopefully finding it easy to set up and customize. The Squarespace CMS is design forward and has many intuitive features that site owners love. There is a tradeoff however. Some features that you might find elsewhere aren’t available on Squarespace.
Limitations and Workarounds
Meta Data: Although Squarespace has come a long way on meta data, not every page can accept custom meta data, which limits how much content you can add to a page.
Fix: Choose page types that allow for meta data. For example, a Gallery Page won’t accept meta data but a Blog Page or Product Page will.
Sitemap: There is currently no way to edit your sitemap in Squarespace.
Fix: Being proactive with search engines can help. Make sure you set up Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. You can guide each search engine to crawl and index your pages and at the very least, find out if they aren’t indexing your content.
Analytics: Squarespace and many of the other packaged CMS options have analytics built in so site owners sometimes don’t add Google Analytics.
Fix: Add Google Analytics. Even if you don’t use the data today, you might decide to switch your CMS later on, and that continuous stream of data will help with future marketing.
To answer the question posed at the beginning of the article, no, you don’t need special Squarespace SEO. The best practices outlined here and many other steps toward good SEO are the same regardless of which CMS you choose, but it can help to work with an SEO firm that is experienced with Squarespace and the SEO tactics you can and can’t deploy on the platform.
If you have questions about Squarespace SEO, or any other digital marketing needs, get in touch. We’re happy to help you work toward a more productive website.