Jump to content

so-in

Circle Member
  • Posts

    149
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Reputation Activity

  1. Like
    so-in reacted to tuanphan in Change login text to an icon   
    Remove above code & use this new code
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Material+Symbols+Outlined:opsz,wght,FILL,GRAD@20..48,100..700,0..1,-50..200"> <style> .header-display-desktop span.unauth { font-size: 0 } .header-display-desktop span.unauth:before { content: "\e7fd"; font-family: 'Material Symbols Outlined'; font-size: 30px; position: relative; left: -2px; top: 10px } </style>  
  2. Like
    so-in reacted to paul2009 in How to have a text on hover on a gallery block in SQSP 7.1 ?   
    Yes, sure @chaiseetbercante. Here's an example:

    To achieve something like this, first enable the Captions in the Gallery Section editor:

    Then add the following to Design > Custom CSS:
    /**************************************  Move the Gallery Grid caption   from below the image to   centered on the image **************************************/ figure.gallery-grid-item {   position: relative!important; } figcaption.gallery-caption.gallery-caption-grid-simple {   position: absolute!important;   left: 50%;   top: 50%;   transform: translate(-50%,-50%);   text-align: center;   pointer-events: none; } /* Set color & size of caption font */ p.gallery-caption-content {   color: white;   font-size: 2rem!important; } This will centre the captions, increase the font-size and set the color to white (see last few lines).
    Depending on the colour of the images and the caption colour that you choose, the captions may not be easy to read:

    To resolve this you can add a drop shadow:

    To do this, add something like this to the end of the custom CSS:
    /* Optional drop shadow */ p.gallery-caption-content {   text-shadow: 2px 2px 4px #000; } If you would prefer an overlay behind the caption like this:

    add the following instead of the drop shadow CSS:
    /* Optional background */ figcaption.gallery-caption.gallery-caption-grid-simple {   background: rgba(0,0,0,0.2);   max-width:80%;   padding: 17px; } I hope this helps.
    Did this help? Please give feedback by clicking an icon below  ⬇️
  3. Like
    so-in got a reaction from Beyondspace in Bold in Markdown 7.1 using ** block not working.   
    Hello, setting up a new site and having a markdown problem using double asterisks to bold text **text-here** using 7.1 markdown blocks. It seems to no longer work, just displays the asterisks surrounding non-bolded text - like this **not-bold** - Does anyone know if this is a bug or a change? Thanks
  4. Like
    so-in reacted to Alice31302 in Is there a way to change the meta author name on a blog post to link to your about page?   
    I want to list an author and date at the top of each blog post. Ideally, I wanted to add my author bio so I could have a brief description but don't see a way to do that since I have 3 websites and I only see one main author bio to edit.
    My next best option was to have the author name and date at the top of the posts, which I do now, but I want the author name to link to my about page. It sends you to all posts written by me instead which I understand but that is driving me crazy! Any suggestions? I'm looking for a solution that doesn't involve updating every blog post individually if possible. 

    The reason I'm adding this is because I was hit hard by the helpful content update and I've read having author information is important. I do have a sidebar that links to my about page but since that is custom code, I'm not sure if it gets crawled in time to be seen. Thanks!
  5. Like
    so-in reacted to Parker_SQSP in SEO FAQ   
    Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an important part of making your website discoverable to visitors and potential customers. We regularly receive questions during our SEO with your Squarespace Site webinar, and we decided to boil them down into the most frequently asked types of questions. 
    We then asked our SEO team here at Squarespace for their expertise, and here’s what they had to say:
    Multilingual sites: How does an extension like Weglot work with SEO?  Weglot is an integration that can be added to your Squarespace site to automatically translate your site into a number of languages. In addition to translating your site content, Weglot also bakes in some best practices for multilingual SEO, such as: 
    Dedicated language URLs: Weglot automatically creates subdirectories or subdomains so that Google indexes your translated pages.  Hreflang tags: These help Google understand the language of your pages and who they should serve. Weglot automatically adds these tags to your site. Metadata translation: Beyond translating your front-facing content, Weglot also translates your metadata. This includes your SEO title and description and image alt text to ensure your site is optimized for multilingual SEO. 
     
    AI and SEO: Is using AI to generate SEO titles and descriptions okay or could this hurt a site’s rankings?  AI can be a valuable tool to support SEO efforts but it should complement your overall strategy instead of replacing it. AI can be used to generate SEO titles and descriptions as long as the following guidelines are followed:
    Relevance to content:  The title and description should accurately reflect the content of the webpage it's associated with. Keyword inclusion: Relevant keywords in both the title and description should be included to increase the chances of your page ranking for those terms. Unique title and description: Titles and descriptions should be unique to the page Call to Action (CTA): You should consider including a CTA in the description to entice users to click. Phrases like “learn more”, “get started”, or “discover” can encourage users to click on your website’s URL.  
    Keywords: What are the differences between head and long-tail keywords and when to use them?  Head keywords, also known as primary keywords, are specific and broad search terms that represent the main topic or theme of a webpage or website. They are usually one to two words long and are the most competitive and high-traffic keywords in a particular niche or industry.
    Long-tail keywords are specific and longer keyword phrases (usually consisting of three or more words) that are more precise and targeted than head keywords. Unlike head keywords, which are shorter and more general, long-tail keywords are used by people who are looking for something very specific.
    Head keywords can be used to target a broad audience, when competing in a highly competitive niche, while long-tail keywords can be used to target a more specific audience, or to capture low-competition opportunities.
    Examples of head keywords vs. long-tail keywords:
    Head Keyword: "Digital Marketing" Long-Tail Keyword: "Digital Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses"  
    Keywords: How often should I surface keywords in my site content?  The frequency with which you should include keywords in your site content, known as keyword density, has evolved over the years in SEO. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to how often you should use keywords because it depends on various factors, including type of content, the competitiveness of your niche, and user experience. Here are some guidelines to consider:
    Focus on user intent Place keywords strategically (metadata, heading tags, within the first 100 words of your content, throughout the body of your content where it contextually makes sense) Use keyword variations Regularly update and refresh content with up-to-date keywords  
    Bonus: What are some SEO tactics to avoid?  To maintain a healthy and effective SEO strategy, it's essential to avoid certain tactics that could harm your website's rankings and reputation. Here are some SEO tactics to avoid:
    Keyword Stuffing: Keyword stuffing involves overloading your content with keywords in an unnatural and spammy way. This practice not only disrupts the user experience but can also lead to search engine penalties. Focus on providing valuable, user-friendly content instead.
    Low-Quality Content: Thin, low-quality, or duplicate content is detrimental to SEO. Google rewards websites that offer valuable, comprehensive, and unique content. Avoid publishing content that provides little value to users.
    Cloaking: Cloaking is the practice of presenting different content or URLs to search engines and users. This deceptive tactic is against search engine guidelines and can result in severe penalties.
    Paid Link Schemes: Buying or selling links to manipulate search rankings is against Google's guidelines. Instead, focus on earning natural, high-quality backlinks through content quality and outreach.
    Link Farms and Link Schemes: Participating in link farms, link exchanges, or other artificial link-building schemes can lead to penalties. Aim for organic link-building strategies that focus on relevance and quality.
    Hidden Text and Links: Concealing text or links from users but making them visible to search engines is considered manipulative and deceptive. This practice can result in penalties.
    Intrusive Interstitials Pop-ups or interstitials that interrupt a user's experience immediately upon entering a webpage can negatively impact mobile SEO. Google has specific guidelines on what types of interstitials are acceptable.
    Over-Optimization: Over-optimization, also known as "over-SEO," occurs when you excessively optimize your content and website for search engines to the detriment of user experience. Keep a balance between SEO and user-friendliness.
    Ignoring User Experience: A poor user experience, including difficult navigation, intrusive ads, or irrelevant content, can harm your site's rankings. Prioritize user experience to keep visitors engaged.
  6. Like
    so-in got a reaction from Merikson in IndexNow - new search initiative by Microsoft   
    Site URL: https://www.bing.com/indexnow
    Just wondering if anyone had tried this option on their site:
    Article link below:
    IndexNow - new initiative by Microsoft and Yandex to push content to search engines
    https://www.bing.com/indexnow
  7. Like
    so-in reacted to tuanphan in [Share] Accordion Block: Useful code   
    Squarespace released an Accordion Block a few weeks ago.
    Here are some useful code when you use the accordion block (Add to Design > Custom CSS)
    #1. Change Dividers Color
    /* accordion divider color */ .accordion-divider { color: #ff00ff !important; } #2. Change Arrows Color
    /* accordion arrows color */ .accordion-block .arrow { border-color: #ffff00 !important; } #3. Add icons before Accordion Titles
    /* Accordion icons before titles */ li.accordion-item .accordion-item__title:before { content: ""; width: 20px; height: 20px; display: inline-block; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; background-position: bottom center; } li.accordion-item:nth-child(1) .accordion-item__title:before { background-image: url(https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2021/11/02/15/30/tealights-6763542__340.jpg); } li.accordion-item:nth-child(2) .accordion-item__title:before { background-image: url(https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2019/10/23/06/30/hamburg-4570577__340.jpg); } li.accordion-item:nth-child(3) .accordion-item__title:before { background-image: url(https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2021/02/17/08/02/woman-6023442__340.jpg); } #4. Different Color for Accordion Titles
    /* accordion title colors */ li.accordion-item:nth-child(1) .accordion-item__title { color: red; } li.accordion-item:nth-child(2) .accordion-item__title { color: blue; } li.accordion-item:nth-child(3) .accordion-item__title { color: violet; } #5. Change a specific word color in Accordion Content
    First make it bold then use this CSS
    /* accordion content specific word color */ .accordion-item__description strong { font-weight: normal; color: red; } #6. Accordion Title Background Color
    /* accordion title background */ .sqs-block-accordion .accordion-item__title-wrapper { background-color: #32a4e6; } #7. Accordion Content Background
    /* accordion content background */ .sqs-block-accordion .accordion-item__dropdown--open { background-color: #262853; color: white; } #8. Add Unordered List in Accordion Content
    First, add some text then Underline them

    Next, use this CSS
    /* Accordion Content - Add Unordered list */ span[style*="text-decoration"]:before { content: ""; display: inline-block; width: 3px; height: 3px; background-color: black; vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 3px; } span[style*="text-decoration"] { text-decoration: none !important; } #9. Accordion Titles – Add Line Break
    If you use a Business Plan or higher, you can use another approach in this comment
    /* Accordion SubTitle */ li:nth-child(1) span.accordion-item__title:after { content: "Accordion Subtitle 01"; display: block; font-size: 15px; } li:nth-child(2) span.accordion-item__title:after { content: "Accordion Subtitle 02"; display: block; font-size: 15px; } li:nth-child(3) span.accordion-item__title:after { content: "Accordion Subtitle 03"; display: block; font-size: 15px; } Result

    #10. Accordion Title-Content Text Size on Mobile only
    /* accordion title - content text size on mobile */ @media screen and (max-width:767px) { /* accordion title */ span.accordion-item__title { font-size: 12px !important; } /* accordion content */ .accordion-item__description * { font-size: 10px !important; } } #11. Simple Style 01
    Add a Code Block under Accordion >> Use this code
    <style> /* accordion title color */ .accordion-item__title-wrapper { background-color: #1a252f; color: white; padding-left: 20px !important; padding-right: 20px !important; } .accordion-item__click-target { padding-top: 15px !important; padding-bottom: 15px !important; } /* make first item round corner */ li.accordion-item:first-child .accordion-item__title-wrapper { border-top-left-radius: 10px; border-top-right-radius: 10px; } /* make last item round corner */ li.accordion-item:last-child:not[data-is-open="true"] .accordion-item__title-wrapper { border-bottom-right-radius: 10px; border-bottom-left-radius: 10px; } /* remove divider between accordion items */ .accordion-divider { display: none; } /* accordion content padding */ .accordion-item__description { max-width: unset !important; padding: 20px !important; } /* arrows color */ .plus>div { color: white !important; } </style>
    Coming soon.
    #12. Accordion Content Link Style
    /* Links underline */ div.accordion-item__description p a { border-bottom: 1px solid black; } /* Links font style */ div.accordion-item__description p a { color: red !important; font-size: 30px; font-family: monospace; letter-spacing: 2px; } #13. Add a button inside Accordion Content
    First, you need to add a text link. Next, add this CSS to turn link to button
    /* turn accordion link to button */ div.accordion-item__description p a { background-color: black; color: white !important; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 15px; padding-bottom: 15px; border-color: red; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; } #14. Add an Image inside Accordion Content
    Use this CSS to add image to top or bottom of accordion content
    /* Add an image into Accordion Content */ /* replace demo image with your image url */ /* nth-child(1) is first accordion item, nth-child(2) is second item... */ /* :before is image on top, :after if image on bottom */ li:nth-child(1) .accordion-item__description:before { content: ""; display: block; width: 100%; /* image width, you can also use px */ height: 150px; /* image height */ background-image: url(https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2021/09/15/15/48/seals-6627197__340.jpg); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; margin-bottom: 20px; /* space between image-text */ } #14.2. Add Image to Accordion Content (Use JS code)
    Suppose you want to add this image 
    https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2023/11/28/08/53/skyscraper-8416953_1280.jpg First, you edit Accordion >> Put your cursor at position where you want to add image >> Then enter text: image01

    Next, add this code to Website Tools (under Not Linked) > Code Injection > Footer
    <script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.7.0/jquery.min.js"></script> <script> $(document).ready(function(){ $('div.accordion-item__description p:contains("image 01")').closest('p').addClass('image-01'); $('<img src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2023/11/28/08/53/skyscraper-8416953_1280.jpg"/>').appendTo('.image-01'); }); </script> <style> .image-01 { font-size: 0; } </style> Result

    If adding 3 images, doing this



    and use this code
    <script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.7.0/jquery.min.js"></script> <script> $(document).ready(function(){ // image 01 $('div.accordion-item__description p:contains("image01")').closest('p').addClass('image-01'); $('<img src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2023/11/28/08/53/skyscraper-8416953_1280.jpg"/>').appendTo('.image-01'); // image 02 $('div.accordion-item__description p:contains("image02")').closest('p').addClass('image-02'); $('<img src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2023/11/07/10/06/girl-8371776_1280.png"/>').appendTo('.image-02'); // image 03 $('div.accordion-item__description p:contains("image03")').closest('p').addClass('image-03'); $('<img src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2023/10/02/14/51/flowers-8289320_1280.png"/>').appendTo('.image-03'); }); </script> <style> [class*="image-0"] { font-size: 0; } </style> #14.3. Add Image to Accordion Content
    You can also use this approach
    Enter Image Url 

    highlight the text url > Add same image url (enable Open in New Window)

    then use this code to Code Injection or Page Header Code Injection
    <script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.7.0/jquery.min.js"></script> <script> $(document).ready(function(){ $('div.accordion-item__description p a:contains(".jpg")').each(function() { var $t = $(this); $(this).contents().filter(function(){ return this.nodeType != 1; }).remove(); $t.attr({ src: $t.attr('href') }) .removeAttr('href target'); $(this).replaceWith(function(){ return this.outerHTML.replace("<a", "<img").replace("</a", "</img") }); }); }); </script> <style> div.accordion-item__description img { width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; } </style>  
    #15. Change Plus/Minus (+/-) to custom icon
    Replace demo image urls with your icon urls
    /* Plus */ :not([data-is-open="true"]) .plus { background-image: url(https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2021/02/06/09/03/man-5987447__340.jpg) !important; background-size: contain; background-repeat: no-repeat; } :not([data-is-open="true"]) .plus div { display: none; } /* Minus */ [data-is-open="true"] .plus { background-image: url(https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2021/12/12/22/17/red-squirrel-6867105__480.jpg) !important; background-size: contain; background-repeat: no-repeat; } [data-is-open="true"] .plus div { display: none; } #16. Change style of a word on Accordion Title
    See this comment

    Wrote by @tuanphan
  8. Like
    so-in got a reaction from Brainbuster in IndexNow - new search initiative by Microsoft   
    Site URL: https://www.bing.com/indexnow
    Just wondering if anyone had tried this option on their site:
    Article link below:
    IndexNow - new initiative by Microsoft and Yandex to push content to search engines
    https://www.bing.com/indexnow
  9. Thanks
    so-in got a reaction from dougrecupe in Shareasale as a merchant. Possible?   
    Yes works great. Assuming you have Squarespace eCommerce enabled - USE Code Injection and paste the code they give you into Order Confirmation Section. Will look something like this
    <img src="https://shareasale.com/sale.cfm?amount={orderSubtotal}&tracking={orderId}&transtype=sale&merchantID=xxxxxxx" width="1" height="1">
    Found it worked fine. You could also checkout Tap Affiliate
  10. Like
    so-in reacted to digitalfreelancer in After recent 7.0 and 7.1 updates, I'm no longer to add multiple tags or categories to summary blocks   
    Hi @Margiada56 you're talking about the category and tag filters you can apply to summary blocks. Previously it was an open text field so you could comma separate multiple tags/categories, but now it's a dropdown so you can only select one.
    I agree that this is a severe limitation in the latest update and hope that Squarespace see sense that it is really useful to be able to filter by multiple categories/tags.
    Andrew
  11. Like
    so-in reacted to Ntb in Where do i add structured data markup for my pages?   
    To create the markup, the following website helps a lot! https://technicalseo.com/tools/schema-markup-generator/
  12. Like
    so-in reacted to paul2009 in How can I add a table?   
    Original post in 2014:
    Sometimes you just want one of your contributors to be able to add a table so that they can add some data, like a league table to a page or a post.
    Squarespace usually make complex things seem simple (adding images to Galleries for example) but the simple task of adding a table in Squarespace is so challenging!
    Yes, I know I can add a code block and add some HTML code to create the table. That's fine for me, but my clients don't want to learn HTML - they just want to edit a table like they would in any other application like MS Word - 'Create Table'.
    I'm still hoping Squarespace will address this soon so we don't have to use online HTML table tools.
    Update in 2024:
    It is now 10 years later (yes that's not a typo... ten years later!! ⏳) and there isn't a Squarespace Table Block built-in yet. ☹️
    The good news is that Michael (Squarewebsites) built a Table Block plugin. 
    (These are affiliate links for products I use and love. If you make a purchase I may receive a tiny commission.)
    This plugin adds a Table Block to Squarespace (both 7.0 and 7.1), allowing you to create and edit tables on the page with ease. You don't need to know any HTML table code, and it can automatically pull your table data from a Google Sheet, making it easier for clients to update their tables using a familiar tool!

    Was this post helpful? Please give feedback by clicking an icon below  ⬇️
  13. Like
    so-in reacted to GlynMusica in Core Web Vitals   
    Thanks for sharing that message.
    Unfortunately when Google says jump planet earth now says "how high?"
     
  14. Like
    so-in reacted to Jo_SQSP in SEO Expert AMA Answers: Matt Callahan   
    Thank you all for your thoughtful questions for Squarespace Expert Matt Callahan’s SEO AMA. He’s responded to the top 10 questions below. If you’re interested in learning more about Matt or hiring him for a project, you can contact him through his Squarespace Marketplace profile.
    Can you share your definition of SEO, as well as your model for its Return on Investment (ROI), and compare this to an investment in paid search?  SEO, Defined
    My definition of Search Engine Optimization is simple: SEO is anything you do to make your website more attractive to a search engine. This includes onsite SEO, linking, coding, content, keywords etc. — but it also includes things like creating videos, a robust social media presence, or a compelling white paper. These are all part of SEO because they are all potentially relevant and interesting to your audience, and Google cares A LOT about your audience — almost as much as you do. They want to make sure that the results they serve up are the best results, and if they see an audience interacting with content — any kind of content — that leads back to your website, that’s a signal that they should pay attention to your brand. 
    SEO ROI
    Search Engine Optimization, like any marketing tool or tactic, has a variety of ways to measure efficacy. It can be measured apples-to-apples right alongside paid search campaigns, using tools like Google Analytics and Tag Manager to track conversions on your website (whether it’s a purchase, a form submission, or an email signup) vs. cost. Where organic SEO absolutely blows paid search away, is in Brand Authority, and Brand Authenticity. At the end of the day, search engines are used to answer questions. If your brand is the one Google has “selected” to provide the answer to a search query, your brand is now effectively the expert on that topic. And that expertise, that “Authority,” is invaluable on a scale that a paid ads campaign could never touch. Think of it this way: If you stop an AdWords campaign, all results stop immediately. But if your organic search presence is established and authentic, you’ll get traffic, leads, and ROI for a long time to come. 
    Do you conduct a Site SEO Audit for clients, how do you approach new clients, what information do you look at in Squarespace and what tools do you recommend? As an agency, we always conduct an SEO audit as part of our work. As far as approaching new clients, most of the time we’re responding to inbound leads but even if we were reaching out to prospects, we would be asking the same question: Is your website working as hard as you are for your business? And if it’s not, how can we fix that? There are so many different variables and data points to look at when determining an SEO strategy, but for the sake of your question I will stick to the 3 big-picture things we generally look for during an SEO audit:
    Site Structure and Metadata
    How is the site set up? Is there already a sitemap, and does Google have an up-to-date copy of it? (Google Search Console can help out with this.) Is all metadata filled out, and filled out properly? Are images optimized for size? Does the site load quickly? (Screaming Frog is a great tool to check this.) Is the site properly mobile-optimized? Are H1s, H2s, and H3s structured hierarchically? 
    Link Strategy 
    Are there internal links, and do they work properly? (Both Screaming Frog and Google Search Console are great for this.) Are there backlinks to the site, and are they helpful/broken/garbage? (Ahrefs is great here.) Are there outbound links on the site, and are they good/helpful/working? (And yes, outbound links do affect your SEO.)
    Onsite Content
    Is there content on every page of the website? Is it enough content to be helpful? (The argument continues to rage over “how many words does Google want on a web page?”, but at the end of the day, if the content that’s there is what the audience is looking for, length doesn’t matter so much.) Are there a good amount of strategic keywords in the content?
    What types of searches; informational, comparison, transactional, and so on, should we be optimizing our site for - what part of the searchers journey should we target to optimize our investment in SEO? This completely, 100% depends on the industry of your brand. Optimizing for products is very different from optimizing for services, which is very different from optimizing for blogs, and so on. That being said — you should always strive to be as useful and helpful to your users as possible. What questions are being asked by the prospects served by your industry? Are they comparing two products? Are there frequently asked questions? Do some questions not have answers (or are the answers that are there wrong)? Are the questions about price, or timing, or the meaning of life? Depending on the brand, these questions may or may not be relevant — find the questions that are relevant, and answer them as authoritatively and completely as possible. Be helpful.
    What's your best advice for keyword research without investing in one of the expensive tools? There are TONS of free or inexpensive tools out there to assist with keyword research — here are my three favorites:
    Google AdWords Keyword Planner is an excellent free resource; creating a Google Ads account is free, and you can get really helpful info like search volume data, average cost per click (which helps you figure out what keywords are most valuable and most competitive), historical keyword data, and the ability to generate new keyword ideas based on your industry and service offerings.
    Moz has a really excellent (and free) Keyword Explorer that gives you most of what Google’s Keyword Planner does, but it also gives you things like who is showing up in top results for keywords, the ability to see what keywords you’re already ranking for, and the ability to compare your rankings directly with your competitors.
    Answer The Public is a great tool for finding more detailed and abstract keywords (“long-tail” keywords) like full questions (“What does an SEO agency do for small businesses?”), comparisons (“SEO Agency vs. SEO Practitioner”), and more. (Note: Their free version limits you to a few searches per day.)
    Do you have any Squarespace-specific suggestions for optimizing local SEO for a business with multiple physical locations? Let me say this first: Regardless of the website platform, the single most important thing you can do for local business SEO (with 1, 5, or 100 locations) is to create and optimize your Google My Business profile. If you have 10 or more locations, this Google support page can help you bulk upload, verify, and manage multiple listings.
    Another great platform-agnostic optimization for locations is Schema markup — and helpfully, there are versions for both single and multiple locations. I won’t go into detail about this here, as there are many factors that affect implementation, but reaching out to an expert who knows their SEO stuff will help.
    Now — to the Squarespace-specific recommendations:
    Local SEO For Businesses With 2–5 Locations
    If possible, I would suggest creating a separate page on the website for each location. This will allow you to optimize specifically for each separate address. NOTE: this is helpful *only* if the content on each page is unique — if you include the same information and only change the address and contact info, Google will most likely see these pages as duplicate content. Not helpful. 
    Another suggestion apart from separate location pages is to use something like the Advanced Map Block feature from Squarewebsites, or Google’s My Maps feature to include multiple locations inside the same map. 
    Local SEO For Businesses With 6+ Locations 
    Optimizing for lots of locations is difficult no matter what platform you’re using — but there are a few things that we recommend here. First, and easiest, would be to create a simple text list of your locations on your Contact page, and link them to their respective Google Maps listing. On a slightly more involved — but also much more sleek and helpful — level, you could create a searchable/filterable database of your locations using something like Squarewebsites’ Universal Filter feature. This method is great particularly because people would, in general, much rather filter or search for what they want instead of scrolling through lists. Again — search engines like when you’re helpful. 
    How do you add Schema Markups in Squarespace to get featured on the SERP sections? Great question — Schema is a really important part of SEO, as it can have a huge effect on whether or not your site shows up within Google’s “rich results” area, also known as “rich snippets” or “featured snippets.” As far as actually adding your Schema markup to a Squarespace site, there are two main ways: 
    Using the Data Highlighter Tool Inside Google Search Console
    This is the simpler and faster way to add Schema markup to your site, and although it’s not foolproof, it doesn’t involve writing code. Google has a good introduction for using Data Highlighter here, where they basically walk you through what to do for each page on your site. The downside of this option is that it doesn’t work with all types of Schema, like recipes and certain kinds of reviews, for example. But if you want a basic, fairly code-free way to add Schema markup to your site, this is it.
    Adding Schema Markup To Your Site Manually
    This is the much more complicated way to add Schema markup to your site, as it involves a good amount of digging through code and writing your own — but it’s definitely the more comprehensive route. One you have the markup ready, it will be inserted in the Code Injection area of your website backend, as well as by using code blocks on pages (depending on the Schema type). I won’t attempt to give you a breakdown of how to actually write Schema markup, but schema.org is an excellent place to start. And of course, you can always reach out to me if you get stuck or have more questions. 
    How much does image optimization matter to SEO overall, and what are the best ways to optimize images on a website?  In the grand schema of things (sorry), optimizing your images isn’t the single most important thing in the world when it comes to SEO — but it certainly matters. Optimizing your images breaks down to two major categories: image size, and image metadata. Let’s break those down a bit further, shall we?
    Size 
    The smaller your images are in terms of megabytes (or hopefully kilobytes), the less space they will take up, and the faster your website will load. Google has indicated a number of times that page load speed, particularly on mobile, is looked at as a ranking factor — and the number 1 culprit of a slow-to-load Squarespace website is overall image size. But what about those large, border-busting fullscreen banner images, you ask? Shouldn’t they be full size to ensure they look spectacular on your website? Yes, of course they should — but just because their dimensions are large doesn’t mean that they have to be large in size as well. Get them down to 2500px in width, and always use an image-size-optimizing tool like tinypng and you’ll be right as rain.
    Image Metadata
    Google’s robust image search function gives you another opportunity to rank in the results — after all, a full third of all Google searches are for images. But how exactly do you rank an image? The answer is in the metadata. Images have multiple kinds of metadata, which means multiple opportunities to optimize. Here are three simple things you can do to optimize your image metadata:
    Give your images a short, descriptive, accurate filename, so instead of “img_5727529v.jpg” you might have “seo-tips-infographic.jpg” Add helpful ALT tags to your images — originally developed to help the visually impaired, ALT text is also used by Google to interpret the makeup of an image. Squarespace has a helpful guide on how to add ALT text to your images here. When possible and/or appropriate, image captions are also very helpful. Make sure that they reside close to the image (preferably directly under the image), and make them short but descriptive.   
    I’ve been told that no Squarespace website will ever be as good as a Wordpress website for SEO, particularly because you can't use the Yoast plugin with Squarespace. Is Wordpress actually better for SEO? Utter Balderdash. While there are some platforms out there that are genuinely crap for SEO, Wordpress is no better than any other website or CMS platform in existence. In fact, here are three reasons why I greatly prefer Squarespace to Wordpress for SEO: 
    Security
    Wordpress is in the dark ages when it comes to security (see: plugin vulnerability, platform vulnerability, PHP vulnerability, hosting vulnerability, I could go on and on) — and in this day and age, it’s extremely important to Google if your website is secure or not. Squarespace’s lack of plugin infrastructure is actually really helpful here — fewer logins + fewer accounts + fewer updates  + free, automatic SSL = a secure website.
    Mobile Responsiveness
    It’s hard to believe that this is still an issue, considering that we were warned back in 2013 that Google was going to start to prioritize mobile optimization. Squarespace websites are all responsive by default. With Wordpress websites… it depends on the theme, it depends on the version, it depends on the update. Also, unless you install a site builder plugin (again, vulnerabilities though), getting your Wordpress theme to be mobile responsive and actually look nice can require a ton of coding. 
    Squarespace Enables The Person Doing The Optimization
    At the end of the day, any decent SEO can easily overcome particular platform issues. What separates decent SEO from really, really great SEO isn’t about the platform at all — it’s about understanding the industry you’re in, the goals you’re trying to attain, and the ability to answer questions and truly create a resource out of your brand. That involves creativity, great writing skills, the ability to improvise, and most importantly, the ability to understand what your users want and how they’re feeling. Once you have those things, Squarespace makes implementing them (implementing anything, really) so much easier than Wordpress. 
    How has SEO changed both with the continued move to mobile, and the establishment of Amazon as a primary search engine and Facebook etc. as primary platforms on the web? SEO And The Mobile-First Web
    As I mentioned earlier, Google has signaled for many years that they use website mobile optimization as a ranking signal. So, has anything shifted recently? Yes — that “signal” has evolved into more of a requirement: Back in 2018, Google announced that they would be slowly transitioning to “mobile-first indexing.” This means that Google will primarily use the mobile version of a website for both ranking and indexing. As of today, this transition has been implemented — and there’s no way to opt out of this, either. Luckily, Squarespace’s built-in mobile optimization for every website means you should be good to go with this issue — but if you want to get nitpicky like I do, you can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to dig down further.

    Amazon, Facebook, And The Rise Of Alternate Search Engines
    As with any marketing strategy, there will always be both tactical and scattershot approaches. I’m fond of both — identify your likely performers and drill down deep, while also throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks. If you sell products on Amazon, it’s possible that optimizing for Amazon’s search may be more important for the success of your business than optimizing for Google. If your industry or target demographic is just right for social media, then Facebook might be your priority. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, unfortunately — but I always recommend more brand visibility over less, so if it makes sense for your brand to be on a platform, why not do it and see where your customers are most likely to find you?
    What is the number one thing that all Squarespace site creators should do regarding SEO? Understand that there will be multiple actions to get better rankings, but if you had to name just one, what would it be? Oh man… just one? That’s such a hard question to answer because there are so many variables, based on what kind of site you have, what kind of industry you’re in, and what your goals are. But if I had to pick just one thing to do, across any business/industry/goal, I would say: 
    Make Your Content The Absolute Best It Can Be. 
    That’s the biggest variable out there. The Squarespace platform does a great job with the basics of the backend SEO stuff — it will submit a sitemap to Google automatically; the platform is secure and gives you a free, automatic SSL certificate; mobile-responsiveness is built-in and really great. But at the end of the day, Google will prioritize interesting, relevant, timely content that matters to your audience over things like meta descriptions and alt text.
×
×
  • Create New...

Squarespace Webinars

Free online sessions where you’ll learn the basics and refine your Squarespace skills.

Hire a Designer

Stand out online with the help of an experienced designer or developer.