The Squarespace Asset Library is a centralized hub for managing your website’s images and videos. Whether you’re creating a new site or updating an existing one, the Asset Library helps you efficiently organize, access, and reuse media files. This guide covers the key features of the asset manager, SEO considerations, and best practices for keeping files organized.

How To Use the Asset Library

Squarespace makes frequent updates to their UI and functionality, so you’ll want to refer to their detailed guide for the most up-to-date step-by-step instructions.

Access the library: Open the asset manager in the left-hand sidebar of your Squarespace dashboard. From there, you can add, organize, and manage images and videos.
Upload assets: You can bulk upload files directly into the Asset Library or drag and drop them from your computer. Note, even if you don’t upload files to the library itself, any image or video added to a page will be saved in the library.
Organize assets: Use folders and subfolders to organize your files by category, page, or any structure that works best for you.
Delete assets: If you remove an image or video from the library, it will also disappear from your site pages, though this may take some time. Deleted items stay in the trash for 30 days, allowing you to restore them if needed. For details on locating and fixing broken image links, see below.
Download images: To download an image, hover over it, click on the three dots, select File Details, and right-click to save the image to your device. This is an image-by-image process, there is no bulk download.

Understanding the Squarespace Media Library

Squarespace’s media manager stores uploaded images and videos in one central location, allowing you to reuse them across your website without needing to re-upload files.

Centralized storage: Most media files you upload to your site are automatically saved in the Asset Library. This simplifies media management and reduces redundant uploads.
Reusing assets: Once uploaded, files can be reused across blocks, backgrounds, and pages. This is particularly useful for larger or complex websites where consistency is key.
Organized structure: The recent ability to create folders and subfolders makes it easier to organize assets by page or category. This is especially helpful for managing large quantities of files efficiently.
Bulk uploading: You can upload multiple assets at once, allowing you to organize media files ahead of time and streamline the design process.
Downloading assets: Images can be downloaded in their original quality for offline use or backups. Video downloads are not yet supported.
Proactive asset management: Upload assets directly to the library before starting design work. This lets you organize media in advance, speeding up the design process and minimizing disruptions.
File and folder management: You can move, rename, or delete files and folders to keep your library organized.

Best Practices for Accessibility and SEO

Image Optimization

The Asset Library helps you check file details (such as size and filename) to ensure each asset is optimized for SEO and accessibility purposes—hover over an image or video, click the three dots, then click File Details.

File size: Large media files can slow your site’s load time. For faster load times, aim to keep files below 500KB. You can use free tools like Squoosh to compress images. Note, a faster way to check file sizes for all images is with Screaming Frog.
Filenames and alt text: In some areas of your site, image file names are used as alt text. Alt text helps search engines understand image content and improves accessibility for screen reader users. Use clear, descriptive file names. For example, instead of “IMG1234.jpg,” use “handmade-ceramic-mug.jpg” to help search engines better understand the content of your images.

Broken Links and SEO

Deleting files from the Asset Library while they remain linked on a page will cause broken links, which can affect SEO and user experience.

To avoid any issues, always update or remove references to deleted files. Tools like Screaming Frog can help you find any missing links. Screaming Frog will flag missing assets as external 404 errors because Squarespace stores images and videos on a content delivery network (CDN).

If you’ve used Squarespace for a number of years, you might just now be discovering the newer Asset Library, and it can be tempting to delete what seem to be out-of-date assets. Be careful! These images are very likely still used in older blogs, products, or other pages.

Final Thoughts

The Asset Library greatly improves the efficiency of website management. By organizing and labeling assets upfront, optimizing image sizes for better performance, and reusing content across your site, you can save time and ensure your site runs smoothly as it grows. Whether you’re just starting or updating a site, the Asset Library can help your workflow.

More Resources

Learn how to fix 404s when you remove assets.
See our Squarespace SEO checklist.
Hire a professional Squarespace SEO expert to review your site.
Read how Squarespace improved the performance of their Asset Library.

Squarespace Training

Feature Gap: Galleries in Version 7.0 vs 7.1

Note: Most readers can skip this section. However, if your site is on version 7.0, be aware of this asset management limitation if you’re considering an upgrade to version 7.1.

In Squarespace version 7.0, Gallery Pages provide a centralized way to manage collections of images that can be reused across multiple pages. Updating a single image or link in a Gallery Page automatically updates all instances of that image in associated summary or gallery blocks across the site.

Centralized gallery management is especially useful for larger sites. Unfortunately, this time-saving feature has not yet been replicated in version 7.1, requiring users to make manual updates across different pages, this is time-consuming for complex sites.

For example, an affiliate review site wants to update its annual product recommendations for the “best widgets.” In version 7.0, they can update images and product links in one central spot (the Gallery Page), and every page or article displaying the recommended “best widgets” gallery will automatically update.

Similarly, a business with notable partnerships, press mentions, or clients may showcase a “logo wall” in various locations on their website. In version 7.0, these logos can be centrally managed from one location, ensuring updates to reflect automatically across all instances. However, in version 7.1, each individual instance of the logos must be updated separately, as there is no centralized management.

Squarespace could use the Asset Library to replicate the gallery management in version 7.0. Using the folder-based organization, users could link gallery or summary blocks to specific folders in the Asset Library. This would streamline updates—changes made to a folder’s contents would automatically sync across all instances on the site, eliminating the need for manual updates.

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