Published: January 2024 // Updated: March 2024

Squarespace’s marketing promotes its “built-in SEO tools,” which can sometimes confuse new users. What exactly are the platform’s free SEO tools? How do they help your site? Here we look at Squarespace’s SEO plugins and features.

First, is Squarespace good for search engine optimization? Yes. This question about SEO effectiveness stems from perceptions formed during the platform’s early years. As user-friendly DIY website builders gained popularity, developers on platforms like WordPress often used SEO concerns as a tactic to discourage users from switching.

Our experience as Squarespace designers since 2013 has been positively echoed by our clients. The feedback section on our website reflects the widespread satisfaction with the SEO-friendly platform. It’s important to understand that “SEO-friendly” does not equate to “automatic rankings,” a common misconception among those new to optimization. Online success requires a bit of groundwork—this is true for all platforms.

Squarespace SEO Tools vs Features

What about Squarespace’s advertised SEO tools? Squarespace integrates with Google Search Console—one of the key SEO tools for small businesses—but many of the platform’s listed “tools” are more accurately described as “features.”

Squarespace’s SEO features include:

Fully customizable title tags and meta descriptions
Creating your XML sitemap and robots.txt file
The ability to hide pages from search engines
Structured data
Automatic URL canonicalization
SSL security

If some of the items above are confusing or unfamiliar, that’s precisely the point—Squarespace automatically manages important technical SEO tasks on your behalf.

The platform considers their static SEO checklist to be a “tool,” but this is a stretch. That said, a more dynamic tool to review individual webpages for basic best practices, such as compressed image files, is likely in the works.

Note, all Squarespace versions and templates can be optimized.

Squarespace SEO Plugins

Squarespace’s official documentation states that no plugins or custom code are required, which is accurate for the vast majority of sites. Yet, it’s worth noting that some blogging sites do occasionally use custom code for SEO purposes—such as qualifying certain outbound links, and this functionality will likely be included on the platform in the future.

Squarespace’s authorized extensions include two SEO-related plugins, although most sites do not need these:

Weglot: This extension handles website translation and multilingual SEO. Note, if you have a small site with limited language options and translators on your team, you can build your own multilingual site to avoid recurring subscription fees.
TinyIMG: This Squarespace SEO plugin minimizes image files which can impact page speed. It was originally developed as a plugin for the Shopify platform and might be helpful for large ecommerce sites or gallery-based sites. For smaller sites, you can simply use free tools like Squoosh to optimize an image prior to upload.

If you are an ex-Wordpress user looking for a “Yoast for Squarespace” solution, it is important to know this type of SEO plugin for Squarespace has never been necessary. If you want to learn more about recommended SEO software, see our common sense guide to free optimization tools for small businesses.

Google’s John Mueller offers this practical advice to small businesses:

What I recommend to small businesses is: never self-host, avoid plugins, buy your domain name, use a simple & reliable platform, use 2-factor authentication, have 2+ people internally who can update your site's content, get local SEO help.
— John Mueller (official) · Not #30D (@JohnMu) February 15, 2021

Other Integrations

After publishing a website, you want to proactively tell search engines about your business and products. Squarespace offers integrations with important Google tools such as Search Console, Analytics, and Merchant Center.

Conclusion

Squarespace addresses key SEO elements with ease. The platform’s emphasis on simplicity means users can focus more on content creation and less on technical SEO.

The platform’s built-in features help enhance your website’s visibility and ranking in search results—without plugins—making Squarespace an excellent choice for anyone looking to build a successful SMB website and strengthen their online presence.

IMPORTANT: Remember, “SEO-friendly” does not equate to “automatic rankings,” a common misconception among those new to optimization. SEO success requires learning the fundamentals—this is true for any platform. Get up to speed quickly with customized SEO training tailored specifically for you and your website.