5 places to use keywords on your Squarespace website for SEO

Helloooooo SEOs, welcome back to the blog! Today we’re covering a hot topic and one of the most important building blocks when it comes to SEO on your Squarespace website.

That’s right, everyone’s favorite …. Keywords!

More specifically, keywords and keyphrases hehe

Even the most basic Squarespace SEO 101 article will tell you that keywords are SUPER important if you want your website to actually show up in Google search results, let alone show up on the first page & maximize traffic and clicks.

That’s all well and good, but what does that MEAN exactly?

Where do you actually use keywords on your Squarespace website if you want to improve SEO?

Well my friend, that’s what we’re going to cover today.

I’ll be walking you through FIVE different places that you’ll use keywords on your Squarespace website for SEO - both on the back end of your website (think: settings) as well as the content on the front end that regular people can see.

Not only will I tell you these 5 tips but I’ll also show you - scroll down and watch the video to see me literally walk you through it step by step on a demo Squarespace website!

Monkey see, monkey do 🙂

As a Squarespace SEO expert and the leader in this super random little niche, it’s legit my job to help you out with this :)

So, I’m giving away all my best tips here, pulling away the internet curtain if you will, and holding your hand to make sure it actually gets done!!

This is the kind of insider info that I give to my 1-on-1 Squarespace SEO consulting clients and also students in my signature online course, Top Squarespace SEO.

But since I’m not one for secrets and truly want the best for anyone with a website, I’m giving you the goods here totally for free!

Oh, and I’ve even recorded a video tutorial so that you can follow along in real time, peep over my shoulder and see exactly how it’s done on a Squarespace website.

If you’ve ever found yourself asking for direction or someone to literally lay it out, step by step of what do on your Squarespace website to improve SEO, then this is it!!! You’ve come to the right place :)

Keywords, let’s goooooooo.

SQUARESPACE SEO SERIES

I have so many tips to share on the subject that it would have been crazy to put it all in one article! There are many misconceptions about Squarespace SEO which is why I've dedicate so many posts to this topic. Enjoy!

Click to view all posts in the Squarespace SEO Series

Work with Charlotte - explore my Squarespace SEO Services

5 places to use keywords and keyphrases on your squarespace website for seo

Squarespace version 7.0 & 7.1 - demo website for a fake company

This video tutorial and blog post shows a demo website using Squarespace version 7.1

The process is pretty much the same if your website is on Squarespace version 7.0 - a few things might be different in terms of Squarespace’s back end layout/where the different settings are located BUT it’s basically the same - don’t panic if yours looks a little different than mine, you’re smart and will still be able to follow along, I have faith in you :)

For the purpose of this video & blog post, I have created a demo website for a fake company. Use your imagination but consider how it applies to your own website!

What are keywords?

Keywords are words or phrases (aka combinations of words) that someone types into a search engine like Google, to find information about a specific topic.

At the same time, keywords are also used in webpage content (meaning, on a particular web page, blog post, product page, etc.). This includes in headers, body text, image file names, etc.

We can ALSO use keywords when filling out the various settings on the back end of your Squarespace website - because Google will see this information when it crawls & indexes your website.

The goal with keywords is to MATCH the words that someone types into a search engine to the content of a web page, so that that particular web page can rank at the top of Google search results for that particular keyword.

As you can see, keywords will help your webpage show up in CERTAIN online searches (based on the keywords that are matched on the webpage’s content as well as the keywords you’re trying to rank for) which means that when you use keywords correctly, you are able to drive more traffic to your website and improve SEO.

When it comes to using keywords effectively on your Squarespace website for SEO, you might also want to consider keyword volume and keyword ranking difficulty, but we’ll get into that in greater detail in another blog post & video :)

BTW people use the terms keywords, keyphrases and search queries pretty interchangeably.

Keyword Brainstorming Exercise

If you haven’t already, I STRONGLY suggest that you take a moment and click over to my Youtube video & blog post that walks you through how to do a simple keyword brainstorming & research exercise for SEO on your Squarespace website.

This is a great place to make sure you really understand what keywords are and learning what keywords you want to rank for.

Then you can come back to THIS post & video, and see exactly where and how to use those keywords on your Squarespace website :)

1. SEO Descriptions& SEO TITLE FORMATS

The first place you are going to use keywords for SEO on your Squarespace website is in the SEO description fields, which are settings on the back end of your site.

SEO Site Description & SEO Title Format :

Log into the back end of your site
Click Settings
Click Marketing
Click SEO Appearance
Fill out the SEO Site Description field and the SEO Title Format

The SEO Site Description field is where you describe to Google what your website as a whole is about. It’s where you tell Google about your business/brand, the products or services you offer, where you’re located (if geography and local SEO matters/is relevant to you), the type of clients or customers you serve or work with, important features you want to highlight etc.

Keywords will naturally be extremely helpful in this field because you’re using them to tell Google all about your offerings, and hopefully line up with what people are typing into Google as part of their online search.

Remember, Google the bot will see the info you put in this field when it comes and crawls and indexes your website so this is basically the first point of contact on the SEO front.

You can learn more about this in my post & video Get Started with Squarespace SEO in 2024.

Here’s a screenshot from that demo website:

When you’re filling out the SEO description field, refer back to that keyword brainstorming exercise that you did earlier (that I referred to above) and try to incorporate those important keywords that you want to rank for when it comes to your brand/business/offerings/etc in this field.

After you’ve done the SEO site description field, the next place you’re going to add keywords on this pannel is in the SEO Title Format field.

The default that you’ll see on most Squarespace website in the SEO title format field is just %s, which is basically just pulling from the site title field (%s = whatever you have in the site title field).

BUT you can also add in a sort of keyword chain in addition to the %s in the SEO title format field. Again, the goal here is to give search engines a little bit more information when they’re crawling and indexing this field.

In the example above, I’ve set the SEO title field to “%s | Central California Coast” which shows up in the search appearance preview and in browser tabs as “Coastal Construction Ltd | Central California Coast”.

In this particular example, we care about local SEO and targeting a geographic area but you can change that up to suit your own needs.

NOTE: fill out the SEO title field on the THREE tabs: Home, Pages and Items

SEO descriptions for various pages, posts etc.

Above I showed you how to add keywords into the SEO description field for your website as a whole.

Now you’re going to do something similar for all the different pages, blog posts, product pages, etc on your Squarespace website too!

Here’s how to get to the SEO description field for a particular page:

Log into the back end of your Squarespace website
From the main dashboard click Website
Pick one of the pages and then click the gear icon (on the right) which will open the Page Settings
Click SEO tab
Fill out SEO title and SEO description for that page

See screenshot below for that example from my demo site:

Again, the purpose of the SEO description for a particular PAGE is to tell Google what this particular web page is about. You want to let Google know about who you are, what your brand/business is about, any products/services that you offer, the area you’re in (for LOCAL SEO) what you’re talking about on this page, etc.

Ask yourself, what do you want someone to type into Google to land on this particular webpage? And now try to use that in the SEO description field for the page.

Keywords are going to be used here in the SEO description field of the page to really highlight that to Google when it crawls & indexes that field.

Same thing with the SEO title, use keywords here too!

Last but not least, you’ll do something similar for blog posts too

SEO description for blog posts:

log into the back end of your Squarespace website
click website
click to the Blog page
click the “…” (three dots on the right) of a particular blog post to open up the blog post settings
Click SEO tab
fil out the SEO description field and SEO title field for the blog post

Here’s a screenshot of the SEO description field and SEO title format for a Squarespace blog post:

Again, use keywords here to really tell Google what each particular blog post is about.

Repeat this process for each blog post - either go back and update OLD blog posts with proper SEO description fields and/or do this for any new blog posts that you create moving forward in the future.

2. Keywords in the web page & blog post TITLE

The next place you are going to add keywords is in the TITLE field for any web page, blog post, product page on your Squarespace website.

Here’s an example from my demo site:

In the example above you can see that the in Page Title field I’ve put “Residential renovation projects” which is nice and keyword rich, therefore good for SEO.

The page title and navigation title sections will usually be either the same or similar, it just depends on how you’re setting up your website and displaying the content.

You want to use the page title field to really clearly tell Google what the particular page is about - especially if it relates to a product or service because those are moneymaking pages and you want lots of eyes on them aka SEO goodness.

Don’t be vague here, but also be natural with your language and don’t go overboard haha

NOTE: be normal, the page title for your about page might just be “About” or “About us” haha nice and simple!

Same thing for filling out the blog post title - use keywords but keep it natural! See screenshot below:

In this case, the blog post title “5 things that set our construction company apart” is super clear, but also outlines to Google that you’re going to break this topic down futher in the blog post content itself.

3. Keywords in long form page content

Ok now let’s talk about what you put in the page content itself - whether we’re talking about a web page, a product page or a blog post, you will have BEST SEO FROM LONG-FORM CONTENT.

Naturally, long form content includes lots of keywords.

So, if you lean into long form content and really give Google lots of information on each page, don’t shy away from length, then by default you will have more keywords in place which can improve SEO and help you rank better.

Remember, when Google crawls and indexes your website, they are looking to see if your content is robust, relevant and valuable enough to rank at the TOP of online search results. You need to think about creating content that is COMPETITIVE and is worth ranking higher than everyone else who’s trying to rank for similar online searches.

Google considers search intent when looking at the keywords someone used in their online search, and from here they will compare that to the content of your web page.

So, really ask yourself - does my web page / blog post / product page satisfy that online search intent? Is it competitive to everyone else who’s trying to rank?

Do a quick Google search on your own and compare YOUR content to what’s currently at the top of the rankings.

How can you use keyword rich long form content to make your content as good as or better than what’s currently ranking?

Let this be your guiding mantra haha

Long form content is particularly important for SERVICES and PRODUCT pages because again, these are your money makers. But don’t forget that long form content for BLOG POSTS is also hugely beneficial, especially if you’re using blogging as a way to direct people back to your products & services.

Put LOTS of information about each product or service in order to have long form content.

Ask yourself how you can give someone all the information they need to know about that product/service in order to make a purchasing decision or inquiry. By default, that information will be helpful to the person viewing the webpage BUT it will also be stronger SEO and will show up higher in online searches too!

Don’t just give a few quick points - instead, go DEEP, include the keywords, really go for it haha

4. Keywords and Images

Images are true powerhouses for SEO on your Squarespace website… if you know what you’re doing it and use images correctly LOL!

Otherwise if you just have images but aren’t using them to their full benefit, they are a bit of a waste not gonna lie

If you haven’t already, take a look at my Image Guidelines and Best Practices for Squarespace SEO.

Some of the things to consider with images & SEO is that:

image is correctly formatted
image file size is correct
image is named for SEO (physical file name)

Here’s an example from the demo website of how to name an image on a web page, using a simple image block:

You can see here that I’ve filled out the IMAGE FILE NAME with my three part naming strategy so that it’s something like “Coastal Construction Ltd | Boutique renovation and construction company in central california coast | wooden deck and outdoor living space on beach house waterfront property”.

See how keyword rich that image title is?

Now when Google crawls and indexes the page and “sees” the image, they will now know much more about the image and it will in turn be wayyyyy more valuable from an SEO point of view.

The last thing you want is “screenshot 01-23” or “Pic5” LOLLLLL that is absolutely not helpful for SEO!

You might find these helpful:

Images matter A LOT for SEO so use those keywords!!

5. Keywords and Tags & Categories

For most people, tags & categories will be commonly used on BLOG POSTS but they can also be used in Galleries and other collection items.

For each blog post that you create, you should absolutely be filling out the Tags and Categories fields and using keywords here to help Google better understand the blog post.

Here’s a screenshot from my demo site:

Go to the blog post, click the THREE DOTS to open up the blog post settings. Click the Options tab and then select the tags and categories sections.

Generally speaking, you might only have one or two categories for each blog post - and you should keep these pretty broad. This is for overall content organization, but it might naturally contain keywords too.

When it comes to tags, however, this is where you can really go to town and use LOTS of tags to tell Google all about the blog post and main ideas/topics/things of note that are covered in the post. Don’t be afraid to use lots of tags, as you can see in the screenshot above! You will have many keywords in the tags by default.

Final Thoughts

And there you have it, my friend - 5 places to use keywords on your Squarespace website for better SEO.

Take a look at your own site and see how many you can check off the list!

If you realize that you are not yet using keywords to their full SEO potential, that’s OK! It’s better to fix it now then never at all.

Go back to existing & old web pages, blog posts, product pages etc. and see how you can incorporate more keywords and improve how you’re using them across your website. This will make Google happier with your content and you might rank higher and show up higher in online search results.

keywords are SUPER important for SEO and once you understand what they are and how to use them across your site, you can get way more benefits.

Hope this was helpful!

xo

Charlotte

Want to learn more about Squarespace SEO? Ready to show up higher in online search results, reach more of your potential clients/customers online, increase sales and booked services, and establish yourself as a leader in your niche? Join us inside my signature program, Top Squarespace SEO!

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Finally, shameless plug: hit me up with any specific questions you have about Squarespace SEO and your website because I’m your girl. You can reach out to me directly if you’re interested in working together on your website and we can talk about whether or not you would be a good fit for my consulting and ongoing services. I can’t take on every request to do Squarespace SEO consulting but I do pick a few websites and businesses to work with every month and I’d love for you to be one of them.

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