Gather round, hunnis, because I’ve got a SPICY one for you!

In today’s blog post/video tutorial, I’m dishing all the reasons why you ain’t growing, why your website traffic is pitifully low, the real explanation why legit no one is checking you out online LOL.

But don’t worry, it’s not all bad - I’ll also give you the fixes and solutions, leaving you with a clear action plan to follow to turn things around!

I truly understand how frustrating it feels to put in all this work to get your website up and running, only to have no visibility and know that you aren’t reaching your ideal audience and dream clients & customers online :(

Been there, it sucks in a major way.

it’s sink or swim when it comes to website traffic - if you don’t have any then you’re kind of screwed, yikes! How can you ever hope to grow your website, brand or business if no one is even checking you out?

Luckily for you, I learned the hard way through a LOT of trial and error, and now SEO for Squarespace websites is my entire job! So believe me when I tell you I can help you get from where you are now (with little or no website traffic) to where you want to be.

I’m OBVIOUSLY going to give you the reasons why but also the solutions and what to do!

This is the kind of insider info that I give to my Squarespace SEO consulting clients and 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 for you to watch in case that’s more your vibe.

Enough chatting, let’s get right into it!

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

Why no one is coming to your website… and how to fix it!

Reason 1: Your website is dormant, out of date and/or hasn’t been touched in years

Answer me honestly - when was the last time you did any work to your site? The last time you logged in and made some updates or improvements? Some tweaks to the content or user experience fixes?

Heck, even just check this out for me - go to your website, scroll down to the very bottom and tell me what year is in the footer???!!!

I’m writing this in March ‘22 so your answer had better be 2022 hahaha if it says any other year then it indicates both to me and anyone who visits your site that you dgaf and aren’t paying attention to your website.

If the content on your website is old, dormant or out of date, then in Google’s eyes they’re going to say “hey, this website/web page/blog post IS NOT actually the best/most valuable/relevant piece of content available to someone doing an online search, so why the heck would we return it at the top of search results?”

Fair point, tbh.

Google would not be doing their job properly if they returned content in online searches that doesn’t actually help the user. And that’s bad for business, so obvi Google knows better :)

Solution:

The solution to this problem is actually quite simple - all you have to do is spend a little bit of time reviewing the content on your website and making any necessary updates & improvements.

I highly recommend that you perform a basic DIY Squarespace SEO website audit - full instructions found here!

Make sure that you:

update the dates
remove any mentions/links to old products or services that you no longer offer
update your staff list (add new people, remove people who have left the team)
review the contact information
add new testimonials
updated related products list
remove old events
communicate if services have moved online (e.g., can you do it over Zoom where before it was only in person)
get rid of blog posts/other website content that doesn’t support your current target audience
etc.

Basically go through it page by page, blog post by blog post, product by product and ask yourself - how can i make this up to date and valuable to the people I’m trying to serve?

This indicates to both the real live person who visits your website AND Google that you care about your website and are spending time keeping it current & up to date, which will in turn support your Squarespace SEO efforts.

Reason #2 : Your website content is not competitive

For this point, we’re talking about all web pages, blog posts, product descriptions, galleries, etc. on your website.

Does the saying “stay in your lane” ring any bells?

Well, normally I think it’s fantastic advice HOWEVER this is NOT the time to put the blinders on and ignore what’s going on around you!!!

When it comes to Squarespace SEO, you must be competitive if you want to rule the rankings, show up higher in online search results, and get people to find you online.

You need to know what you’re up against so that you can be as good as or better than what’s currently showing up at the top of Google search results.

Stay with me as I walk you through a simple exercise to see how competitive your website is.

Let’s say you’re a graphic designer in Boston and you want to rank for the keywords/online searches related to “graphic designer in Boston” (duh haha). Those are the search terms you want someone to type into Google in order to see your website in the search results, and then have them click over to your site and discover all your offerings.

To see how competitive you are, you’re going to do a simple “creep the competition” exercise.

Go to Google and type in “graphic designer in Boston” to first see:

Who are you up against, who is your competition
The websites that are currently at the top of Google’s rankings for your target search term(s)

Next up, you’re going to look critically at the websites and content that comes up to see:

What their websites are like
The content they cover on their pages and how it’s different from yours
How long is their content (looking for long form content is probably a good clue)
How is their content formatted (e.g., list articles, lots of headers, much more text/image combo, embedded contact form, etc.)
Keywords they use in their headers
How they are naming their images (do a simple right click & open image in new tab & check out their image file name at the new browser tab)
Etc.

Set aside your ego, put on your SEO spy glasses, and see what your competition is doing better than you.

Solution:

To summarize, what you’re doing here is seeing what they have that you don’t (at least in Google’s minds)! Take notes, see how you should add more content, different sections to your pages, more visual content, etc. so that your website can become more competitive by default.

Take all the best bits from the current top ranking websites, put your own spin on things, and then make your website AS GOOD AS OR BETTER THAN what’s currently on page 1 - this way, Google will switch things up in your favor!!

If you Squarespace website isn’t getting the kind of traffic you want, then let me remind you that you should not just “hope for the best”.

Creep the competition, see what you’re up against, and make strategic improvements to your own website.

Again, you might have to go through things page by page, blog post by blog post, product by product page. Do not rush it, instead know that a little work now will deliver big results in the future!

Reason 3: Your website is slow to load

AKA you have a slow page load speed

This is a kind of a two-fold problem, or there are two main issues that are slowing you down here:

You have a lot of large images on your webpage but they are incorrectly sized/formatted. Remember that larger image files mean that they will take longer to load, meaning that the entire webs page content will lag as a results, which is not good for SEO
There could be unnecessary code on the page that is slowing down the load speed.

For the first image issue, I HIGHLY suggest you check out my Image Guidelines and Best Practices for Squarespace SEO. If you have ANY images on your Squarespace website and you want to make sure they are optimized for SEO, this guide is for you.

For the second custom code issue, please check out this blog post/video tutorial: Does custom code affect Squarespace SEO?

Solution:

If slow page load time/speed is an issue for you, then start off by updating & improving the images first. This is most likely the problem and the solution is quick and painless, once you know what to do :)

If old/redundant code is the issue, then I suggest you tidy it up or remove it entirely if you no longer need it.

Again remember that in Google is going to penalize you for a website that is slow to load - they’re like “if we can’t even get the content to display quickly/properly, why the heck would we offer this up to someone’s online search, let alone rank it favorably?”

Fixing page load sped can have a really big impact on how your website shows up in online search results and is an SEO factor that should not be overlooked.

Reason #4: You don’t have any backlinks to your website

Backlinks are basically anytime another website links to you. If you’re new to backlinks, I suggest you read these two blog posts first:

A backlink could be a guest blog post (which I’ve covered already) but it could also be any other sort of mention, feature, interview, case study, Q&A, highlight, expert quote, etc. Anything that talks about you and includes a link that readers can click through.

Remember that Google is going to see that there’s some sort of relationship established between the two sites through the backlink, they’ll click through those backlinks and they also take note for SEO. Backlinks are a feature of SEO because the help Google to identify your domain authority and see that you are a legit & credible website, something that people are linking and sending traffic to, taking note of related content and keywords and shared audience demographics between the two sites.

The more backlinks you have to your website from other high quality sites, the better Google will value your site.

Solution:

Get more backlinks to your Squarespace website, plain and simple.

Which, frankly, might be easier said than done haha but it’s also one of the more creative & fun sides of Squarespace SEO in my opinion

You could even use a tool like HARO (help a report out) to get started here, it’s simple and free to use.

Odds are you’re going to have to get out of your comfort zone and pitch yourself/your brand & your business, and ask other websites & publications to feature you, thus giving you a backlink.

I know it can be hard to reach out and put yourself out there but remember that people are always looking for content ideas and if you come to them with a great blog post topic, a cool story, a product their audience would love, expert advice that will help their readers, etc, then why wouldn’t they at least consider it?

Never try, never know!

Reason 5: You don’t have a Google My Business Profile set up & linked to your Squarespace website

This point is geared towards anyone interested in local SEO, if you have a bricks and mortar store, a physical location for your business, serve clients in a set geographic area (e.g., a photographer working in a certain city/location), etc.

Remember that Google wants to see that you are making use of all their features and services, and this is particularly true if local SEO is important to you. They want to see you using these services, that your site is showing up in multiple places and serving people across all applications.

Squarespace has an integration with Google My Business that is super easy to use and set up, so it’s a no brainer - don’t skip this step!!!

Solution:

If you haven’t already, set up a Google My Business profile and connect it to your Squarespace website.

If you have a GMB profile set up already , spend a couple minutes reviewing it, optimizing the content, and making any updates to improve the listing.

Setting up a Google My Business will help prioritize your website in local online searches, which leads to better SEO and more website traffic!

Final Thoughts

There you have it, my friend - the top 5 reasons why your might not be getting much or any traffic to your Squarespace website… and the solutions & fixes to each problem!

Some of these are quick fixes whereas others will take a few hours & days to apply, but I promise you it’s worth it.

Try it out and let me know how things go!

xoxo

-Charlotte

Exciting news : my signature online course, Top Squarespace SEO, will be opening for enrollment again soon - sign up for the TSS waiting list here!

You can also sign up for my newsletter (right here or below), where I often share Squarespace SEO tips, tricks and high-quality exclusive content. I send out emails to my list every Wednesday, mostly focused on Squarespace websites and SEO, and I can guarantee that you’ll find the newsletter topics interesting, entertaining and worth your time. #humblebrag

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.