When it comes to SEO on your Squarespace website, people always ask me - “what should I focus on first? Fixing the old content you already have, or ditching it for the new stuff you can get right from the start?”

Well would you look at that - it’s everyone’s favorite old vs new debate, wrapped up with a pretty new online marketing bow!

On one hand, you might hear the recommendation is to improve what you already have - that means take all the content you currently have on your Squarespace website (web pages, blog posts, product pages, galleries, etc.) and give it a face lift so that it’s more SEO-friendly.

But on the flip side, people will argue that you should “start from scratch”, create high-quality content that Google goes bananas for on a fresh blank slate.

In my opinion, there are solid arguments for both sides and I truly love this question because the answer might surprise you, especially if you’re just getting started with Squarespace SEO.

Which is why I’m so excited to answer this question for you here today!

As a Squarespace SEO expert, it’s literally my job to help you work smarter not harder.

I’m not here to add more tasks to your plate - instead, I want to help you lighten the load and spend your time & effort on SEO work that’s actually going to help you grow, move forward in the right direction.

As always, I’m giving away all my best tips here, answering all your questions and spilling my SEO secrets, if you will. I’m here to hold your hand to make sure SEO actually gets done on your Squarespace website asap - and, more importantly, that it gets done correctly LOL !!

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

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Which to focus on first for Squarespace SEO: creating new or updating old content?

Focus first on optimizing and improving exiting website content

As a Squarespace SEO expert who has worked with thousands of clients and students, I can tell you that without a doubt the best approach is to first focus on improving and optimizing the content that you currently have on your Squarespace website.

In other words, don’t get distracted by the new new! Focus first on making what you already have even better in Google’s eyes, and once that’s taken care of, then you can dive freely into the fun & exciting world of brand new SEO-friendly content creation.

So now that you know that you should first focus on what you already have, I’m going to tell you HOW to do it correctly :)

Step 1) Audit the existing content on your Squarespace website.

This is step one, the very first place to start.

Take inventory of:

all the different web pages you have (both enabled and disabled)
the blog posts you’ve published or that are scheduled/sitting in your drafts folder
the product pages that make up your online shop
the galleries you have

I also want you to look at how it’s all structured. Take a look at not only the content but also how it’s being presented - how does it look on your site? How are the pages themselves built out?

You want to keep a sharp eye out and see how (or how you aren’t) using on-site SEO factors such as:

titles
headers (H1, H2, H3)
images & alt text
text formatting
links (internal, external) and anchor text
Etc.

Note: I’ve got a really in depth blog post that does that deep dive into on-site SEO factors for your Squarespace website, so please take a look at that post if this is new to you!

The grass is greenest where you water it.

Think about the main pages of your website, especially the ones that drive your brand and business forward. I’m talking about the home page, you products or services pages, your portfolio page, etc.

Our goal with SEO is to get more traffic to those existing important pages of your website, because they are how people are going to book your services, buy your products, sign up for your offerings, etc.

In other words:

Better SEO on your services page > more traffic to that page > more potential clients finding out about what you offer > more booked services > bigger business.

Better SEO on your product pages > more traffic to your online shop > more potential customers finding out about what you sell > more sales > bigger business.

Better SEO on your portfolio pages > more traffic to this page that showcases your past work > more potential clients booking you out > bigger business.

Don’t ignore or glaze over what you already have!!! I’m guessing those pages already exist on your site but they aren’t as good as they can be.

Turn them from drab pages that aren’t doing much, into SEO-friendly pages that send a ton of new traffic your way and convert like crazy!

This website audit phase might be a bit time consuming (because you literally have to go through each page/blog post/product/gallery one at a time, with a fine tooth comb), but trust me it’s worth it!

Recap: step 1 is to improve the content you currently have

Step 2: See what and who you’re up against

Everyone’s favourite step - creep the competition!

Before you start doing the work to actually optimize or improve all of the exiting content on your website, I want you to first go to Google and start searching to see what kind of content/websites/web pages/blog posts are currently showing up at the top of the search results.

In other words - see what’s currently ranking well and see how you can make your website content as good as or better than what’s showing up!

Look critically at what’s showing up and see how your content compares.

For example, if you notice that all the top hits talk about XYZ or ABC, then you know that you need to update your page/post/product so that it also includes the same content - but with your own personalized spin on it!

Or, if you notice that all the pages have much longer content than you do, then it signifies that you need to make yours longer and more comprehensive!

Or, if the top ranking sites/posts have lots of images, then you need to include more too.

Or, if the top hits all have numbered lists, consider switching up the format of your page/post.

What do they have that you’re missing? Make a list, get clear on any gaps, see what you might have forgotten or overlooked the first time around.

That’s how it’s going to be more competitive in Google’s eyes and how you’ll show up higher in search results.

Step 3: Go back and optimize existing website content

Remember: the goal is to make your website content as good as or better than what’s currently ranking!

Improve the existing website content that you have, but do it strategically! Beef up the content on your own website, one page at a time.

Don’t forget to include all those on-site SEO factors that we talked about above!

And please, for the love of Google, don’t rush this step :D

Go through it slowly and then spend quality time optimizing these pages so that they are truly improved, so that Google is thrilled.

Step 4: move on to creating new seo-friendly content

Don’t jump the gun, but once you’ve taken care of all the existing content on your website, then I welcome you to move on to creating lots of new killer seo-friendly content!

I told you to water the garden you aready have first, and once you have, then you can start planting new flower beds :D

I love this step and I know you’re going to have fun with it and see some great growth and results too, but please don’t rush through the audit & optimization steps!

Think of it this way - there’s no point publishing all these killer new blog posts, only to then turn around and redirect that traffic back to crappy old pages that haven’t been touched in years. Yikes!!!!

If you got sidetracked, don’t sweat it - just come back and go through it in sequence from here on out!

Final Thoughts

And there you have it, my friend, a step-by-step action plan that will help you do it all on the Squarespace SEO front!

First up, focus on improving and optimizing the content that you currently have on your website - that means all the different pages, blog posts, product pages, galleries, etc on your site. Go through them one by one, creep the competition to see what you’re up against, and come up with a solid outline of how you can make it more seo-friendly and competitive so that Google shows your website higher in search results.

Once that’s done, then you have my permission to focus on creating as much new content as your heart desires!

But don’t get side tracked.

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.