Hi there SEOs, coming in HOT with today’s blog post and video all about the Squarespace announcement bar and what impact (if any) it has on SEO!

Believe it or not, the Squarespace announcement bar is one of my favorite built-in online marketing tools and I love how creative you can get with it! It’s a fantastic feature to promote your offerings, let people know about sales or launches, share discount codes, countdowns, sky’s truly the limit!

I use it myself, and many of my clients do too… which is why it’s been coming up in convo a lot lately, hence the inspiration for this post :)

I know that many people who use the Squarespace announcement bar get lots of value out of it too… but these same people still come to me, their favorite internet Squarespace SEO expert, with questions about how/if the announcement bar impacts Squarespace SEO.

Can you go wilding with the Squarespace announcement bar or will Google know/care/penalize/reward you? Does Google count it like normal text when they crawl and index the page, or do they “see” it differently?

These are all fantastic questions about the Squarespace announcement bar and SEO, and I’m thrilled to answer them today!

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 - no gatekeeping here!

Oh, and I’ve even recorded a video tutorial for you to watch in case that’s more your vibe.

Let’s dive right in, shall we?

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 & videos to this topic. Enjoy!

Work with Charlotte - explore my Squarespace SEO services & programs

Everything you need to know about the squarespace announcement bar and seo

Note: At the time of recording, this video shows my website on Squarespace version 7.0 . Your own website might look slightly different if your website is on Squarespace version 7.1 or uses a different 7.0 template, but the tips are still the same!

Using the Squarespace announcement bar

First thing’s first, let’s make sure you know HOW to use the announcement bar feature on your Squarespace, and you can see how to use the feature if you’re interested in it!

Here are the steps to take:

log into the back end of your Squarespace website
from the main dashboard, click Marketing > Announcement Bar
the default is that it is set to be DISABLED. So if you want to use the announcement bar, simple select ENABLE ANNOUNCEMENT BAR
from here, you can edit and style the text that displays in the announcement bar a
also set up any links so that when people click on the announcement bar, it takes them to the appropriate web page or whatever

You can also change the color of the announcement so that it fits in cohesively with your branding OR stands out with a bright, eye-catching pop of color. That is done through the Design tab.

And then reminder that at any time, you can always disable the announcement bar by selecting DISABLE ANNOUNCEMENT BAR. For example, once the launch is done, the event has passed, tickets are sold out, etc.

Is there any SEO benefit or consequence from using the Squarespace announcement bar?

Any old Squarespace web designer can tell you HOW to use the Squarespace announcement bar, but this is where I have my moment to shine (LOL) as a Squarespace SEO expert!

You probably want to know IF or WHAT impact there is on SEO, if you decide to use the Squarespace announcement bar and I’m here to answer that question :)

The short answer is that no, there isn’t really any impact on SEO if you decide to use/enable the Squarespace announcement bar feature.

Let me explain why this is.

First of all, as you can see when you set up the announcement bar, it’s a very small section that is primarily text-based. Like, sure you could copy & paste in a few emojis to spice things up, but mostly it’s just text that sits at the top of the page.

So, when Google crawls & indexes your website, they will basically “read” or “see” the announcement bar as if it is just a section of text. Sure, you might add in a few keywords (depending on what you’re announcing) but again, since we’re talking about such a small section of text, it’s not really enough to impact or change the way the web page, blog post, product page, even page, etc. will rank.

This applies both to the current page that Google is on when they “see” the announcement bar, as well as the page that the announcement bar links through to (e.g., if Google follow the click through trail).

TL;DR the Squarespace announcement bar is too small to make much of an impact

So, whether I’m using the Squarespace announcement bar or talking about it with my clients, I always say to think of it as an online marketing FEATURE that has many benefits, but you shouldn’t really bring SEO into the equation here because it’s just so small from a technical point of view.

Yes Google will see what you have in the announcement bar, but it’s not enough to swing things one way or another - meaning it’s not enough to benefit your position in the rankings, or else penalize you.

Final Thoughts

There’s the answer to your burning question all about Squarespace SEO and the announcement bar, I hope this answered your question!

It’s a fantastic tool for online marketing, one that I love and use myself AND encourage my clients to take advantage of too, but really it’s too small of a feature to impact SEO. Yes, Google will “see” what you have set up in the announcement bar but it won’t really change how you show up in the rankings, for better or for worse.

So go ahead and make use of the Squarespace announcement bar, and let me know how it goes for you!

xoxo

-Charlotte

Exciting news : my signature online course, Top Squarespace SEO, is open for enrollment and I’d love to have you join us inside the program! Learn all about it here.

If 1-on-1 is more your style, then I encourage you to sign up for my Squarespace SEO Audit & Consulting Sessions! We’ll hop on Zoom, make changes to your Squarespace website in real time, and you’ll get a totally personalized Squarespace SEO strategy to follow moving forward.

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 a few days a week, mostly focused on Squarespace SEO, business and online marketing tips, and a behind the scenes look at what’s going on in my corner of the internet, 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.