Free Squarespace SEO Course for Beginners [2026]
Squarespace is a great platform to build successful online visibility on, but SEO success on Squarespace does not come from just toggling a few settings.
Real results come from clarity and SEO strategy, which includes clear messaging, clear structure, keyword research, and clear intent.
This guide covers the foundational SEO basics every beginner should understand to get their Squarespace site moving in the right direction.
Table of Contents
Start With Squarespace’s Built-In SEO Tools
Squarespace includes several native SEO features that handle much of the technical groundwork for you.
SEO titles and meta descriptions (site-wide and page-level)
Page and post titles
Clean URL slugs
Image alt text
Automatic sitemaps and SSL
These elements help search engines understand what each page is about. However, they only work if the messaging and keywords behind them is clear and consistent.
A strong SEO title or meta description is not about keyword stuffing, it is about accurately describing the value of the page in a way that matches how real people search.
Define Your Audience, Pain Points, and Value (Before Touching Keywords)
This is a critical step that is almost always overlooked by DIYers. Before you optimize a single page, you need to map out three things:
Who you are for
What problem you solve
What makes you different
With modern AI-driven search, this clarity matters more than ever.
A useful exercise is to distill your positioning down to roughly 100 characters:
Who you help
What you do
Why it matters
That core message should then inform:
Your homepage
Your primary service pages
Your SEO titles and meta descriptions
If your branding and messaging are vague, no amount of technical optimization will fix it. Search engines, and AI systems, reward clarity and consistency. Get it right, and repeat it.
Technical SEO Matters (but it’s not everything)
Many beginners panic when they see a low “technical SEO score” from an audit tool. Think of technical SEO as necessary, but not sufficient.
Here is the reality:
A good technical score does not guarantee rankings
A poor messaging and structure strategy will block growth, even on a technically sound site
Technical SEO is the foundation, not the strategy.
You can have:
Fast pages
Proper indexing
Clean code
…and still fail to rank if:
Your site structure is confusing
Your services are unclear
Your content does not match search intent
Find BOF Keywords (Bottom-of-Funnel = Money Keywords)
Beginner SEO often focuses on broad, informational keywords, but businesses grow from BOF (bottom of funnel) keywords.
BOF keywords are searches made by people who are:
Ready to buy
Comparing options
Looking for a provider, service, or solution
Examples include:
“Squarespace SEO expert”
“SEO services for small businesses”
“Local web designer near me”
These keywords belong on:
Service pages
The homepage
Core conversion pages
How to Find Keywords
You can use Google’s free Keyword Planner. This is ideal for local businesses because you can narrow down the regional location. It also works as a free tool for national seraches.
If you are going national or global, use a more comprehensive tool such as the keyword planner in Moz, Ahrefs, or Ubersuggest.
Validate Search Intent Using Google and AI Search
Once you identify a keyword, the next step is search intent validation.
This means:
Typing the keyword into Google
Checking what types of pages rank
Running the same query through AI tools and LLMs
Ask:
Are the top results service pages or blog posts?
Are they local businesses, agencies, or educational content?
Does your page match what searchers clearly expect?
If your page type does not match the dominant results, it will struggle, no matter how well it is optimized. Search intent alignment is one of the most overlooked beginner SEO steps.
Local SEO Basics: Google Business Profile + Consistency
For local businesses, there are additional local SEO steps you need to take.
At a minimum, you should have:
A properly configured Google Business Profile
Consistent NLP-friendly business information across your site (NLP is name, location/address, phone)
NLP can also include:
City and service area (if you don’t have a physical office address)
Email
Hours of operation
Place this information strategically and make sure it always matches your GMB profile:
In the site footer
On the homepage
On key service pages
Consistency between your website, your Google Business Profile, and local citations helps search engines and AI systems trust your business data. This is just the beginning of how to maximize your Squarespace local SEO, but it’s an essential place to start.
Compress Images for Site Speed (Without Sacrificing Quality)
Large images are one of the most common performance issues on Squarespace sites.
Image optimization basics:
Resize images to the maximum size they will display
Compress before uploading
Use descriptive file names and alt text
Faster pages improve:
User experience
Engagement
Crawl efficiency
Learn more about how to compress your images to improve Squarespace SEO →
Learn more about how to get a good score on Google Page Speed on Squarespace →
Verify Your Website on Google with Search Console
Google will automatically index your site, but verifying it with Search Console will speed up the process and give you tools to monitor what pages are indexed, request indexing, scan for broken links, and much more. Below is a video from Squarespace on how to go through this setup process (it’s super easy on Squarespace, promise!).
💡Pro-Tip: Be sure to add your site map!
Final Thoughts
If you:
Use Squarespace’s built-in tools intentionally
Clarify your audience and value
Focus on BOF keywords
Match search intent
Maintain local consistency
Optimize images for speed
Verify with Google’s Search Console
…you will be well ahead of most beginners.
And if you get stuck, you can always reach out to a Squarespace SEO Expert for some help! The next step would be to dive into my Squarespace SEO Expert Course for advanced techniques to get the most out of the Squarespace platform and your online visibility in Google and AI Search.
