Blogging for SEO in Squarespace
I believe that blogging is one of THE BEST WAYS to boost your Squarespace SEO (search engine optimization) results in 2024. (Plus, keep reading to the bottom of this post for my proven strategy to turn this extra traffic - thanks to SEO - into actual warm leads on your email list!)
But before we dive in, let’s rewind and cover some basics...
What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results.
So, what does blogging have to do with SEO?
Google (and other search engines) determines how to rank their search results based primarily on the content of a website. There are other things that factor into this, but the content is one of the biggest factors.
Because of this, when you regularly produce quality content that is relevant to your business, Google will begin noticing. They will then know to recommend YOU as a resource to questions that people are searching about that topic.
Yes, there's more that goes into it... but overall, pretty simple, huh?
Can you (a non-designer and total newbie to SEO) really boost your own SEO without working with a pro?
YES! How do I know this? Because I've done it. And believe me, when I first got started blogging, I was a total SEO newbie. I knew nothing about any of this. But I decided it was so valuable that I began to learn everything I could. I took courses and read books and countless posts. I also began testing strategies on my own blog... and it's paid off BIG TIME. So, this blog post is for you if you want to get new qualified eyes on your content, grow your list, and make more sales through your blog. It is possible, friend.
When should you expect to see results?
SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes time. But when you're tracking your metrics, you should begin to see an upward shift as you get more and more people landing on your site from Google! And this upward shift should begin to happen within 2-4 months (there are a lot of variables, so this does depend on your biz... but this is a general number for you).
HOLD THE PHONE...
“I thought Squarespace was bad for SEO???”
Maybe this is what you’ve heard and if that’s the case, let’s just answer that question once and for all.
First of all, let’s talk about Wordpress and the Yoast SEO plugin for a moment… FACT: The Yoast plugin doesn’t actually do anything for your SEO. Instead, it is basically a checklist that tells you what is missing from your post/page so you can easily implement crucial elements.
Squarespace on the other hand doesn’t really have traditional plugins like Wordpress. Instead, you’ll find “plugins” out there for Squarespace, but they are basically CSS or HTML code someone has created that you can paste into your site to make it do certain things for you.
The good news about Squarespace is that a lot of this work has already been done for you in the back end of the platform. You don’t have to worry about getting and installing an SSL certificate, generating a sitemap, submitting your site to Google, along with many other things. Squarespace has already taken care of all of this for you. Integration to your social media accounts are straightforward and easy and sites are mobile responsive without you having to change any settings or tweak a thing.
But, there are a few settings that need to be set and on page spots that need to be filled in to help boost your SEO. If you want more help setting up your site and settings to improve your SEO, then go grab my free Ultimate SEO Checklist for Squarespace.
Anyways, as I mentioned before... I was a total newbie in the world of search engine optimization. But that didn’t stop me (and it SHOULDN’T stop you!!). Instead, I made it my mission to learn as much about Squarespace SEO as possible.
The result of all of my learning, testing, and trial + error was growing my website traffic by over 800% in just 6 months of semi-regular blogging (regularly producing new content would have helped even more - but mom life with 2 kids + running a biz can get a bit crazy).
Ok, now that we’ve got the basics covered... let’s talk about what you need to do to grow your organic website traffic + SEO using your blog.
1. Narrow down your blog categories
The search engines (i.e. GOOGLE) need to know what your content + website is about before it can recommend it to the right people. The only way for it to know this is by looking at your website (ALLLL the pages - blog posts + everything else) and noticing the consistencies.
Let's use dog training as an example...
When Google sees that you talk about dog training on every single page of your site and you have tons of blog posts all about dog training (how to get your dog to sit, how to find the best dog trainer, what to do when your dog isn't listening, etc), then it's going to realize that you talk about + know about DOG TRAINING. It will then recommend you when people search for things regarding dog training, dog behavior, etc.
However, if you are a dog trainer, but you blog about your favorite dinner recipes, your trips to Florida, Taco Tuesday with the family, and all about growing your business... then Google won't see you as an expert in dog training. Even if you are a legit expert... Google doesn't know that by looking at your site! That would be why you aren't showing up in search results for DOG TRAINING.
Your action step:
Think about what you really want to be known for. The more you can narrow this down, the more you can target that in your SEO. It doesn't have to be crazy specific, but your topics/categories should be specific enough that Google begins to see you as an expert in your field.
For example, I am a Squarespace website designer. I also have a low cost program that helps people grow their online presence so they are getting found online (through their website) by the RIGHT people. These things are my focus. I also love working with moms... I don't exclusively work with moms, but I do work mostly with moms. Because of this, you'll find blog posts on my website about helping you grow your business, Squarespace tutorials and tips, and advice on being a 'mompreneur'. That's it! It's all geared around business + Squarespace.
2. Really research your post ideas
Once you know your categories and topics you want to cover, it's time to start thinking about what you want to post. Now, we could go into a lot of detail about how to pick the best keywords and it might make your head spin… so for today’s lesson, we’re going to keep it really simple.
You'll want to think about what people would actually want to know and be searching for in Google.
Going back to our example...
If you're writing about training your dog, think about what people would actually be searching for on Google. Here's a few post ideas that people are actually searching for...
How to keep your dog from barking
Top 10 dog behavior problems (and how to solve them)
How to calm and anxious dog
Your action steps:
STEP 1. Brainstorm a short list of ideas that people might want to know and be searching for (remember, keep it on topic!). We’ll use this list to help us find more ideas in steps 2 and 3.
STEP 2. Go to Google and start searching for a variation of these things you came up with in step one. I like to type "how to" followed by one or two words related to your post idea. For example, I typed "how to dog anxiety" into the Google search bar and BEFORE hitting enter, I looked at what popped up in the popular search options.
STEP 3. You can also scroll to the bottom of your Google search page and view the “searches related to” section.
STEP 4. If you have zero inspiration, you can always hit up Answer The Public and search for something in your topic. You’ll then get TONS of questions that people are searching for that you can write about.
In the images below, I searched “Dog Training” and just check out the questions that came up in the results!
To use Answer The Public, just search for your general topic idea in the search bar, and then hit submit. This will take you to a screen that has a circle of questions on it. These are commonly searched questions that have to do with your search. You’ll see that the questions with the darker green circle next to them are the most popular searches.
You’ll get TONS of ideas from this. You can then click DOWNLOAD CSV in the top corner to keep your results (there are only so many free searches you can do before it locks you out for the week/month! So a little tip: download each result so you can search for something new next time.)
3. Determine your posting schedule
This is the one that I struggle with the most, but it’s a good idea to come up with a posting schedule and stick to it. Google likes to see consistent content being published to your site and the more relevant content that is published, the better. The thing is, it should be about quality over quantity.
So, the goal here is to pick how many posts a week/month you want to post… and a day/time each post will be published and promoted. THEN STICK TO IT. As you’ll see in the next point, your blog posts should be super valuable… almost like a ‘one-stop-shop’ for the topic you’re writing about. So, rather than spread yourself too thin and try to create too much, it’s better to pick a smaller number per week or month and focus your attention on creating QUALITY posts.
I personally aim for 1-2 posts per week that are 2,000+ words each (the goal is two per week, but I know I can do at least one consistently!).
Your action steps:
Think about how often you want to write really quality blog posts. How much time can you dedicate to researching your topic, coming up with the best title (what you know people are searching for), writing your posts, and promoting your post? Take this into account and come up with a goal number for each week or month.
4. Write your posts
Google’s algorithm works to recommend web pages and posts that will be the BEST result for those searching. In order to determine the best pages and posts, Google looks at a few things…
1. How long people are staying on a page. If more people stay on a page longer, then Google knows that that page must be pretty important. Therefore, it will recommend that page more.
2. How many people are talking about that page/website. So it does take into account your entire site, but if your blog post is being linked to in lots of other places (other blogs or websites), then Google sees it as an authority in the online space and will recommend it more.
3. What the page talks about. The days of ‘keyword stuffing’ are gone! Back in the day, there was this concept of just taking a keyword that you wanted to rank for, and placing it as many places as possible in your post or page - even if it didn’t make sense when you read it. This is called keyword stuffing. But now, Google has gotten really smart and now knows that if it sees the exact phrase and keyword placed too many places or written in a way that is not conversational, then it actually hinders that page/site SEO more than helps it.
There are other factors, but these are 3 of the biggies.
So, taking that information into account, we want to make sure to keep people on our post as long as possible, we want to stay focused on our topic, and we want to mention the thing we want to rank for multiple times in regular, conversational style writing.
Your action steps:
STEP 1. Write content that really draws our readers in. You want your post to be really intriguing, but if you’re researching your topic and coming up with a topic that people really want to know about, then you’ll be half way there already.
STEP 2. The title of your post should be (or include) the phrase and words that people are searching for on Google. So, going back to our dog training example, your post title could actually be “How to keep your dog from barking”, “Top 10 dog behavior problems (and how to solve them)”, or “How to calm and anxious dog”.
STEP 3. Remember to use post hierarchy. Google has gotten smart enough to look at a post and realize if it will be easy for someone to read or not. The easier a post will be to consume, the more it will be recommended by Google’s algorithm. One thing that makes posts easier to read is making use of header 1 text, header 2 text, header 3 text, bolding, italicized, and underlined text. These things help us visually skim a post and know what it’s about + how to get to the exact spot we are interested in.
STEP 4. Keep your posts on the longer side (within reason - you don’t want a needlessly long post, but you want it to be packed with as much value as possible!). The reason for this length is because longer, value filled posts keep people reading longer. And remember, the longer people are on your page, the more Google will see it as a good, reputable source.
5. Add categories and tags to your post
Squarespace makes it really easy to add categories and tags to each blog post. When you create or edit a blog post, there is a space to select or add categories to each post (shown below). You can also determine tags in this space as well.
The purpose of categories and tags is to help search engines and viewers know what your blog is all about, to help viewers quickly and easily find posts on specific topics, and to help viewers find exactly what they are looking for when/if they do a search of your site.
Your action steps:
Step 1. Determine the category(ies) of the blog post you’re working on.
Step 2. Select or create that category when making your post. To do this, just click the edit button on your blog post (so it opens it in a new window), start typing your category and tag into the space on the bottom left of the window, and then save! It’s super easy. But here’s a video to help you out if you’re a visual learner ;)
6. BONUS: How to outsource some of this (at the RIGHT time)
When it comes to writing, formatting and publishing blog posts (not to mention promoting the posts), it can get REALLY overwhelming + take a lot of time … All while you’re trying to do a million other things as a business owner at the same time! But because blogging is something that I highly value and it works really well for my business, I decided to outsource blogging help first before outsourcing anything else.
So here’s my outsourcing tips when it comes to blogging…
>> If you can write and enjoy it, then keep writing your posts yourself. Even if you delegate everything else, your voice will be so hard for someone else to replicate. So keep doing the actual writing yourself and delegate almost every other step of the process to others.
>> Only outsource when you’re ready. So how do you know you’re ready? My personal test for knowing if i’m ready to outsource more is 1) looking at my actual revenue producing tasks and 2) looking at if it needs to be done by me. If delegating a task frees me up to do more tasks that will actively bring money into my business, then I outsource it. If I don’t know what tasks I would be focusing on instead OR if I don’t know that these tasks would actually bring more money into my business, then I don’t outsource it... YET. You need to get really clear on what you would actually do with that extra time before outsourcing.
>> Create a really clear system that is repeatable and easy to collaborate on. My team now uses Asana, however, when we first started, we just simply used an excel sheet and a shared folder full of docs. Somewhere in between where we are now and where we started, we also used Trello. You can view a detailed outline of that process (with video tutorials) in this blog post here.
I would write the posts in a word document and keep a list of upcoming posts in the Excel sheet. My VA would then follow the excel sheet schedule and grab my written posts out of the word document to post them to my blog for me.
Here’s how our system works now…
I write the post in a Google Doc (all docs saved within a ‘blog’ folder that my team has access to)
We keep track of all our ideas, posts in progress, posts my VAs are formatting/publishing, and posts that are about to be promoted in Asana (we follow the exact same process as we did in this trello guide, except we’ve moved to Asana).
My team takes my post from the Google Doc and will copy + paste it into a new blog post in my Squarespace website.
My team formats the post, adds pictures, headers, and sets the post up to perfection.
My team then also goes into my ConvertKit account and creates and schedules a new broadcast email to my list letting them know about the new post (more about starting an email list + why I love ConvertKit here).
My team also schedules a post to my social media accounts letting people know about the new post.
That’s it! I can guarantee you that if you start writing quality content, geared towards your dream audience, that answers their burning questions… and you publish this content into posts regularly, then you will begin to see an increase in organic traffic finding your site through search engines.
Now the question is, how do you actually turn that traffic into actual leads on your email list?
I mean, traffic is great… but if we’re just getting people TO our page but not converting them onto our list, then it’s pointless, right?
Well, I’ve got you covered, girl. I have a free training coming up where I’ll be pulling back the curtain to show you…
The mistakes that every business owner makes on their website that’s actually hurting their business…
I’ll show you my 4-step framework to making more profit from your website…
And you’ll learn the next step you need to take to stop getting passover by your ideal clients who pick your competition instead…
Space is limited, so you’ll want to save your seat this free masterclass!
Always cheering you on!
