Chykalophia Docs

How to set page titles, meta descriptions, and other SEO options in Squarespace to help your site appear in Google search results.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is about helping Google and other search engines find and understand your site. Squarespace has built-in tools for the key SEO settings. This guide explains what to set and where to find it.

Quick summary

The most important SEO settings are the SEO title and SEO description for each page. Set these in each page's settings, on the SEO tab. Site-wide SEO options live in Website > SEO/AI Visibility > SEO Settings. Connect Google Search Console for deeper insights.

What "SEO settings" means

When your page appears in Google search results, it shows:

The page title — the clickable headline in blue
The meta description — the brief text below the title

You set these in Squarespace, but Google has the final say. It sometimes shows different text if it thinks something else on your page matches the search better. If you don't set an SEO title, Squarespace uses the page's title instead. If you don't set a description, Google picks text from your page, which is often not ideal.

Setting SEO for a single page

Open the Pages panel. In the main menu, click Website, then Pages.

Hover over the page and click the gear icon to open its page settings.

Click the SEO tab in the page settings.

Fill in the SEO title. This is the title shown in Google and in browser tabs. Squarespace recommends 70 characters or fewer, and a different title for each page. Include your main keyword. You don't need to add your business name: by default, Squarespace adds your site title after it.

Fill in the SEO description. Squarespace suggests 50 to 300 characters (the limit is 400). Google usually cuts descriptions off at around 160 characters, so put the important part first. Write a natural sentence that describes what the page is about and encourages clicks.

Click Save.

Your homepage doesn't have its own SEO title or SEO description fields. It uses the site-wide settings below instead.

Don't leave these blank

If you don't set a description, Google picks whatever text it finds on the page. This can look odd in search results. Fill these in for every important page.

Site-wide SEO settings

In the main menu, click Website, then SEO/AI Visibility, then SEO Settings. In the Search appearance area you'll find:

SEO title formats — the pattern for how titles appear in browser tabs and search results (for example, "Page Title — Business Name"). There are separate tabs for your homepage, your pages, and items like blog posts and products.
SEO site description — the description for your homepage in search results

On version 7.1 sites, the SEO/AI Visibility panel also has an SEO Report section. Click Improve with AI to scan your site for pages missing SEO descriptions and images missing alt text, and get suggested text. You'll need to set up a Brand Identity first.

Connecting Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free tool that shows you which searches are bringing people to your site, whether Google has found any problems, and how to fix them.

Before you start, your site needs to be public (not a trial site), with no site-wide password or password on the homepage. You'll also need a Google account.

Open the Analytics panel from the main menu, then click Search keywords.

Click Connect in the pop-up.

Log in to your Google account, review the permissions, and click Allow. Your search data can take up to 72 hours to appear.

If connecting doesn't work, Squarespace suggests trying again from the Connected Accounts panel in Settings.

Alternatively, Chykalophia can set this up for you as part of your project.

URL structure (page slugs)

The URL of each page matters for SEO. A URL like /services/graphic-design is better than /page-2. You can set the URL slug for each page in its page settings, on the General tab (the first tab), in the URL Slug field.

Keep slugs:

Short and descriptive
Lowercase with hyphens between words
Free of unnecessary words like "the" or "and"

Changing the slug of a live page breaks old links to it. Squarespace doesn't redirect the old address automatically, so visitors using it will see a "page not found" error. Set up a redirect from the old URL to the new one in Settings > Developer Tools > URL Mappings, or ask Chykalophia to do it.

Image alt text

Alt text describes what's in an image. It helps visually impaired users and helps Google understand your images.

For each image on your site, set the alt text in the image settings. See How to edit & replace images for how to do this.

Common questions

How long does SEO take to work?

SEO is a long-term investment. Changes to your titles and descriptions won't show in Google right away, because Google needs time to revisit your site. You can ask Google to recheck your pages sooner through Google Search Console, but there's no guarantee when it will. Building ranking for competitive search terms typically takes months of consistent effort. Be patient and consistent.

Does Squarespace have a sitemap?

Yes. Squarespace automatically generates a sitemap (a list of all your pages for Google to crawl) at yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml. You don't need to do anything to create it. It only loads once your site is public, and trial sites don't have one.

Can I hide a page from Google?

Yes. In the page's settings, open the SEO tab and switch on Hide Page from Search Results. This adds a "noindex" tag that tells Google not to include the page in search results, while the page stays open to visitors. Useful for thank-you pages, under-construction pages, and internal pages.

Need a hand?

If you're stuck, email support@chykalophia.com and we'll help. Include your website address and a screenshot if you can.

SEO settings in Squarespace