3 Squarespace Myths – Debunked!
SEO, Content & Customization
MythBusters changed my life – well, my sleep anyways.
I’ve never been great at falling asleep. Always too much on my mind. Still awake, I would watch the clock worrying about the fact that I wasn’t getting enough sleep. This is not super helpful in getting to sleep, by the way.
Then I read about a study that that the MythBusters crew did. They showed that there was a real benefit to just lying down and resting. I learned to just focus on resting and not on how much time I had left to sleep. That helped me to get more rest and actual sleep too.
So why am I telling you this?
Mostly, to let you know how separating fact from fiction can be really helpful. And, that’s what I’m going to try to do with these Squarespace myths.
These three myths are things that I’ve been asked about many times in my time as a Squarespace web designer. Given how common these ideas are, I’m sure that they’ve prevented a few people from changing over to a platform that would be so much easier for them to use and maintain.
So it’s time to bust those myths!
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Myth #1: Squarespace owns your website or website content
I’m honestly not sure where this myth comes from or why it’s even a thing, but I’ve been asked about it several times by clients, so I wanted to address it.
My guess is that it comes from the fact that Squarespace is an all in one platform, and when you use it, you are using one of their templates. They control the style of your content.
This means that if you switch to another platform, like WordPress or Weebly you will lose the styling of your content.
But the same is true of switching from almost any platform to another. Themes, templates and other styling don’t generally move from platform to platform.
And as one of my clients said to me, “If I want to move to another platform, I probably want a new style anyways!”
But what about your actual content & website? Well, this myth is definitely false.
You own your content on Squarespace and you own your domain.
This is what Squarespace states in their Terms of Service:
When you upload content to Squarespace, you still own it. You do, however, give us permission to use it in ways necessary to provide, improve, promote and protect our services. For example, when you upload a photo, you give us the right to save it and display it on your site or story at your direction. We also may promote or feature your site or story, but you can opt out if you don’t want us to do that.
So, you own your text and images, but you give Squarespace permission to add them to your website (from your image library to your website for example) when you want them added. It also lets Squarespace use your website for promotion, but you can opt out of the promotional part.
To make sure you always have a copy of the most up to date content on your website. It’s a good idea to create a backup of your site. You can do this by exporting an .xml file of your content. This will include your text and images.
Myth #2: Squarespace is bad for SEO
I could write a whole blog about this myth (in fact I probably will at some point).
Much of the myth about Squarespace and SEO comes from the fact that there is no plugin like Yoast for Squarespace. Yoast helps your site by acting as a checklist for SEO, but many of the things that it checks are built in for Squarespace.
Squarespace comes with these built in SEO features:
SSL certificates
Automatically generated site maps
Mobile friendly designs
Accelerated mobile pages (or AMP), which make your blog posts load faster
Squarespace also makes it easy to add SEO titles and descriptions for your entire website and each individual page. You can also add alt text to your images, social sharing images and even a custom 404 page for your website.
Squarespace does provide checklist for SEO on their website to help you with your SEO.
Are there things about Squarespace SEO that I think they could improve? Yes, absolutely. Squarespace needs to improve the site speed of its websites. There are also some issues with implementing Schema markup on their sites. Hopefully, these two issues will continue to be worked on behind the scenes.
Oh, and that whole thing about there not being a Yoast for Squarespace? Well that’s no longer true either. SEOSpace* is a Chrome plugin that scans the pages of your website and tells you how to improve your SEO.
Myth #3: Your Squarespace website will look like every other Squarespace website
I have definitely seen websites that I can easily identify as Squarespace sites. It usually happens when someone has taken one of their templates, used the pre-made layouts and/or hasn’t changed the styling of the template. The result ends up being a cookie-cutter website.
On the other hand I’ve also seen Squarespace websites that made me say “Wow” and “How did they do that?” There are some amazingly creative Squarespace websites out there.
Squarespace has a ton of options to customize your website to give it the functions and look of your brand. You can use built in features like the fluid engine editor for layered blocks, the new section dividers, and shape blocks to create something unique.
And, if the built in features aren’t enough for you, you can add in custom code or plugins.
One of the best ways to ensure that your site doesn’t look like everyone else’s is to start with a blank. This could mean using a blank template, page or section. It means that you’re not starting with something that other people have used.
This is the way many Squarespace web designers (including me) create their websites. I love to start with blank page in order to create something unique for my clients.
It’s one of the great reasons to work with a Squarespace designer. They can create something truly custom for you that’s still easy to maintain and use.
Ready for a new custom website?
Let’s work together for a website that’s easy to use, maintain & update. Contact me or book an appointment to discuss!
