How To Setup and Index Squarespace Websites Using Google Search Console
How To Setup and Index Squarespace Websites Using Google Search Console
Want more people to find your Squarespace website on Google? Well, welcome to another Momentum Monday where today we’re going to look at how to setup and index Squarespace websites using Google Search Console. This will allow your website to rank higher on Google, as well as show up under Google searches related to your products and services, or brand name.
Getting your website scanned, crawled, and indexed by Google requires you to connect your Squarespace website to the Google Search Console using a premium Squarespace account as well as a Google account. We’ll look at how to complete each step in detail to successfully get your website indexed by Google.
Getting Started with Squarespace Basics
You most likely already have a Squarespace website and account since you’re reading this blog. If not, make sure to create a Squarespace account.
Next, in order to connect to your website to the Google Search Console, you will need a premium Squarespace account. If your Squarespace account isn’t premium yet, you will need to upgrade to a premium plan to continue. Your Squarespace account falls under premium if it is either a Business or Commerce plan. On the other hand, a Personal Squarespace plan doesn’t include the same features and integrations, so you won’t be able to complete the steps to get your site indexed with Google Search Console.
Additionally, you will need to have a published website under your account with an activated domain. This means that your account cannot be running on a trial. Search engines hide trial websites, so this won’t work if your Squarespace website is not published and live
Google Search Console Basics
To use the Google Search Console, you will need a Google account. You most likely already have a Google account. If you don’t have a Google account, you can create a free Gmail account or a premium Google Business Account.
Using your Google account (make sure you’re already logged in), setup an account with Google Search Console. On the Google Search Console main page, simply click the Start Now button. Once logged in to the search console, you can take a tour of the backend and its settings.
Preparing Your Squarespace Website
Before you connect your Squarespace website to the Google Search Console, you want to make sure that any website page passwords are removed.
Disabling any site-wide passwords or page passwords is important, as the passwords prevent Google from indexing your content.
You also want to make sure that your Squarespace website is running under a paid account instead of a trial account. Since search engines hide websites operating under a Squarespace trial account, upgrading to a plan and publishing your site is necessary.
Additionally, before you connect your Squarespace website to the search console, ensure that your website is properly connected to its third-party domain if applicable. For the best results, we recommend waiting 72 hours after you connect your domain before verifying it with Google Search Console.
Indexing Your Website with Google Search Console
Now, you’re ready to connect your website to the Google Search Console. First, log in to your Squarespace website. Navigate to the Analytics page from the Squarespace Home Menu. On the sidebar Home Menu, click Analytics. On the Analytics page sidebar, you’re going to see Search Keywords. Follow through to that page. You will see the Google Search Console feature that allows you to connect your website. Click the Connect button to begin. Next, a page will pop-up that allows you to log into your Google account. Log into the Google account that you want to connect your website to. Review the permissions, then click Allow. It can take up to 72 hours for the data to populate. If you’re having trouble connecting to Google Search Console, try authorizing through the Connected Accounts panel.
Next, you’re ready to index your website. By submitting a sitemap, you provide Google Search Console with your site’s publicly available page URLs and image metadata. All Squarespace sites automatically generate a sitemap.
On the Google Search Console dashboard, select the site you’d like to index from the property menu in the top left corner. Click Sitemaps, and on the following page, under Add A New Sitemap, enter your website URL. Add “/sitemap.xml” to the end of your website URL before submitting.
Finally, click Submit to request Google to index your site.
Google Search Console may place restrictions on some pages of your website. This is normal, but isn’t a problem since the restricted pages are not meant for website viewers to see or interact with. These pages are for internal use only, and are not meant to be indexed.
You will be notified of any restrictions in a message explaining that some parts of your URL are “restricted by robots.txt” when verifying your website.
After 72 hours, check back to see the status of your sitemap submission.
By then, your website should be successfully indexed, and you should start seeing keyword data show up in your Squarespace account.
Thanks for taking the time to read and learn How to Setup and Index Squarespace Websites Using Google Search Console. This is part of our SEO marketing blog series with our Momentum marketing blogs. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to leave them in the comment section, or contact us.
Happy Monday!
Mac Frederick