Get Your Squarespace Website Connected to Google in 5 Minutes
Squarespace SEO - Setting Up Google
I’m sure you don’t need to be told but Google is kind of a big deal. It’s the world’s most popular search engine, and according to Statista.com (Oct 2020) accounted for 86% of global searches. As for it’s dominance of the search market, it really helps to ‘play nice’ with the platform when working on the optimisation of your website. Once you’ve got your website all set up, there are a number of tools I would recommend to help make sure you activate with Google. This will help boost your chances of getting a better ranking on search engines, which is always a plus!
Here are three tools in particular that I always recommend my clients start with and how you can set these tools up yourself so you can can rank better:
Google Analytics
The first tool I’d like to talk about is Google Analytics. The purpose of Google Analytics is for you to enable users to monitor information about who is coming to your site and how they get there. If you’re a numbers kind of person, you can get more advanced and start creating more detailed reports about how people arrive and what they do when they are on your site.
But for today, I’m going to be sharing the process of getting an account set up and locating your Google Analytics account number so that you can add it to your Squarespace site. This will ensure that Google recognises your site as belonging to you and you’ll be able to take advantage of some of the reporting that Google offers.
Now frankly, you can Google “Google Analytics” and the home page will come up as a search result. The setup process is fairly easy but you can also get the step-by-step process here. The crucial bit of information you need in order to get things synced up with Squarespace is your account number or your UA number. The great news is that Squarespace makes integration so easy. There’s no need to copy and paste any code or tag, all you need is to grab that account number and add to your site.
Grabbing your Google Analytics UA Number
If you head down to the left hand menu, you’ll see a cog. If you click this cog, it will bring up three columns. The middle column is the property column.
In this property column next to your property name, head to Tracking Info and then Tracking Code. In here you'll see your UA number. Copy and paste this or just jot it down.
From your main menu in Squarespace, go to: Settings > Advanced > External API Keys. From there, you’ll see an empty box called Google Analytics Account Number.
Pop your UA number in there, you’ll see the format is greyed out to make it even easier for you!
Google Search Console
Once you’ve got Google Analytics linked up, the next step is to add on Google Search Console.
The biggest thing Google Search Console allows you to do is:
Register your site map, which is very good for your SEO
Allows you to see which search terms people are using to land on your site, which you can also then view from your Squarespace Analytics.
More good news!! Squarespace has made this super easy too. Once you’ve signed up to Google Analytics all you need to do is head over to: Settings > Connected Accounts >
Then click the Google Search Console logo to get hooked up. Again if you’ve already signed up to GA this process should be pretty quick and almost automated.
Once you’re set up with Google Search Console you’ll be asked to add a site map. All you need to do to do this is type in your URL with /sitemap.xml at the end, for example https://www.marieevans.co.uk/sitemap.xml
Once this is done you’ll need to update regularly, I’d suggest putting in a diary reminder every 6 months. If you make any major changes to your site I would update your sitemap after that as well.
Google My Business
Finally, Google My Business. Google My Business is completely free and an absolute must have if you run a bricks and mortar business of any kind, however it is also definitely worth doing if you run a service business. It will help you appear in search results without having to spend a penny on GoogleAds.
All you need to do is head to https://www.google.com/business/ to create an account. This one can’t be done in an instant, as in order to verify you are who you say you are Google will send a postcard to your business location with a code on to verify your address.
Most people ‘set and forget’ Google My Business but you can also add updates and photos in order to make your profile more appealing to customers, after all that’s all the search engines are trying to do...create the best user experience possible. Whilst it’s not as easy to update as your social media networks for example, I’d still try and update your Google My Business profile at least once a quarter with photos, offers or just business updates in order to play the Google game.
So that’s it, the best practice way of covering off Google in order to optimise your SEO with your Squarespace site.
