SEO BRIEF — delete before publish | KW: how to design a squarespace website | Slug: /how-to-design-a-squarespace-website/ | Secondary: squarespace website design, design a squarespace website, squarespace site design, squarespace design tips
Squarespace has the best-looking default templates of any mainstream website builder. The gap between a raw Squarespace template and a professional result is smaller than on most other platforms. But smaller does not mean zero. This guide covers the decisions that separate a generic Squarespace site from one that actually represents a serious business.
Picking the Right Squarespace Template
Squarespace 7.1 uses a single underlying system, which means you can switch between templates without losing content — unlike earlier versions. Start by filtering templates by your business type or the aesthetic closest to your brand. Do not fall in love with a template based on placeholder imagery: strip out the demo content in your head and ask whether the structure works for your actual content.
The template choice matters less than it once did, but it still sets your starting point for section types, color palette, and font pairing. Choose something close to your target aesthetic so you spend less time redesigning from scratch.
Customizing Pages With Sections and Blocks
Squarespace pages are built with sections — full-width containers — and blocks within them: text, images, buttons, forms, galleries, and more. The editing experience is visual and fairly intuitive. Add a section, choose a layout, drop in your blocks, and customize.
The Fluid Engine editor (Squarespace’s newer layout system) gives you more control over block placement within sections. Take the time to learn how it handles spacing and alignment — the default column behavior can create unexpected results if you do not understand how blocks anchor to each other.
Fonts, Colors, and Global Design Settings
Squarespace’s Design panel lets you set global fonts and colors that apply across every page. Set these first, before building any individual pages. Changing them after the fact updates everything at once, but inconsistencies you introduced manually in individual blocks will not update automatically.
Use the Brand Kit approach: two fonts (heading and body), a primary color, a secondary color, and a neutral. Squarespace limits you to the fonts in its library, which is narrower than Google Fonts. If a specific typeface is essential to your brand identity, verify it is available before committing to the platform.
Check Mobile View Before You Publish Anything
Squarespace’s mobile preview in the editor is not always accurate. Always test on a real phone before publishing. Common issues: text too large or too small, section padding that looks fine on desktop but crushes content on mobile, and images that crop in unexpected ways.
Pay special attention to your navigation on mobile — Squarespace’s hamburger menu behavior varies by template and can behave differently than expected. Test that every link works, every form submits, and every CTA is easily tappable.
Squarespace SEO Essentials
Squarespace handles some SEO basics automatically: it generates a sitemap, sets canonical URLs, and produces clean HTML structure. What it does not do automatically: write your title tags, meta descriptions, or alt text — you have to fill these in manually for every page and every image.
Go to each page’s Settings, then SEO, and fill in the title tag and meta description. Do this before you launch, not after. Use your primary keyword in the title tag, keep it under 60 characters, and write the meta description as a compelling summary under 160 characters.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Squarespace good for SEO? It is adequate for local and small business SEO. It lacks some advanced SEO features available on WordPress (custom schema, full robots.txt control, advanced redirects), but for most small businesses it is enough if you fill in all the SEO fields correctly.
Can I use a custom domain with Squarespace? Yes. Squarespace sells domains and lets you connect ones registered elsewhere. All paid plans include a free custom domain for the first year.
How much does Squarespace cost? Personal plans start at $16 per month (billed annually). Business plans are $23 per month. Commerce plans start at $28 per month. Prices increase with ecommerce features and transaction volume.
Can I export my Squarespace site to WordPress? You can export blog posts via XML, but your page designs, sections, and non-blog content do not transfer. Moving from Squarespace to WordPress means rebuilding the design on the new platform.