WordPress or Squarespace: The Ultimate Test on SEO
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So, you have a website and it's obvious that you want it to get the most visitors possible. After all, that's how you get leads and, ultimately, generate more revenue.
For that, your SEO strategy needs to be on point. If it's not, your visitors from organic traffic will be less than optimal. Here, both Squarespace and WordPress offer a variety of tools that you can use to optimize your SEO. The problem is that there’s so much information out there, that it's often difficult to choose between the two.
Luckily, we’re here to help, and with this guide we’ll look at these two platforms in more detail and show you which is best for SEO.
Before looking at how these two compare, though, well first recap on what exactly SEO is and what you can do to optimize it.
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What is SEO?
SEO or Search Engine Optimization helps people find your website amongst all the others on the Internet. It's one of the best ways to make your site stand out from the competition and having an optimized SEO strategy is vital for your success. To optimize it you have to consider everything from meta descriptions and image tags, to having a website that's optimized for mobile.
With that in mind, let's look at some of the things you can do to optimize your website for SEO.
How To Optimize Your Site for SEO
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Because it's the way people find your site on the Internet you have to be sure that your SEO is optimized. When building and preparing to publish your site you have to look at these things to make sure it’s optimized for search engines and visitors alike.
Before publishing
While building and preparing your website you should optimize it for search engines before you publish. To do this, you'll have to:
Add a site title
You should add a site title even if you’re using a logo. You should keep your site title under 60 characters and include one or more keywords.
Add a site description
You should add a short, relevant, and readable description of your site that will appear below your site title in the search results and lets visitors know what your site is about.
Add your location
You have a better chance of appearing higher in search results for your area if Google and your customers can see your location.
Publish your location online
You'll have to create and manage online listings for your business which will improve your chances of featuring higher in search results.
Use a custom domain
Your chances of appearing higher in the search results are bigger when you use a custom domain instead of using any one of the platform’s free domains.
Add SEO descriptions
You’ll have to make sure that every page of your website has a unique SEO description. This description should be short and describe the content of the particular page. You should also add SEO descriptions to all your individual blog posts, products, or events.
Make sure of your page and file formats
Make sure that your titles appear correctly in browser tabs and search results.
Choose the right blog post URL format
It's always better to make sure the title of your posts appears in the URL for them.
Check URL slugs
The URL slug should reflect the content on the page. Here it's better that they use real words that relate to your post, product, or event.
Make sure SSL is enabled
You should make sure that your site has SSL enabled because sites without it may be penalized in the search results.
Make sure you have a sitemap
A sitemap is a breakdown of all your website URLs that tells search engines about the structure of your site. This saves them time and once they know what your site is about and how it is structured, they can start directing visitors to the relevant pages of your site more efficiently.
After Publishing
To properly optimize your site doesn't stop when you've published your site and there are also some things you should look at after you've published it to make sure visitors find it.
Here, you should for instance:
Verify your site with Google Search Console where you can manage your site's presence in Google search results and how visitors find your site.
Request that Google index your site and update it as new content is published.
Verify your site with Bing Webmaster Tools to manage your site’s presence in Bing and Yahoo search results.
Connect your site to Google Analytics so that you can track visits and see if your site is optimized.
Enable AMP that creates a stripped-down version of your site that loads faster on mobile devices.
Optimizing
When you make changes to your site or add new content, you always have to make sure that your site stays as optimized as possible for search engines.
Here, you could for example:
Use your site’s analytics tools to track how changes or new content affect your site's search engine ranking.
Look at Google Analytics to see how changes or new content affects your site's ranking in Google's search results.
Think carefully about making updates so that you continuously optimize your site.
Redirect changed or broken links so that visitors who still use the old URL can go to the right page.
Continue updating your site and adding new content which helps search engines to see that your site is active which will, in turn, make you rank higher in the search results.
Content
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When you add new content to your website, you'll have to make sure that the content is optimized for SEO. After all, it's the content on your site that will lure the most of your visitors to it.
Here, you should:
Use keywords strategically by including things like page titles and descriptions in your content that matches the search terms people will search for to find sites like yours.
Structure your content with headings, subheadings, and paragraphs to keep your text skim-friendly and help search engines to navigate your content and point visitors to it.
Add alt text to images that not only helps to increase the Accessibility of your page for visitors who use assistive screen readers, but also helps search engines to identify that content on your page.
Add social sharing images and SEO descriptions to any new content so that this content will rank higher in the search results.
Make your image filenames readable that will help search engines to index your site.
Add tags and categories to your blog posts, products, images, or other content to help visitors navigate your site.
Link to your own content where it's relevant to connect the pages on your site to each other.
Customize the URL slugs to make sure that they reflect the content on the page.
Make sure your site is fast and that it loads well.
Squarespace vs WordPress SEO
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Now that you've seen some of the things you should look at to optimize your website for SEO, it makes sense that, to compare Squarespace SEO to WordPress SEO, you should look at how you can incorporate all of these optimization features into your site using either.
So, let’s take a look.
SEO-specific features
Unlike WordPress, Squarespace is more of an all-in-one solution that doesn't require you to invest in any extra tools that you could use. WordPress, on the other hand, lets you pay for extra features if you need them. This could bring about some savings and you don't have to pay for anything if you don't want to. Keep in mind, though, that without paying some of the other tools available, its SEO features maybe a bit basic.
With that in mind, let's look at some of the SEO-specific features that these platforms offer:
Headings
While Squarespace offers H1 to H3 headings, WordPress has H1 to H6 heading available. In this respect, WordPress may sound better but keep in mind that you don't use headings lower than H3 often.
Custom URLs
Both platforms offer you the option of using a custom URL for your website.
Image alt tags
With WordPress you're able to insert image alt tags site wide, while Squarespace only allows you to use an image caption.
Title tags
With Squarespace you can only use title tags on the main pages of your website, while, with WordPress, you can use it on any page of your site.
Meta descriptions
Similar to title tags, Squarespace only allows you to use meta descriptions on your main pages, while WordPress allows you to use it on any page of your website including a post page.
Sitemaps
With Squarespace sitemaps are available on all plans, while, with WordPress, you'll need to upgrade to a business plan and use the Yoast plugin to offer sitemaps.
Mobile responsiveness
Squarespace automatically makes all your pages responsive, while with WordPress, you can make any of your pages responsive manually.
SSL Encryption
By default, SSL encryption is available on all plans when you use Squarespace. With WordPress, you'll have to buy this feature separately.
Analytics
As we mentioned earlier, a vital part of optimizing your site is by using analytics to see what effect changes make to your sites ranking in the search results. In this way, and knowing how changes affect your site’s visibility, you’ll be able to make strategic decisions regarding changes to make your site rank as high as possible.
Because Squarespace is an all-in-one solution and you don't need any other tools or add-ons, it comes with its own analytics suite built-in from the get go. It lets you see who visits your site and where your traffic is coming from. You're also able to search for relevant keywords relating to your site so you'll be able to target these keywords when building your site and creating content for it.
Keep in mind that, with Squarespace, you're also able to use Google Analytics which gives you more advanced insight compared to the built-in tool.
WordPress doesn't come with its own built-in analytics tools, but you'll be able to use Google Analytics to track your site and SEO performance. You also have the option of using Yoast SEO that gives you more control over your site’s SEO.
Cost
When it comes to cost, you have to realize that, although Squarespace may be more expensive than other website builders, that it's a quality product. Its pricing starts at $12.00 per month for the Personal Plan and goes up to $40 a month for the Advanced Commerce plan.
It's worth noting that the two most expensive plans, the Basic Commerce Plan and the Advanced Commerce Plan, include advanced e-commerce features and more integrations. In contrast, the two lower priced plans don't include the integrations, and only the Business Plan includes e-commerce features.
Despite this difference, all plans come with SEO features, a free custom domain and SSL security.
Compared to Squarespace, most people will tell you that a big benefit of WordPress is that it's free. Although it's true in a sense because it's a self-hosted platform, you'll have to pay for hosting, security, and a domain name, so it isn't exactly free.
In addition, you'll also have to pay for many of the advanced features. For example, although Yoast can be used for free, many of its features are only available in the premium version which will cost you $89.00 per website.
This means that, if you want your WordPress site to be on the same level as a Squarespace one, it will cost you at least the cost of hosting, a domain name, a SSL certificate, and Yoast premium. Before you know it, you'll pay the same as what you’re paying with Squarespace.
Other Features
Apart from SEO there are some other things you should consider when deciding between the two. Although these things are not necessarily related to SEO, they do play a role.
Site set-up
A big difference between Squarespace and WordPress lies in the is to set up your site. Here, Squarespace must be the clear winner because it makes it easy to set up a site. It's as easy as choosing a template and adding the content.
Keep in mind, though, that it does limit you in your customization options. So, apart from making a few small tweaks here and there like changing the colors or fonts and adding your own images you can't do much else when it comes to customization.
WordPress, in contrast, has literally thousands of free themes, premium templates and add-ons that you can use to build your site exactly the way you want it. If you're skilled in web design, you're even able to dig into the stylesheets of the theme and change it to your liking.
Now, this sounds wonderful, but here's the thing, when it comes to set up, WordPress can be a lot more complicated, especially for those that are not technically minded. To set up a WordPress site, you'll have to buy hosting, set up your hosting server, install WordPress, and from there you will be able to use the themes and add-ons.
Hosting
The fact that you have to do your setup this way isn't necessarily a negative, though. Because you host the site yourself and you download WordPress for free, you'll be able to use WordPress on any platform and with any hosting plan you choose. So, if you move to a different hosting provider you can just export your site to another hosting provider. Ultimately, you own your site, and you control where it is hosted.
Now compare that to Squarespace. When you build your site on it, Squarespace owns your site content and limits your ability to export it to another host should you decide to leave. This also means that, in the unlikely event that Squarespace should close down, your site will be gone. It, unfortunately, also means that if you move to another platform or provider, you have to rebuild your site from scratch.
eCommerce
As we mentioned earlier, Squarespace comes with built-in e-commerce features if you choose the more expensive packages. This means it's easy to set up an online store or business if you choose to go with Squarespace.
In contrast, you can't set up an online store with WordPress, but you have to use the WooCommerce add-on. This comes at an extra cost, and as we've mentioned above it's not always easy to set up.
Before You Choose
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Before we move on to our conclusion, we thought we'd look at a study that was done comparing WordPress SEO with Squarespace SEO. In this study, done by Ahrefs, they compared 1.8 million Squarespace sites and 1.8 million WordPress sites.
As a methodology, they split their dataset into two buckets with bucket one being for sites that have some organic traffic and bucket two being for sites that have over 100 monthly organic visits.
When it comes to bucket one or sites with some organic traffic, the results show that 45.5% of WordPress sites get some monthly search traffic, compared to only 15.1% of Squarespace sites.
When you look at bucket two or sites that get over 100 monthly organic search visits, 8.1% of WordPress sites get more than 100 visits per month, while only 1.6% of Squarespace sites get more than 100 visits.
Okay, so there you have your winner. WordPress is better when it comes to SEO. Not so fast. When the results were studied it appeared that there were several high traffic and high authority WordPress sites that skewed the results toward WordPress.
When the results were adjusted for this, they became inconclusive, and the study couldn't determine which CMS is better than the other. And because you can't isolate factors like skill level it makes the results even more inconclusive because platforms like Squarespace tend to attract less experienced people, while WordPress attracts more experienced people, and this could be the reason that it performs better on SEO.
Conclusion
So, now for the conclusion. Which is better for SEO, WordPress or Squarespace? You might as well ask which is better, Samsung or Apple? Or maybe, which is better, Toyota or BMW? The answer will be the same for all of these questions.
Ultimately, it depends on your goals, your requirements, and your budget. With this in mind, if you want a simple solution to build your own site that performs well on SEO, while at the same time being easy to maintain, then Squarespace might just be the option for you.
If you're looking for a solution that gives you endless opportunities, but it requires some tweaking and some maintenance to give you the best results, WordPress may be your best bet.
If you want to know more about SEO or about what we offer, visit our website for more information.
