SEO Settings for Square Online Websites
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) enables you to optimise your items and categories for search engine results, but you can also add SEO information to your Square Online site to help it rank better. One of the first steps to take is to edit the SEO settings for both your entire site and the individual pages that make up your site.
Learn how to create pages and navigation in Square Online for information on additional webpage settings beyond SEO.
Note: It can take a number of weeks for new Square Online sites to be indexed and unindexed in search engine listings, and even longer for a site to show up in the results for specific keywords. Check out our Ultimate SEO Guide, which walks you through the ins and outs of getting indexed in search engines and improving your search ranking.
SEO Tips
Although we don’t provide SEO consultation for your Square Online site, here are some suggestions to help you grow your website traffic:
Here are some suggestions to help you grow your website traffic:
- Spread the word: Tell your customers, family and friends about your site.
- Optimise for search engines: Make sure that people can find your website or items when they search online by following our Ultimate SEO Guide.
- Update regularly: Keep your website content fresh with Square Online blog posts to give visitors a reason to come back.
- Use your social networks: Post your site to Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), Snapchat, TikTok, LinkedIn or other social networks whenever you update your content.
- Promote your site: Add a link to your email signature, and include a link to your site when you post to forums or comment on articles.
- Start an email newsletter: Use newsletter signup pop-ups on your site as a tool to bring visitors back to your website and continue email promotions with email marketing.
- Get reciprocal links: Swap links with other websites that have a similar audience to drive free, qualified traffic. Join our Seller Community to connect with other sellers that also use Square Online.
Index Your Entire Website
The SEO settings for your entire site are located in the Square Online Overview page in Dashboard. These settings are particular to your website’s homepage, and what you enter here will sync to the SEO settings for the homepage found in your site editor.
To set up SEO for your entire Square Online site:
- From your Square Online Overview page, go to Website > SEO.
- Under Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), select Update SEO to add SEO details.
- Select Save when finished.
- Publish your website from the Square Online site editor to see the changes live.
To hide your entire Square Online site from search engine results:
- From your Square Online Overview page, go to Website > SEO.
- In the SEO section under ‘Search engine visibility’, select Hidden from search engine results.
- Publish your website from the Square Online site editor to see the changes live.
This will hide your site from Google and other public search engines. It will not, however, unpublish your site. Anyone with the URL to your site will still be able to see it.
You can also learn more about hiding your pages and site with password protection, or how to unpublish your site.
Index Your Individual Site Pages
SEO settings for each individual page are located in your site editor, within the settings panel for each page.
To set up SEO for individual pages on your Square Online site:
- From your Square Online site editor, open up a page of your choice.
- Select the gear icon in the editing panel and select View page settings.
- Select SEO in the popup window to add SEO details.
- Select Save when finished and Publish your website to see the changes live.
To hide an individual page on your Square Online site from search engine results:
- From your Square Online site editor, open up a page of your choice.
- Select the gear icon in the editing panel and select View page settings.
- Select SEO in the popup window.
- Under ‘Search visibility’, select Hidden from search engine results.
- Select Save when finished and Publish your website to see the changes live.
This will hide your page from your own site search, Google and other public search engines. It will not, however, unpublish the one page from your site. Anyone with the URL to that page will still be able to see it.
Note: Not including the page in your navigation menu doesn’t hide it from search results either; all it does is remove the link to the page from your site’s navigation.
You can also learn more about hiding your pages and site with password protection.
Index Your Images with Alt Text
To set up SEO for non-background images on your Square Online site:
From your Square Dashboard, open up a page containing non-background images, or add a new section with images if you don’t already have one.
Select the section that contains images, and select an image to open up the image menu in the editing panel.
Enter in alt text to describe the image.
Publish your site to see the changes live.
Image descriptions, commonly known as alt text, help search engines explain what images are about, especially when the image doesn’t load or a site visitor can’t see it.
Note: Web accessibility is an important aspect of designing a website that’s accessible to as many people as possible, particularly those with disabilities or impairments. Learn more about web accessibility for Square Online sites for more tips on managing your images.
Site Search
Your website also has a search feature that indexes your site’s content. The site search feature allows your customers to search content and items found on your Square Online site. To enable site search:
From your Square Dashboard, select your website’s navigation menu.
In the editing panel under Content > Icons, check Search icon.
Publish your site to see the changes live.
Note: Hiding the search icon disables search functionality on your site. If it appears the site search feature isn’t working properly, please contact Square Support.
Verify Your Site with Search Engines
One way to help get your Square Online site indexed is to verify your website with search engines like Google and Bing. Learn how to verify your site with search engines for more information.
Search Engines Not Updated
Since search engines aren’t updated in real time, their search results won’t immediately display any recent changes you’ve made to the SEO title and description of your Square Online site. It can take anywhere between a few days to several weeks for a change to be reflected in search engine results.
That said, if a visitor selects a link to your site provided by the search engine, they’ll always see the newest version of your site. It’s only the preview area shown in the search engine result that takes time to update.
If you see outdated search results appear on Google and would like them removed, you can learn about remove outdated content from Google search results in Google’s support centre.
Disclaimer: Square does not provide SEO consultation. For more information on SEO for your specific website’s needs, we recommend consulting an SEO expert.