SEO, AEO and GEO basics on Squarespace

Fix 1

Check the AI crawler setting

If your robots.txt file tells AI search crawlers to stay out, ChatGPT search, Perplexity and others can't read your pages, so they can't quote or recommend you.

1. Run the AI crawler checker first.
2. In your site's admin, go to Settings, then Website, then Crawlers. You can also type "crawlers" into the admin search.
3. At the bottom you'll find Artificial Intelligence Crawlers. Turning it off asks AI crawlers not to read your site, so leave it on if you want AI assistants to find and recommend you.

This one setting covers AI crawlers as a group; you can't choose crawler by crawler.

Check it with the free AI crawler checker

Fix 2

Write a clear title and description for each page

Your page title is the blue link people see on Google and the first thing an AI assistant reads about the page. "Home" or your business name alone tells neither of them what you do or where.

1. In the Pages panel, hover over a page and click its gear icon to open the page settings.
2. Open the SEO tab and fill in the title and description. Your home page needs one too: "Home" is not a title.
3. Keep the short navigation title for your menu; it's separate.

Check it with the free Meta tag checker

Fix 3

Add your business details as structured data

Structured data spells out your business name, address, phone and hours in a format machines read without guessing. It helps Google and AI assistants match your website to your business.

1. Fill in your business name, address and contact details in your site's business information settings first.
2. Create LocalBusiness code with the schema checker.
3. Open the home page's settings (gear icon), then Advanced, and paste the code into Page Header Code Injection. Save.

Code injection is on Core, Plus and Advanced plans (and some older plans). On other plans, skip this step.

Check it with the free Schema checker

Fix 4

llms.txt (optional)

llms.txt is a short plain-text list of your most useful pages for AI tools. It's optional: Google says its search doesn't need it. Do it only if it's easy on your platform.

1. Run the llms.txt checker to see whether your site already has one.
2. Squarespace doesn't let you upload files to the top of your domain, so if there isn't one, skip it.

Check it with the free llms.txt checker

Fix 5

Speed up your pages

Most local customers find you on a phone. If the page is still blank after a few seconds, many go back and tap the next result.

1. Run the page speed checker on your home page.
2. Resize large images before you upload them, and use fewer at the top of the page.
3. Remove video backgrounds and extra code you've added through code injection but no longer need.
4. Test again.

Check it with the free Page speed checker