1. Connect your website to Google Search Console & submit sitemap

Google Search Console is a free service that helps you manage your site's presence in Google search results. Through Google Search Console, you can request that Google index your site, meaning changes you've made can show up in search results sooner.

Once connected, this means Google will automatically revisit your website to check for updates. After connecting Google Search Console, you can check Analytics to see which keywords visitors are using to find your site.

You can follow along with the video, or the step-by-step instructions below.

The first thing you’ll need to do is head to your Squarespace account, log in and follow the steps below.

1. On the left menu click ‘Analytics’

2. Click ‘Search Keywords’

3. Click ‘Connect’ in the panel’s pop-up window.

4. Sign in using Gmail (if you don’t have gmail you can create a free account)

5. Review permissions and click ‘Allow’

6. Wait 72 hours for the keyword data to begin populating.

The second step is to submit your sitemap to Google. To do that head to the Google Search Console dashboard:

1. Google Search Console: https://search.google.com/search-console

2. Select the site you’re connecting from the property menu in the top left corner (you’ll only have one option if this is your only website)

3. Click ‘Sitemaps’ on the left-side menu

4. Under ‘Add a new sitemap’, enter your sitemap URL: sitemap.xml

5. Click ‘Submit’ to request Google to index your site.

Voila, you’re done!

This process only takes a few of minutes but if you need to troubleshoot Squarespace gives you even more details here.

2. Create a Google My Business Profile

Creating a Google My Business profile is one of the easiest things you can do to ensure visibility in local search results.

Businesses that verify their information with Google My Business are 2x’s as likely to be considered reputable by prospective clients. You’re also making it easy for people to access your key business information (website, hours, address, contact info).

This is another free tool that allows Google to verify your business and website, which helps your SEO!

1. Click here to sign up and verify your business with Google My Business.

2. Then just follow the steps in the guide, it’s a very simple process.

When you set up your profile, you supply your business address to Google. Google then sends a postcard to your business address containing a PIN which you use to verify the address.

Once that’s done, within a few days you should see your business included on the map that Google displays when users in your area enter a search for your type of service.

***Even if you’re seeing clients 100% virtually and don’t currently have a physical office address, you should still create a Google My Business profile. You can still list your information to appear on Google without an address, all you need is a website.

 3. Connect Google Analytics with Squarespace

Squarespace has built-in analytics that will give you data about your website visitors, but Google Analytics is more robust. Even if you have no idea what it is or no current plans to use it, I recommend setting it up so that it’s collecting data from the time your website launches.

That way if and when you decide to dig in, you have the necessary data to pull from! As with the steps before, this should only take a few minutes.

Here's how to set up Google Analytics and connect it to your website:

1. Create an account: Click here to create a Google Analytics account . You’ll be asked to enter in your website info, etc.

**Google changed the process since video was recorded— pause the video at 50 seconds and complete the additional steps listed below**

2. Create a property:

• Click the cog in the bottom left hand corner labeled “Admin”

• Go to the Property column (2nd column) and click + Create Property button

• Enter a name for the property (e.g. "Private Practice, LLC website") and select the reporting time zone and currency. If a visitor comes to your website on a Tuesday in their time zone, but it's Monday in your time zone, the visit is recorded as having occurred on Monday.

• Click Show advanced options (below the property-setup fields).

• Turn on the switch for Create a Universal Analytics property.

• Enter your website URL. Select the protocol (http or https)

• Choose to create Only a Universal Analytics property (2nd option)

• Click Next and provide information about your business.

• Click Create.

• Accept the Analytics Terms of Service and the Data Processing Amendment if prompted, and click Finish.

**You can now press play on the video to resume instructions at 50 seconds to get your tracking code**

3. Get Tracking Code: Once you have created your account, you’ll be assigned a tracking code that is unique to your site and enables Google to track and collect information regarding your website and how people are interacting with it.

To access your tracking code, you will need to:

• Click the cog in the bottom left hand corner

• Click ‘Tracking Info’ in the second column

• Click ‘Tracking Code’

4. Copy the Tracking Code: Once you have clicked tracking code, you will see a long ID number at the top of the page which looks like this: UA-XXXXXXXX-X. This number is your tracking code and will allow you to connect your Google Analytics account to your Squarespace website.

5. Add your Google Analytics tracking ID to Squarespace: Luckily this is super easy, first login to your Squarespace website:

• Click ‘Settings’

• Click ‘Advanced’

• Click ‘External API Keys’

• Paste your UA-XXXXXXXX-X tracking code

• Click ‘Save’

Now that you've set up your Google Analytics account and linked it to your website, all that's left to do is wait for your statistics to start filtering through which can take up to 24 hours. And remember, if you’re not yet driving traffic to your website then you won’t see any data, so don’t panic!

4. Connecting social accounts to your website.

This step is optional. The main goal of your website is typically for visitors to book an appointment, so you don’t necessarily want to distract them with too many links to other websites. That said, a well placed social icon can provide another way for visitors to get to know you.

For example, if you have an Instagram icon in the footer of your website, the video below walks you through how to connect your account so that it links to your Instagram profile.

How to connect your Squarespace site to social accounts