One of the most popular questions we get asked on discovery calls is “what website platform do I need to be on?”. This question is actually a loaded answer, because it depends on the existing needs of your online business. If you plan to blog, Squarespace and WordPress are the top recommendations from our team. In this post, we’ll review squarespace vs wordpress for blogging with respect to their SEO capabilities, speed and ease of use.
Blogging on Squarespace vs WordPress
You’ve likely heard of one of these two platforms at least once while researching what website platform to be on. Both Squarespace and WordPress have been around for quite some time and have evolved so much with the online market. With this, comes an increased confusion on the differences of these platforms in regard to blogging for businesses.
There are a few items of criteria you want to look at when comparing squarespace vs wordpress for blogging:
- Capacity of blogging
- Types of blogging
- Features
- Ease of use
We’re going to dive through the comparison of both having a squarespace vs wordpress blog so that you are able to make an educated decision on which is best for you.
Blogging on Squarespace
“I’ve heard that WordPress is the best for blogging.”
The amount of times we’ve heard that statement is truthfully eye-opening! While it’s true in multiple aspects of business, it might not be the the best for you. Once you realize the grandeur of that statement, you’ll start seeing blogging differently.
Think of it this way: if you cannot figure out how to operate WordPress at all, you’ll be less likely to blog because it’s too overwhelming for you. In this scenario, we wouldn’t recommend WordPress to this individual!
We’re here to tell you: blogging on Squarespace is doable for growth and we have complete proof from our client Nourishing NY and many others in the online space. Now, let’s discuss why blogging on Squarespace might be better for you.
Squarespace Blogging Ease of Use
The biggest hiccup with WordPress is that it isn’t that easy to use if you aren’t familiar with it or tech-savvy to begin with. This is where Squarespace becomes a great second option. The ease of Squarespace blogging is amazing – you’ll find yourself feeling like you are writing in a Word document or even Google Docs.
Their easy editor makes it simple to understand: click on the Blog area, add a new blog, begin typing. Easy peasy.
How to Make Your Squarespace Blogs Rank Better
Once you understand how to blog on Squarespace, you’ll begin to learn how to make your squarespace blogs rank better.
To begin, you need a general understanding of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and how you can use that knowledge on Squarespace. Meaning, you’ll need to write a meta title and meta description for each post. This is under the settings of your particular blogpost.
Because Squarespace doesn’t have the capabilities of plugins to the capacity of WordPress, you won’t need to manually enter a “keyword” for your blogpost. Instead, you need to have a keyword in mind and use it to write your blog content.
It’s also important for your Squarespace URLs to be clean and simple each time you publish your blogpost. So, don’t have your URL display something like /7346347vv7ssoe3938.
Blogging on WordPress
Now, let’s get into the “mack-daddy” of blogging; WordPress.
If you’ve ever done any sort of research about organic growth on Google, paid advertisement online or blogging as a job, you’ve likely found one answer.
As our studio has grown, we’ve understood that organic growth is top priority for our clients, which is why we almost always recommend WordPress for their online blog. However, for reasons discussed above, we might suggest Squarespace to start off with the end goal being on WordPress.
To better understand blogging on WordPress, let’s understand why blogs on WordPress tend to perform better over other platforms out there.
Why Blogs on WordPress Tend to Perform Better
The biggest reason is plugin capability. The most popular plugin installed would be an SEO plugin (such as Yoast SEO, All in One SEO) to better enhance the search engine experience. By utilizing plugins, you are able to better customize your website to reach the performance you want to see. For an example, many SEO plugins create sitemaps for you and provide “tips” on each blogposts to make it rank better on Google.
While this isn’t possible on a Squarespace website, you’d take this information and make your own conclusions based on analytics.
Another reason why blogs on WordPress perform better, is the ability to have online paid advertisement through Journey or Mediavine. Normally, ads look and perform wonky on other platforms like Wix, Squarespace or Showit. Once you really get ramped up into adwork, most ad companies will require you to be on WordPress to display their ads.
How to Make a Blog on WordPress Rank Better
Now, let’s discuss how to make a blog on WordPress rank better. This will take some trial and error, but once you consistently blog, you’ll get the hang of it and learn the ropes of blogs that perform others.
First being: invest in an SEO tool such as SEMRush or Ubbersuggest. Both of these tools are able to tell you potential keywords and related keywords to better optimize for your desired strategy.
Second, keep your posts concise and unique. In order to increase your domain authority, Google wants to see relevant, unique content on your website. As long as you are consistent in this area, most of your blogs can perform really well.
Is Squarespace or WordPress better?
All in all, the answer to squarespace vs wordpress for blogging is it depends on your needs. Our team recommends WordPress overall, but understands that not all individuals have the same goals or technological experience that we do. In this case, Squarespace might be better for you.
Another note we want to make is that just because you choose one over the other, doesn’t mean you can’t ever switch! By hiring a professional website team, you can switch platforms with ease. So, if you want to get your feet wet in the blogging world, start on Squarespace. Once you build confidence, move to WordPress!
