The ideal Squarespace blog page layout
In this article I’m talking about blog pages specifically — not your blog landing page.
I’m going to say this right off the bat — there is no perfect SEO optimised Squarespace template. Anyone who tells you an SEO template exists is exaggerating their knowledge.
After the Google updates of 2024 we saw how templated blogs were punished.
There are travel blogs with beautiful design, that prove you don’t have to follow all the conventional advice that tells you to cram as much advertising and widgets into your page as possible.
For SEO and user experience, there are a few key elements your blog page should have
The most important thing to remember is to always keep your user front of mind. A good user experience often translates into good SEO.
Your blog page should have:
Cascading H1/2/3/4
Short paragraphs
Clear writing
Images are can help to create an immersive experience for your readers. Relevant images (with alt text) can also help SEO.
Compare the blog post layouts below, and see how your eyes more easily move down the page then the paragraphs are broken up, and visual elements are added for interest.
Side note: Laura the Explorer’s beautiful blog is built on Squarespace.
There is some advice out there that will tell you to put your best information at the bottom of your page, but I disagree with this.
You need to very quickly introduce yourself, establish your authority, and provide value — too much waffle in your intro is offputting (please don’t keyword stuff, a la “Are you Googling “best places to swim Malaga Spain” or similar. It’s so clunky to read and clearly for search engines instead of people).
Here are a few things your Squarespace blog page doesn’t need
A sidebar. Although you might see some pretty sidebars on other travel blogs, I have heard that they don’t convert (although I have to admit I haven’t tested this myself). It makes sense they wouldn’t convert, as most people visit on mobile, which would push your sidebar to the bottom anyway — and you can easily add an author bio to the bottom of your page for EEAT.
Comments enabled. Once upon a time, travel blogging was a lot more interactive and comments were a part of the ecosystem. That was back when blog posts would be more diary style, encouraging conversation — now, many blog posts are purely information and don’t have that same element of back and forth. I encourage readers to email me with questions instead, which works well.
Some layouts I would be cautious using
A lot of travel blogging advice involves adding summary boxes to the top of blog pages, in order to increase affiliate conversions.
These aren’t great for UX, unless you are genuinely highlighting useful information (pushing products just to make money isn’t useful).
If you found this helpful, you might also like to take a peek at my other tips on blogging on Squarespace:
