A website is only working if people are finding it, and you can't improve what you can't see. The good news: the tools that show you who is visiting, how they found you and what they searched are free, and most take less than 15 minutes to set up.
Here's what I set up for clients, in the order I'd do it.
1. Squarespace Analytics (already built in)
Every Squarespace site has analytics turned on from day one. In your dashboard, click Analytics. The tabs worth knowing:
Traffic: visits, unique visitors and pageviews. Watch the trend month to month rather than any single day.
Traffic Sources: where visitors came from, e.g. Google, Instagram, Facebook, or "Direct" (people typing your address or clicking a saved link).
Search Keywords: the actual words people typed into Google before they clicked on your site. This one needs Google Search Console connected (see below).
Geography: which cities your visitors are in. Handy if you only service certain areas.
Bounce rate is the share of visitors who left after viewing one page. On a one-page website a high bounce rate is normal, so judge it alongside your enquiries.
2. Google Search Console: how Google sees your site
Google Search Console is free and shows how often your site appears in Google, for which searches, and whether Google has any trouble reading your pages.
How to connect it to Squarespace
In Squarespace, go to Analytics and open the Search Keywords tab.
Click Connect and sign in with your Google account. Squarespace verifies your site for you, so there's no code to copy.
Give it a few days. Search data starts filling in once Google has crawled your site.
Two things to do once it's connected
Submit your sitemap: in Search Console, open Sitemaps and add sitemap.xml. Squarespace builds and updates this file automatically.
Request indexing for new pages: after publishing a new page or blog post, paste its address into the URL Inspection bar at the top and click Request indexing. It nudges Google to find it sooner.
3. Google Analytics 4: deeper visitor insights (optional)
Squarespace Analytics covers most small businesses. If you run ads or want more detail, add Google Analytics 4 as well:
In Google Analytics, create a property for your business and add a Web data stream with your website address.
Copy the Measurement ID (it starts with G-).
In Squarespace, go to Settings, then Developer Tools, then External API Keys, paste the ID into the Google Analytics field and save.
Open your website in another tab and check Reports, then Realtime in Google Analytics. You should see yourself as a visitor.
4. Google Business Profile: calls and directions
For local service businesses, your Google Business Profile often brings in more enquiries than the website itself. Its Performance section shows how many people called you, asked for directions or clicked through to your website from Google Search and Maps. Make sure your website address is on your profile, and keep asking happy clients for reviews.
5. Track where your enquiries come from
Ask on your enquiry form: add a simple "How did you hear about us?" question. It's the most reliable tracking there is.
Tag your Instagram and email links: Google's free Campaign URL Builder adds a tag to your link (for example ?utm_source=instagram), so those visits show up clearly in Google Analytics instead of as "Direct".
6. Bonus: Bing Webmaster Tools
Bing powers Microsoft Copilot and some AI search results. Bing Webmaster Tools lets you import your site straight from Google Search Console in a couple of clicks, so it's worth doing once.
Your 10 minute monthly check-in
Squarespace Analytics: are visits going up or down compared with last month?
Traffic Sources: which channel brought the most visitors? Do more of that.
Search Keywords: what are people searching for? Use those words in your page text and blog posts.
Search Console: any errors or pages not indexed?
Enquiries: how many came in, and where did they say they found you?
Want help reading your numbers or improving them? My Advanced SEO add-on covers page-by-page keyword optimisation, schema code and AI visibility setup. If you'd rather do it yourself, start with how to get your website found on Google and my post-handover guide to editing your Squarespace website.
Questions? Book a free 15 minute call.
