I’m a marketer working for a company whose website was created in a bit of a hurry when it launched. It was built in squarespace by an external agency, but internally no one really knew what they were doing, nor had a vision for how it would evolve over time.So I’m working with the same agency to improve the navigation and UX, make it more intuitive for users to find what they need, add sections/content that should be there but aren’t and address some basic things that have been overlooked (eg none of the images have alt text and are uploaded as they come, even if they’re large files).
The agency suggested that the best way to do all this would be to duplicate the site and make the changes, then switch over to the revamped site.
I’m no SEO expert but my gut says that neither is the agency (their main business is graphic design, so they can make things that look pretty, but don’t have much to offer in terms of SEO), hence hoping that someone on here might be able to help with my questions!
- The domain name will be the same but will search engines see it as a ‘new’ site?
- The agency is suggesting accordions for some content I wanted separate pages for (there’s enough content for separate pages). I thought it would be better for SEO to have separate pages, but don’t want to assume - so what’s your view on when accordions should be used over separate pages?
- We’re going to be adding an FAQs page for the first time. I haven’t written one for about 15 years, when just having one would help you in search! Can anyone point me to some current best practice on how FAQs pages should be structured?
The company has quite a niche market, so there’s not a lot of competition in the normal sense. The challenge is to reach people who may not realise they exist and who are likely to be searching for something else. I’m afraid I have to be cryptic, but they basically offer free business support for companies in a pretty niche sector. So people in that sector are likely to be doing generic searches on business support topics, rather than specifically for their industry.
99% of the sites I’ve worked on have been Wordpress - Squarespace is new to me, so any generic tips would be most welcome. Changing platforms isn’t an option for now. Similarly, there’s no budget for an SEO pro, unfortunately!
Thank you!
Search engines will likely see your website as a new site, even though the domain name remains the same. This is because a complete rebuild, even with a duplicate, is a significant change in the eyes of search engines. To help with this transition, you can use 301 redirects to ensure that old URLs redirect to the new ones, minimizing potential traffic loss.
While accordions can be helpful for reducing clutter on a page, they are generally less favorable for SEO than separate pages. This is because search engines can crawl and index separate pages more easily, potentially increasing visibility and ranking in search results. If you have enough content, consider creating separate pages for your content. This will give you more opportunities to optimize for relevant keywords and make your content more accessible to search engines.
For your FAQs page, focus on providing clear, concise answers to common questions related to your business. Utilize headings (H2, H3, etc.) to structure your FAQs and make them easily scannable. Use keywords relevant to your niche and industry throughout your FAQs. This will help people find your page when searching for answers to their questions. Consider adding a search bar to your FAQs page to enable users to quickly find specific answers.
Since you’re using Squarespace, explore its built-in SEO features. These can help you optimize your pages for search engines without requiring extensive technical knowledge.