by Crawford | Squarespace Web Designer

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The Best Plugins for Squarespace: 13+ Top Picks for 2024

You’ve built your Squarespace website and customized it as much as you can, but you still feel like something’s missing. You want more options to make your site truly your own — this is where plugins come in.

The right plugin can take your Squarespace websites to the next level, allowing you to tweak the design, add unique features, and more. But with so many plugins out there, how do you choose?

I’ve tested dozens of plugins for Squarespace to find the very best ones to make your website stand out. I’ll walk you through some of the best Squarespace plugins I’ve explored and why you should implement them on your Squarespace sites. Get ready to take your Squarespace website to the next level!

Top Squarespace SEO Plugins for Website Visibility

The success of your website is largely dependent on how netizens can find it organically. This is why it’s important to optimize your website pages and content for search engines, a process known as search engine optimization (SEO). While SEO tweaks generally require some steps and strategies to get right, you’ll often need tools and plugins to make the process a breeze. 

Here are the top plugins I recommend to do SEO on Squarespace:

1. Squarespace SEO Plugin by SEOSpace

This popular Chrome extension handles all the technical SEO for your Squarespace site. It helps you optimize page titles, meta descriptions, image alt text, internal linking, and more. Trusted by thousands of users, the plugin gives you useful insights into how search engines view your site. With just a few clicks, you can improve your rankings and drive more organic traffic.

For any Squarespace user serious about SEO, this plugin is a must-have. The best part? It’s free for a start! Sign up today to get started.

2. Weglot: Website Translation Plugin

To rank well internationally, you need a multilingual website. Weglot seamlessly handles website translation and multilingual SEO for Squarespace sites. It lets you translate your entire site into over 110 languages with just a few clicks. The translated versions are SEO-optimized with translated page titles, meta descriptions, alt text, and internal links. If going global is important to your business, Weglot is the best tool for the job.

3. TinyIMG: Image Optimization

Large image files can slow down your Squarespace site and hurt your page speed score, which impacts SEO. The TinyIMG plugin automatically minimizes your images to the perfect size needed for your site.

This tool strips out unnecessary metadata and compresses your images, reducing file sizes by up to 50% without any loss in quality. Faster page speeds lead to higher rankings and more traffic. For blazing-fast image loading, TinyIMG is a game-changer.

With the right Squarespace free plugins optimizing your Squarespace site for search engines and multilingual visitors, you’ll gain higher visibility and more traffic. These top plugins handle the technical details so you can focus on creating great content for your readers. Speaking of content, you want to give visitors more intuitive ways to interact with your website content — this is where website widgets come in handy.

Top Squarespace Widgets to Enhance Your Site’s Functionality

One of the best parts about using Squarespace is the ability to customize your site using third-party widgets. These tools allow you to add extra functionality, giving users a more intuitive way to interact with your pages — beyond the built-in Squarespace features.

Here are some of the top widgets you should consider to take your Squarespace site to the next level:

4. Section Loader Supreme

This popular sidebar plugin effortlessly loads content from any page on your site into any other page section. This allows you to reuse content across your site without having to recreate it from scratch each time. Whether you want to load an events calendar into your home page or display recent blog posts on multiple pages, Section Loader Supreme handles it all with a touch of magic.

5. Floating Scroll Back to Top Button

If you have a long page with lots of scrolling, adding a “back to top” button is recommended. The Back to Top plugin adds a simple floating button that sends visitors back to the top of the page with one click. You can customize the button color, size, and position to match your site’s style. Your visitors will appreciate the easy navigation.

6. Squarespace Filter Plugin - Universal Filter

Do you have a blog, gallery, or other collection of items on your site? The Universal Filter Plugin allows you to add filter options so visitors can sort and search that collection.

For example, you can add category filters to your blog page so people can view only posts from certain categories, like “News” or “Tutorials.” You can also add filters to a product gallery page based on item color, size, price, and more. This plugin works on Squarespace 7.1 and other versions.

7. Background Video Controls Plugin

If you use background videos on your Squarespace site, the Background Video Controls Plugin is extremely useful. It allows you to add custom play/pause and mute/unmute buttons so visitors can control the background videos themselves. You have full control over the button colors, size, and position. Also, the plugin works on all Squarespace templates so that you can use it on multiple sites.

With so many widgets for Squarespace, you can truly customize your site to meet all your needs and provide an optimal experience for your visitors. However, these tools are just the tip of the iceberg; keep exploring to find more plugins and tools to suit your specific site requirements.


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Extending Squarespace With Useful Marketing Extensions

While Squarespace has robust e-commerce features, you may find them limiting if you need personalized customizations beyond what’s offered.

Here are some useful marketing extensions to complement the built-in marketing features:

8. Affiliate Link Genie

The Affiliate Link Genie plugin allows you to easily create and manage affiliate links on your Squarespace site. As an award-winning Squarespace designer, I recommend this plugin for any client looking to generate revenue through affiliate marketing. It lets you add unlimited affiliate links, customize the link text and destination URL, and track important metrics like clicks, commissions, and conversions.

9. Squarespace Custom Cart Slide Out

For e-commerce sites, this plugin replaces Squarespace’s default cart slide-out with a highly customizable version. You have full control over the content, styling, and functionality.

With this tool, you can add custom messages, change the button text, modify borders and shadows, and more. The default Squarespace cart isn’t very customizable, so this gives you options to make it blend in seamlessly with the rest of your site.

10. Countdown Timer

The Countdown Timer plugin lets you add an animated countdown clock to your Squarespace site. You can use it to countdown to a product launch, event, sale end date, or anything else. It’s a great way to create urgency and encourage visitors to take action before time runs out.

In addition to the above plugins, I recommend utilizing other third-party apps to maximize your site’s full potential. Continue reading for some useful apps for Squarespace.

Must-Have Apps to Unlock Squarespace’s Full Potential

To get the most out of your Squarespace website, integrate some powerful third-party apps. These tools can help you better understand your visitors, improve search engine optimization, and more.

I recommend the following apps for Squarespace:

11. Hotjar

Want to see how people interact with your Squarespace site? Hotjar provides heatmaps, recordings, and other tools to understand user behaviour.

See where people click, scroll, and move their mouse. Watch recordings of real visitors navigating your site and gain insights to optimize your content and design. Hotjar works quietly in the background, so your visitors won’t even know it’s there.

12. Ahrefs

For advanced SEO, use Ahrefs. This powerful tool provides granular keyword data to help improve your Squarespace site’s search ranking.

With this plugin, you can access keyword difficulty scores, search volume, and ranking potential to find keywords worth optimizing for. Ahrefs also shows you what internal and external links would be most valuable. Use its content explorer to find ideas for blog posts and other content that could drive organic traffic.

13. Zapier

Zapier connects your Squarespace site with over 5,000 other apps. This tool enables automation between platforms that typically don’t integrate. For example, you can automatically add new Squarespace newsletter subscribers to Mailchimp or sync Squarespace product info with your accounting software.

Zapier is easy to set up with no coding required. Just select your triggers and actions from their huge list of supported apps.

14. Buffer

Take the hassle out of social media scheduling with Buffer. Link your Squarespace site and social profiles like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Then, schedule posts, photos, and updates to go out whenever you like.

Buffer analyzes the best times to post for maximum engagement on each network. You can also see how your posts perform, get content suggestions, and more. This tool helps you stay active on social media without constant manual posting.

These four Squarespace apps are must-haves for getting the most from your website. Integrate them to gain insights, improve search ranking, build your mailing list, schedule social posts, and automate workflows between platforms. However, Squarespace has built-in add-ons and extensions that you can also utilize. Let’s explore some of them and how you can add them to your site.

How to Add Squarespace Add-ons for Increased Capabilities

So far, I’ve recommended a couple of third-party apps and plugins for Squarespace. But you can also find a wide range of add-ons, called “extensions” on Squarespace, that integrate directly with your site to provide extra functionality.

E-Commerce Extensions

If you have an online store, e-commerce extensions can help boost your sales and improve the customer experience.

Some highly-rated e-commerce extensions for Squarespace include:

  • LiveChat: A customer service platform.

  • Delighted: An add-on for automating post-purchase customer feedback.

  • GoDataFeed: An extension that allows you to create dynamic product feeds for channels like Facebook, Google, and Amazon, all from static product catalogs.

Business Extensions

If you own a business website, you should consider Squarespace business extensions to supercharge your operations.

Here are my top picks:

  • ChowNow Online Ordering: An add-on that adds online ordering to your restaurant business.

  • Novo: A banking solution for all your business needs.

  • Rocket Lawer: An extension that helps you with your legal needs.

Installing Squarespace Add-ons

To install Squarespace plugins, log in to your Squarespace account and follow these steps:

  • Navigate to “Settings” >>> “Third Party Tools” >>> “Extensions.”

  • Search by keyword or browse by category to find extensions that fit your needs. 

  • When you find one you like, select it to see details about what it does and the permissions it requires. If everything looks good, click “CONNECT” and choose which of your sites you want to use it on.

  • Finally, click “ALLOW” to give the extension access to your Squarespace site. Follow any additional steps to finish setting up the extension.

With the right extensions, your Squarespace website’s capabilities are nearly endless. Take some time to explore the options in the Extensions Marketplace and find the perfect add-ons to take your site to the next level. If you need a professional to help you design your site with custom CSS and add new features with custom code, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you get plugins for Squarespace?

Yes, Squarespace supports extensions, which are equivalent to plugins, add-ons, or apps. These third-party tools can be found and integrated through Squarespace Extensions, enhancing website functionality without the need for an App Store.

Is there an SEO plugin for Squarespace?

Yes, SEOSpace is the Squarespace plugin for SEO. It provides actionable insights to help rank your site higher on Google through site-wide audit, reporting, and monitoring. With SEOSpace, you can enhance your Squarespace SEO swiftly and efficiently.

Are Squarespace plugins free?

Some free Squarespace plugins exist on platforms like Ghost Plugins, which allows you to install plugin selections without signing up. While basic plugins are often free, more advanced premium plugins typically come at a cost. SEOSpace, for instance, uses a freemium model, allowing you to start without fees.

Conclusion

Squarespace is not limited by features. You can get both free and paid plugins and apps from third parties to supercharge your website’s features and designs. Based on my experience, I have listed the best plugins for Squarespace. Go through the list, test out the ones that you find useful for your needs, and give your Squarespace template or website the facelift it deserves.

If you can’t find what you need, reach out to me for custom website designs.


Your designer

I'm Sam, an award-winning Squarespace web designer. I have worked with every type of business, building platforms for solo entrepreneurs through to multi-million dollar corporations. If you want to discuss a potential project, you can email on sam@bycrawford.com or get in touch with me here. Alternatively, you can book in a free 15-minute consultation call here.

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