🚀 BOOST your SEO: How to Optimize URL Slugs in Squarespace (& Why You Should)

[@JaiSequoia]

Thanks hon great overview of things to check before going live. Here’s a question for you. I have a non profit client that’s uses their blog as a newsletter and so often there are many topics inside the post. How would I discern what to set the slug to? The biggest part of the news? Although often these are repetitive things as there are yearly recurring events and news etc. Any ideas would be so helpful! Oh and you were mixing up the 7.0 and 7.1 instructions in the vid. Might confuse newbies.

[@BigCatCreative]

Hey Jai! If they are using the blog as a newsletter, then is it something they're trying to get found on search results? Or is it just for their existing audience. Newsletter posts with different topics aren't really targeted content that will do very well in search results, so I wouldn't worry too much. I recommend either using the main info in the post as a guide, or even just using a simple "newsletter" and date in the slug, as that's exactly what it is :)

[@louhaveman]

I have been in and out of websites for a long time and have never heard of the term slug until today. The more I research the word the more confused I'm getting. And now your video is my last draw for the day. I guess my question should be: what happens in a website where I need this "slug"?

[@BigCatCreative]

Hey Louie. Not sure I understand your question, sorry. Every page on your website has a slug. It's basically the page name that is in the url eg bigcatcreative.com/templates, the slug is "templates" which indicates which page on the website for the browser to direct you to.

[@tommdunman]

so helpful thx. until you go in and easily change the URL in the blog and mine looks completely different! Downloaded Squarespace just a month ago. It looks identical in everyway until the last bit where you change the slug. I can't. so frustrating. Haven't published my site either. Although weirdly just like yours does it says the blog is "published".

[@BigCatCreative]

Hey! Annoying that it looks different. It's pretty common though, Squarespace changes how things look quite a lot. But there will 100% be a place to enter your blog slug, likely in the same area (I don't think they've moved it). It might look a bit different and you might need to scroll down

[@RohanGillett]

Just what I was looking for - removing dates from my blog (i.e. using %t). I made the change and hit save, but haven't noticed any change yet though in the older URLs. Maybe it'll take some time? A bit worried as I'm sure a lot of URLs are going to break and I'll need a week setting up the 301 redirects!

[@BigCatCreative]

Hey Rohan! Squarespace won't change any of the previous URLs for your blogs, only the future posts. This is because, as you know, it would break all of your links. You can go through and do it manually though, and set up the redirects :)

[@RohanGillett]

@@BigCatCreative Many thanks for helping out! So, now I'm slowly but surely working my way through about 600 URLs and every associated internal link. Oh the pain, the pain ... lol

[@johndoddato2662]

I updated my blog settings to remove the date. I switch to %t and eliminated the others. I made a new blog post but the date was still there on my blog. I use a 7.0 template. Any suggestions?

[@BigCatCreative]

Hey! It should be working. Double check that you saved those blog settings. If it still isn't changing new blog posts, reach out to Squarespace support