Squarespace Customization - Progression Agency

Updated September 2026 · Written and maintained by the Progression Agency strategy team

Most Squarespace customization questions have the same shape: somebody wants a thing the platform already does, and is searching for a plugin to do it. Accordions, FAQ layouts, portfolio pages, announcement bars and favicons are all native. Genuine plugin territory is narrower than it looks. This page separates the two, gives the sequence for each of the common tasks, and is clear about which changes will survive a platform update and which will not.

The short answerUse the native Accordion block for FAQs — there is no need for a plugin. Use the Portfolio page type, not a gallery block, for project work, because it gives each project its own URL. Set your favicon in site settings rather than with code, and use a small, square, high-contrast image because it renders at sixteen pixels. Templates can be switched within a Squarespace version, so check before assuming you have to rebuild. Prefer settings over CSS, CSS over plugins, and plugins over injected code — in that order, because each step down is more powerful, more fragile and more work to maintain. Code injection is not available on the entry plan.

Customizing Squarespace, in five constraints — Almost every Squarespace customization question is really a question about which of these five things you are dealing with. Knowing that decides whether the answer is a setting, a block, a plugin or a developer.

What people search about customizing Squarespace — The distribution says something useful: the largest volumes are basic setup questions rather than design ones. Most people customizing Squarespace are stuck on something the platform already does, not on something it cannot do.

That distribution is worth reading before anything else. The largest search volumes in this cluster are basic setup questions rather than design ones, which tells you most people customizing Squarespace are stuck on something the platform already does rather than on something it cannot do.

What can Squarespace do natively?

Accordions and FAQ layouts, portfolio pages with individual project pages, announcement bars, favicons, forms and newsletter capture, and template switching within a version. All of those are settings or blocks, on any paid plan, without code.

What Squarespace does natively, without a plugin — The first five are settings you already have. The bottom four are the genuine reasons people reach for plugins, and knowing the difference stops you paying for something the platform already does.

The scorecard’s bottom four rows are the genuine reasons to reach for a plugin: complex conditional logic in forms, advanced filtering of collections, custom post types and server-side integrations. Everything above them is already there, and paying for a plugin to provide it is the most common avoidable expense on the platform.

The order to try things in

Settings first, then a template change, then custom CSS, then a reputable plugin, then code injection last. Each step down that list is more powerful, more fragile, and more work for whoever maintains the site in two years — which, on a platform chosen specifically to avoid maintenance, is a contradiction worth noticing.

Ways to change how a Squarespace site looks and works — Upgrade safety is the column people forget. Built-in settings survive every platform update; code injection is the first thing to break when Squarespace changes something, and nobody is obliged to fix it for you.

Upgrade safety is the column that decides this. Built-in settings survive every platform update by definition. Injected code is the first thing to break when Squarespace changes something, and nobody is obliged to fix it for you.

Does the platform already do this? — Ask. Usually yes; check before buying..

Will it survive an update? — Ask. Settings will; injected code may not..

Who maintains it? — Ask. Somebody has to, including in two years..

Does it work on mobile? — Ask. Test before shipping, not after..

Is it on my plan? — Ask. Code injection is not on the entry tier..

Is this design or content? — Ask. Most sites need the second more..

How do you add an accordion or FAQ section in Squarespace?

Insert the native Accordion block and add one item per question. There is a built-in accordion block, it works on any paid plan, and it is the correct pattern for an FAQ. No plugin is required and none of the popular ones do this better.

Building an FAQ with the native accordion — Step three matters beyond design. An accordion whose answers begin with background rather than the answer is worse for readers and worse for anything trying to extract a direct answer from the page.

Step three in that sequence matters beyond design. An accordion whose answers open with background rather than with the answer is worse for readers and worse for anything trying to extract a direct answer from the page — which now includes search engines and AI assistants as well as people in a hurry.

Accordion Squarespace searches, and what people are usually asking

Searches for accordion Squarespace and Squarespace accordion are almost always one of two questions: does the platform have one, and how do I style it. The answers are yes and at the block level. Squarespace FAQs built this way need no third-party code at all.

Squarespace accordion design that works

Set fonts and colors once at the block level rather than styling each item.
Keep question headers short enough not to wrap awkwardly on a phone.
Open the first item by default if there is one question everybody asks.
Keep answers to a few sentences; longer answers belong on their own page with a link.
Do not nest accordions inside accordions.
Check the whole block at a narrow width before publishing.

Common Squarespace requests, and what actually solves each
What you want	Native solution	Needs CSS?	Needs a plugin?
An FAQ section	Accordion block	No	No
A project portfolio	Portfolio page type	No	No
A site-wide notice	Announcement bar	No	No
A browser tab icon	Favicon setting	No	No
A newsletter signup	Newsletter block	No	No
Different fonts or colors	Site styles	Sometimes	No
Conditional form logic	Not available	No	Yes
Advanced collection filtering	Limited	No	Usually
Custom post types	Not available	No	Not really; consider another platform

The first five rows are the ones people most often buy a plugin for. Reading down the last two columns tells you where the genuine boundary of the platform sits, and it is much further out than most plugin marketing suggests.

Squarespace FAQ layouts other than the accordion

A simple heading-and-paragraph list is often better than an accordion when there are fewer than about six questions, because collapsing content hides it from a reader skimming the page. Use the accordion when the list is long enough that scrolling past it would be tedious.

Should FAQ content be in an accordion at all?

Yes, provided the content is genuinely visible when expanded and is present in the page rather than loaded on demand. The native block satisfies both. The pattern to avoid is answers that exist only in structured data and not on the page, which is both a guidelines problem and useless to an actual visitor.

How do portfolio pages work in Squarespace?

Portfolio is a page type rather than a block. Choosing it gives you a grid or index of projects where each project has its own page and its own URL, which is what makes it a portfolio rather than a gallery. That distinction is the single most useful thing to know here.

Building a portfolio page properly — Step three is the one that separates a portfolio from a gallery: individual project pages get their own addresses, which means they can rank, be linked and be sent to a specific client.

The sequence above is ordered to prevent the most common rebuild: people start with a gallery block on a normal page, discover months later that individual projects cannot be linked or found, and have to redo the whole section as a portfolio.

Grid layout or index layout?

Portfolio layouts compared
Layout	Best for	How projects are shown	Watch out for
Grid	Visual work judged on the image	Thumbnails in a grid	Weak thumbnails sink strong projects
Index	Narrative or case-study work	A stacked list with detail	Longer pages need stronger headings
Gallery block on a normal page	Nothing, as a portfolio	Images with no individual pages	No URLs, no links, no ranking

The third row is included because it is what most people build first. It is a legitimate way to show a set of images and it is not a portfolio, because nothing inside it can be linked to.

What belongs on an individual project page

A problem, an approach, an outcome, and images that support the argument rather than replacing it. A Squarespace portfolio site full of beautiful images and no explanation gives a prospective client nothing to evaluate, which is why the strongest portfolios read like short case studies.

Ordering the grid

By strength, not by date. The first four thumbnails do most of the work, and a portfolio ordered chronologically shows your most recent work rather than your best, which are rarely the same thing.

Squarespace plugins: what they are and when you need one

Third-party code you install yourself, usually as CSS and JavaScript, sold by independent developers. Squarespace does not operate a plugin marketplace in the way WordPress does, so a plugin is a dependency on somebody else’s code with no platform guarantee behind it.

That framing matters for the decision. The best Squarespace plugins are genuinely useful and are still a maintenance commitment: if Squarespace changes something and the developer has moved on, the plugin breaks and fixing it is your problem. Choosing the best plugins for Squarespace therefore means choosing the developer as much as the feature.

How to evaluate a plugin before installing it

Check whether Squarespace already does it natively; most requests are covered.
Check when the plugin was last updated and how actively it is supported.
Check whether it works on your Squarespace version, because versions differ.
Check what it costs and whether that is one-off or recurring.
Check what it does to page speed, because commerce and animation plugins are heavy.
Check whether it can be removed cleanly if you change your mind.
Test it on a duplicate site or an unlinked page before putting it live.

Plugin risk, and how to reduce it
Risk	What it looks like in practice	Mitigation
Developer stops supporting it	Breaks after a platform update, never fixed	Check the last update date before buying
Version incompatibility	Works on 7.0, not on 7.1, or the reverse	Confirm your Squarespace version first
Page speed cost	Commerce and animation plugins are heavy	Measure before and after installing
Conflicts between plugins	Two plugins fight over the same element	Install one at a time and test
Hard to remove	Leftover CSS and markup after uninstalling	Ask about clean removal before buying
Recurring cost	A subscription for a one-time need	Check whether the fee is one-off or annual

Every row there is a maintenance obligation you are taking on. That is acceptable when the plugin does something genuinely necessary and unreasonable when it duplicates a built-in block.

Where plugins genuinely earn their place

Complex form logic that the native forms cannot express.
Advanced filtering or search across a large collection.
Layouts that are structurally impossible with blocks.
Specific commerce behaviors the platform does not offer.
Accessibility improvements the template does not provide.

Where they usually do not

Accordions, FAQs, announcement bars, favicons, basic galleries, simple animations and most typography changes. All of those are settings, blocks or a few lines of CSS, and installing a plugin for them adds a dependency in exchange for nothing.

1 — Check native first. Most requests are already a setting..

2 — Prefer settings to CSS. Settings survive updates; CSS often does not..

3 — Prefer CSS to code injection. Less to break, less to maintain..

4 — Prefer one plugin to five. Each one is a dependency..

5 — Test on a phone. Most Squarespace breakage shows there first..

6 — Keep a record. Note what you changed and where, for the next person..

How do you add a favicon to Squarespace?

In site settings, not with code. Upload a square image in the browser icon or favicon field and Squarespace handles the rest. Adding a favicon to Squarespace is a two-minute settings task and is one of the most frequently over-complicated questions on the platform.

What image to use

Square, small, and high contrast. The favicon renders at around sixteen pixels in a browser tab, which is far smaller than the file you upload. A full logo with a wordmark becomes an unrecognisable smudge at that size; a single letter, a symbol or a simplified mark does not.

Start from a square canvas rather than cropping a wide logo.
Use one shape or one letter, not the full wordmark.
Use strong contrast against both light and dark browser chrome.
Avoid fine detail and thin lines, which disappear entirely.
Upload a reasonably large square file and let the platform scale it down.
Check it in an actual browser tab, at real size, before deciding it works.

Adding a favicon to Squarespace, step by step

Open site settings, find the browser icon or favicon field, upload a square image, and save. That is the whole procedure. Adding a favicon to Squarespace requires no code injection and no plugin, and it works identically on every paid plan.

Two phrasings dominate the searches here — adding favicon to Squarespace and add favicon to Squarespace — and they are the same question with the same answer: it is a settings field, not a code task, and anyone telling you otherwise is describing a different platform.

Why the favicon does not appear immediately

Browsers cache favicons aggressively, often more aggressively than any other asset. If you have uploaded one and still see the old icon, check in a private window before assuming the upload failed. This accounts for most reports that add favicon to Squarespace did not work.

Changing your Squarespace template

You can switch templates within the same Squarespace version, and the process is documented by Squarespace itself. What you cannot do is carry a site across versions by switching a template, which is the source of most confusion about whether template changes are possible at all.

How to change Squarespace template settings, and what happens when you do

Open the design settings, choose a template available in your Squarespace version, and preview before applying. To change a Squarespace template safely, preview every important page in the new template first; looking before you commit is the whole safeguard, and the Squarespace change template process makes it available at no cost.

Before switching, understand what moves and what does not. Content generally carries across; layout, styling and any block arrangements that depended on the old template’s structure frequently do not. Treat a template change as a redesign requiring review of every page rather than as a setting.

What to check before changing a Squarespace template
Check	Why	If it fails
Which Squarespace version your site is on	Templates are not interchangeable across versions	A rebuild rather than a switch
Whether any custom CSS targets the old template	Selectors are template-specific	The CSS breaks silently
Whether any injected code depends on the old structure	Same problem, harder to spot	Broken features after launch
Whether page URLs change	Ranking pages must keep their addresses	Set up redirects before switching
Whether every page still reads correctly	Layout assumptions rarely survive	Budget time to review every page
Whether the site was built by somebody else	They may have documented decisions	Ask before undoing their work

The fourth row is the one that costs real money. If a template change alters your URLs and nobody maps the old ones to the new ones, you lose the search traffic those pages had — a problem covered in more depth on our 404 and redirects page.

Announcement bars, domains and other common tasks

All native, all documented, all settings rather than code. The announcement bar is a site-wide setting with one message and a dismiss option. Domain connection and transfer are both handled in settings and documented by Squarespace directly.

Announcement bar

One message at a time, and it should be a message worth interrupting for. A permanent announcement bar is furniture rather than an announcement, and visitors learn to ignore it within one visit. Use it for something genuinely time-bound and remove it when it stops being true.

Where each common task actually lives
Task	Where it is	Plan restriction
Favicon	Site settings, browser icon field	None
Announcement bar	Site settings, marketing	None
Accordion block	Insert a block on any page	None
Portfolio	Add a page, choose Portfolio type	None
Custom CSS	Design, custom CSS	Available above the entry tier on some plans
Code injection	Settings, advanced	Not on the entry plan
Template change	Design settings, within your version	None
Domain connection	Settings, domains	None

Two rows on that table carry a plan restriction and the rest do not. If a customization you are considering appears in one of those two rows, confirm your plan supports it before commissioning any work — discovering it afterwards is an expensive surprise.

Squarespace domain name questions

You can connect a domain you already own, transfer one in, or buy one through Squarespace, and an annual plan includes one year of free domain registration for a new site. All three routes are documented in Squarespace’s own help center, which is the correct source because registrar processes change. Our Squarespace pricing page covers the commercial side.

Squarespace SEO and the limits of platform choice

Squarespace includes SEO tools on every plan and none of them decide whether you rank. Structure, content quality and whether the pages answer anything decide that, and they are platform-independent. Businesses looking for Squarespace SEO experts are frequently looking for a structural problem to be solved by a platform specialist, when the actual problem is that the site does not say enough about anything.

A — Favicon. Settings, not code. Square, small, high contrast..

B — Announcement bar. Native; one message, dismissible..

C — Accordion. Native block; the correct FAQ pattern..

D — Portfolio. A page type with project pages beneath it..

E — Template. Switchable within a version; check before assuming..

F — Domain. Connect or transfer; both documented by Squarespace..

Working with a Squarespace designer

Judge them the way you would judge any designer: on live sites, loaded on your own phone, and on whether the copy on those sites says anything. Platform familiarity is a prerequisite rather than a qualification, and a Squarespace designer who cannot show you fast, legible, clearly written sites is not a good designer who happens to use Squarespace.

Ask for three live URLs, not screenshots.
Load each on your own phone and time how long it takes to become usable.
Read the copy: is it saying something, or is it placeholder-grade filler?
Ask who writes the content on your project and whether that is priced.
Ask what happens after launch: updates, changes, and at what cost.
Confirm the Squarespace account will be in your name, not theirs.
Ask whether they use plugins or injected code, and who maintains it.

The last question is the one this page exists to make you ask. A site built with five plugins and a page of injected JavaScript is a site with five dependencies and a maintenance obligation, on a platform you chose specifically so you would not have one.

What to do before customizing anything

Duplicate the site, or at minimum note what you are about to change and where. Squarespace has no version history for CSS and code injection in the way a code repository would, so a written record is the only way anybody — including you in a year — will know what was done.

Duplicate the site before any substantial change, if your plan allows it.
Keep a plain text note of every CSS rule you add and what it was for.
Keep the same note for every plugin: what, why, from whom, at what cost.
Test every change at a narrow width before publishing.
Re-check the site after any Squarespace platform update.
Record which images are used where, so replacements are quick.

None of that is exciting and all of it saves hours. The most expensive Squarespace sites to work on are the ones where somebody added forty CSS rules over three years and left no record of what any of them were for.

Want the site to produce enquiries, not just look right?

Design and customization are rarely the reason a site underperforms. If your Squarespace site looks fine and produces nothing, the issue is usually structure, content and search visibility.

Talk to Progression Agency

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Getting found in search

AI, AEO and what is changing

Paid media and lead generation

Websites and design

Choosing and working with an agency

Social, content and brand

By industry and by situation

Squarespace image sizes: the recommended dimensions and why they matter

Squarespace resizes uploaded images automatically, but the source file still determines quality and page weight, so the recommended image size is a real constraint rather than a suggestion.

The platform generates several scaled versions of every upload and serves whichever fits the viewport. That means an oversized upload does not break anything — it just wastes bandwidth and slows the first load. An undersized one cannot be recovered from at all.

Squarespace recommended image size for general use

Squarespace advises uploading images between roughly 1500 and 2500 pixels wide for most purposes. Below that, large displays show softness; above it, the extra data is discarded.

Squarespace background image size

Background and banner images are cropped across viewports, so upload wide and keep the important content away from the edges. A background composed tightly will be cropped badly on some screens.

Squarespace header image size

The header crops most aggressively of all, because it must work from a narrow phone to a wide desktop. Test it at both extremes rather than trusting the desktop preview.

Squarespace logo dimensions

Upload the logo larger than it displays and let the site scale it down. A logo uploaded at display size looks soft on high-density screens, which is most screens.

File format and weight

Photographic content as JPEG, graphics and logos as PNG or SVG where supported. Compress before uploading; the platform’s own optimization is not a substitute.

Squarespace widgets, plugins and the customizations people actually ask for

Squarespace has no plugin marketplace in the WordPress sense, so most of what people call Squarespace widgets or plugins are third-party code snippets injected into the site.

This is the single most important thing to understand before buying any of them. Ghost plugins for Squarespace and the various commercial snippet libraries are code you paste into code injection or a code block. They work, they are frequently well made, and they are also entirely outside Squarespace’s support — when a platform update breaks one, the fix comes from the snippet vendor or from you.

Squarespace widgets and what they really are

Third-party JavaScript and CSS, injected rather than installed. There is no plugin API and no compatibility guarantee.

Ghost plugins for Squarespace and similar libraries

Established commercial snippet collections. Judge them on whether the vendor maintains them through platform updates, because that is the entire risk.

Adding an HTML floating button

A common request — a persistent call, chat or booking button. Done with a small block of HTML and CSS in code injection, fixed-positioned so it stays in view. Keep it clear of the mobile navigation, which is where it usually collides.

How to create a landing page on Squarespace

Add a page, disable the header and footer for it in page settings, and build a single-section layout with one action. The header and footer toggle is the step people miss, and it is what makes it a landing page rather than a page.

Connecting Squarespace to Google Search Console

Verify through the site’s built-in Google Search Console connection in the settings, or by DNS if you need the domain-level property. Squarespace generates a sitemap automatically at /sitemap.xml; submit that.

The browser icon in Squarespace

The favicon, set in Design settings. Upload a square image; Squarespace scales it. A logo with fine detail becomes unreadable at that size, so use a simplified mark.

Making a Squarespace site stand out

The template is not the constraint people think it is. Genuine photography, real copy, restrained type changes and one distinctive color do more than any snippet library. A standout Squarespace site is almost always a well-photographed one.

Squarespace image size recommendation, restated

Between roughly 1500 and 2500 pixels wide for most uses. The platform generates the scaled versions it serves.

Changing templates, themes and the thing that replaced them in 7.1

Can you change your Squarespace template is the most-asked question about the platform and the answer depends entirely on which version you are on. In 7.0, templates were genuinely different products with different features, and switching templates on Squarespace meant installing a new one and rebuilding — content carried across, layout largely did not. In 7.1 there are no separate templates in that sense: every site runs the same underlying system and what the marketing calls a template is a starting style. So on 7.1, how to change your Squarespace template really means restyling — fonts, colors, spacing and section layouts — which you can do at any time without rebuilding, and how to change the theme on Squarespace means editing the site styles rather than swapping anything out. Knowing which version you are on before you start saves the most common wasted afternoon on this platform.

Squarespace plugins, extensions and add-ons: three different things

Squarespace has no plugin architecture in the WordPress sense, which is why advice about free Squarespace plugins is so often wrong. What people call plugins are third-party code snippets injected into the site, and code injection requires a Business plan or above — so free plugins for Squarespace are usually free code, not free functionality, and they break when the platform changes underneath them. Squarespace Extensions are the official marketplace: vetted third-party services that connect to your site through supported integrations rather than injected code. Squarespace add-ons in the loosest sense covers both. If a plugin is load-bearing for your business, prefer an extension or a supported integration; injected code is fine for cosmetics and a liability for checkout.

The announcement bar, and where it hides

Adding a banner in Squarespace means the announcement bar — the site-wide strip across the top used for offers, notices and shipping cut-offs. It lives under the site’s marketing settings rather than in the page editor, which is why how to add an announcement bar on Squarespace is such a persistent question: people look for it in Design. It takes one line of text and one link, appears on every page, and can be dismissed by the visitor. Two practical limits worth knowing before you plan around it: there is one bar per site rather than one per page, and it is the first thing to check when a client reports the site looking cluttered on mobile.

Favicons, image sizes and the limits that cause most upload problems

The browser icon — the favicon — is set in the site’s design settings rather than per page; upload a square image, at least 100 by 100 pixels, and expect the change to take a hard refresh to appear because browsers cache it aggressively. That is the whole of how to update a favicon on Squarespace and how to change the website icon on Squarespace. For everything else, Squarespace resizes uploads above roughly 2500 pixels wide, so uploading larger files buys nothing but slower editing; aim for under 500 KB per image. Resizing images in Squarespace after upload is done by replacing the file rather than by editing in place, and the logo size for Squarespace should be supplied at twice its display width so it stays sharp on high-density screens. Squarespace product image size follows the same rule, with square crops behaving most predictably in grids.

Squarespace SEO specialists and consultants: what is worth outsourcing

A Squarespace SEO specialist is buying you familiarity with a platform that hides some standard controls and omits others. What a competent Squarespace SEO consultant actually does is set page titles and descriptions properly, fix the heading structure the visual editor encourages people to break, connect Google Search Console, clean up the URL structure before it is indexed, and compress images. None of that is exotic, and all of it is finite. Be wary of anyone selling indefinite monthly Squarespace SEO — the platform gives you fewer levers than WordPress, which makes an honest engagement here shorter, not longer.

Switching templates, portfolios and the announcement bar

Three requests come up more than any others. How to switch a template on Squarespace depends on your version: on 7.1 there is no template switching in the old sense — every site shares one underlying framework and you change the look through site styles and section layouts, which is why the option people are hunting for is not there. On 7.0, changing a website template on Squarespace means installing a new one from the Design panel, previewing it, and setting it live; content carries over but layout-specific settings do not, and switching templates on Squarespace between different template families reliably breaks some page structures, so preview thoroughly before going live. Squarespace portfolio pages are a distinct page type with their own layouts, and Squarespace portfolio templates and examples in the official template store are the fastest way to see what the grid and hover behaviors actually do before committing — a Squarespace online portfolio built on a standard page will not get those. To edit the announcement bar in Squarespace, it sits under Website > Website Tools > Announcement Bar, not in the page editor, which is where most people look for it first.

Images, storage and search console

Practical limits and settings that catch people out. To resize an image in Squarespace, note that the platform generates multiple sizes automatically and serves the appropriate one — so the reliable way to change how big an image appears is the block’s own sizing and the section layout, not the file. To resize images in Squarespace at the source, upload at roughly 2,500 pixels on the long edge; larger uploads are downscaled anyway and slow the editor. Squarespace change image size questions almost always resolve to that distinction between display size and file size. On Squarespace storage limits: the platform does not publish a hard cap for standard sites but does enforce per-file limits, and very large video libraries are the case that runs into trouble. For Squarespace Google Webmaster setup — Google Search Console, as it is now called — verification is built into the Marketing panel via a Google account connection, and the sitemap is generated automatically at /sitemap.xml with no configuration required. A Squarespace filter plugin, including the Squarespace universal filter plugin sold by third parties, adds faceted filtering the platform does not provide natively; these are JavaScript add-ons, so test them on mobile before buying.

Frequently asked questions

How do I add an accordion in Squarespace?

Insert the native Accordion block where you want it and add one item per question. It works on any paid plan without a plugin, and it is the correct pattern for an FAQ. The question becomes the header and the answer the body.

Do I need a plugin for a Squarespace accordion?

No. The accordion is a built-in block. Plugins that provide accordions exist and are generally solving a problem the platform already solved, which adds a dependency for no benefit.

What is the best FAQ layout on Squarespace?

An accordion when the list is long enough that scrolling past it would be tedious, and a simple heading-and-paragraph list when there are fewer than about six questions. Collapsing a short list hides content from anyone skimming the page.

Should FAQ answers be hidden in an accordion for SEO?

The native accordion is fine because the content is in the page and visible when expanded. The pattern to avoid is answers that exist only in structured data and not on the page at all — that is both a guidelines problem and useless to a visitor.

How do Squarespace portfolio pages work?

Portfolio is a page type rather than a block. Choosing it produces a grid or index of projects where each project gets its own page and its own URL. That is what makes it a portfolio rather than a gallery.

What is the difference between a portfolio and a gallery block?

Individual URLs. A gallery block shows images on one page; a portfolio gives every project its own page that can be linked, found in search and sent to a specific client. Building a gallery and later needing a portfolio is the most common Squarespace rebuild.

Should I use grid or index layout for a Squarespace portfolio?

Grid for visual work judged on the image, index for narrative or case-study work. Grid depends entirely on thumbnail strength; index needs stronger headings because the pages are longer.

What should go on an individual project page?

A problem, an approach, an outcome, and images that support the argument rather than replacing it. A Squarespace portfolio site full of beautiful images with no explanation gives a prospective client nothing to evaluate.

How should I order my portfolio?

By strength, not by date. The first four thumbnails do most of the work, and chronological order shows your most recent work rather than your best, which are rarely the same thing.

What are Squarespace plugins?

Third-party CSS and JavaScript sold by independent developers. Squarespace does not run a plugin marketplace the way WordPress does, so a plugin is a dependency on somebody else’s code with no platform guarantee behind it.

What are the best Squarespace plugins?

The ones you actually need, from a developer who is still actively supporting them. Before choosing among the best plugins for Squarespace, check whether the platform already does the thing natively — most requested features are covered by a setting or a block.

When is a Squarespace plugin genuinely worth it?

Complex form logic the native forms cannot express, advanced filtering across a large collection, layouts that are structurally impossible with blocks, specific commerce behaviors, and accessibility improvements the template does not provide.

What should I check before installing a plugin?

Whether Squarespace already does it, when the plugin was last updated, whether it supports your Squarespace version, what it costs and whether that recurs, what it does to page speed, and whether it can be removed cleanly. Test on an unlinked page first.

How do I add a favicon to Squarespace?

In site settings, in the browser icon or favicon field. Upload a square image and Squarespace handles the rest. It is a settings task rather than a code task, and takes about two minutes.

What size and design should a favicon be?

Square, small and high contrast. It renders at around sixteen pixels in a browser tab, so a full logo with a wordmark becomes an unrecognisable smudge. Use one letter, one symbol or a simplified mark, and avoid thin lines.

I added a favicon to Squarespace and it did not change. Why?

Browsers cache favicons aggressively, often more than any other asset. Check in a private window before assuming the upload failed. This accounts for most reports that the change did not work.

Can I change my Squarespace template?

Within the same Squarespace version, yes, and the process is documented by Squarespace. You cannot move a site across versions by switching templates, which is the source of most confusion about whether template changes are possible.

What breaks when I change a Squarespace template?

Custom CSS that targeted the old template’s selectors, injected code that depended on the old structure, and any layout that assumed the old template’s behavior. Content usually carries across; styling frequently does not.

Will changing my template affect my search rankings?

It can, if page URLs change and nobody maps the old addresses to the new ones. Check that before switching and set up redirects for anything that moves. Traffic lost this way is lost unnecessarily.

How do I use the Squarespace announcement bar?

It is a site-wide setting with one message and a dismiss option. Use it for something genuinely time-bound and remove it when it stops being true — a permanent announcement bar becomes furniture and visitors stop seeing it after one visit.

How do I manage a domain name with Squarespace?

You can connect a domain you already own, transfer one in, or buy one through Squarespace, and an annual plan includes a free domain for one year on a new site. All three routes are documented in Squarespace’s own help center, which is the right source because registrar processes change.

Do I need Squarespace SEO experts?

Usually not for platform reasons. Squarespace includes SEO tools on every plan and none of them decide whether you rank — structure, content quality and whether pages answer anything decide that, and all three are platform-independent.

Should I use custom CSS or a plugin?

CSS for appearance, a plugin for behavior the platform cannot produce. CSS is easier to remove and creates no dependency on a third party, but it is more likely to break when a template or the platform changes.

Is code injection available on every Squarespace plan?

No. Code injection and advanced code blocks sit above the entry tier on Squarespace’s plan comparison. If a customization you are considering requires injected code, confirm your plan supports it before commissioning the work.

How do I choose a Squarespace designer?

On live sites loaded on your own phone, on whether the copy says anything, on who writes your content, on what happens after launch, and on whether the Squarespace account will be in your name. Platform familiarity is a prerequisite, not a qualification.

What should I do before making customizations?

Duplicate the site if your plan allows, and keep a plain text record of every CSS rule and every plugin: what, why, from whom, at what cost. Squarespace has no version history for injected code, so the note is the only record that will exist.

Why do my customizations break after a Squarespace update?

Because injected code and CSS depend on markup the platform is free to change. Built-in settings survive updates by definition; anything you added on top is your responsibility to re-check. That is the main argument for staying native wherever you can.

What is the Squarespace recommended image size?

Roughly 1500 to 2500 pixels wide for most uses. Squarespace generates scaled versions from the upload, so below that range large displays show softness and above it the data is discarded.

What is the right Squarespace background image size?

Wide, with the important content away from the edges, because backgrounds and banners crop differently across viewports.

What Squarespace header image size should I use?

Wide enough to survive the most aggressive cropping on the site. Test the header on a phone and a wide desktop rather than trusting the editor preview.

What logo dimensions does Squarespace need?

Larger than the display size, so the site scales down rather than up. A logo uploaded at display size looks soft on high-density screens.

Does Squarespace compress images automatically?

It generates scaled versions, which is not the same as optimizing your source file. Compress before uploading if page weight matters.

Does Squarespace have plugins or widgets?

Not in the WordPress sense. Squarespace widgets and plugins are third-party code snippets you inject, with no plugin API and no compatibility guarantee from Squarespace.

Are Ghost plugins for Squarespace safe to use?

They are code you paste into your own site, so the question is whether the vendor maintains them through platform updates. That maintenance is the entire risk.

How do I add an HTML floating button in Squarespace?

A small block of fixed-position HTML and CSS in code injection. Keep it clear of the mobile navigation, which is where floating buttons usually collide.

How do I create a landing page on Squarespace?

Add a page, turn off the header and footer for it in page settings, and build a single-section layout with one action. The header and footer toggle is the step most people miss.

How do I connect Squarespace to Google Search Console?

Use the built-in connection in settings, or verify by DNS for a domain-level property. Then submit the automatically generated /sitemap.xml.

How do I change the browser icon in Squarespace?

Upload a square favicon in Design settings. Use a simplified mark — fine detail is unreadable at favicon size.

How do you make a Squarespace site stand out?

Real photography, real copy, restrained typography and one distinctive color. A standout Squarespace site is nearly always a well-photographed one rather than a heavily modified one.

Can you change your Squarespace template?

In 7.0, yes — you install a different template and rebuild, and content carries over but layout largely does not. In 7.1 there are no separate templates to swap; every site runs the same system, and what looks like changing templates is restyling fonts, colors and section layouts, which you can do at any time. Check which version you are on first.

How do you change the theme on Squarespace?

On 7.1 you edit site styles — fonts, color palette, spacing, section layouts — rather than swapping a theme, because there is only one underlying template. On 7.0 the equivalent is installing a different template, which is a rebuild rather than a restyle.

Are there free Squarespace plugins?

Not in the WordPress sense — Squarespace has no plugin architecture. What is sold as a plugin is third-party code injected into your site, which needs a Business plan or above and can break when the platform changes. Squarespace Extensions is the official marketplace of vetted integrations, and it is the safer route for anything your business depends on.

How do I add a banner or announcement bar in Squarespace?

It is in the site’s marketing settings rather than the page editor, which is why it is so hard to find. One line of text and one link, shown site-wide, dismissible by the visitor. There is one bar per site rather than one per page.

How do I update the favicon or browser icon on Squarespace?

Set it in the site’s design settings — a square image, at least 100 by 100 pixels. If it does not appear to change, that is browser caching rather than a failed upload; a hard refresh usually resolves it.

What image size should I upload to Squarespace?

Under 500 KB where you can, and no wider than about 2500 pixels — Squarespace resizes above that, so larger files only slow the editor down. Supply logos at roughly twice their display width so they stay sharp on high-density screens, and prefer square crops for product grids.

Is hiring a Squarespace SEO consultant worth it?

For a bounded piece of work, often yes: titles and descriptions, heading structure, Search Console connection, URL clean-up before indexing, image compression. All of it is finite. Squarespace exposes fewer levers than WordPress, so an honest Squarespace SEO engagement is shorter than the equivalent elsewhere, not an indefinite retainer.

How do I switch templates on Squarespace?

On 7.1 you cannot, and do not need to — every site shares one framework and the look changes through site styles and section layouts. On 7.0, install a new template from the Design panel, preview it, then set it live. Content carries over; layout-specific settings do not, and switching between template families breaks some page structures. Preview thoroughly first.

Where is the announcement bar in Squarespace?

Website > Website Tools > Announcement Bar — not in the page editor, which is where most people look first.

How do I change image size in Squarespace?

Distinguish display size from file size. Display size is controlled by the block’s sizing and the section layout. For the file itself, upload at roughly 2,500 pixels on the long edge — Squarespace generates and serves multiple sizes automatically, so larger uploads are downscaled anyway and only slow the editor.

How do I change a website template on Squarespace?

On 7.1 there is no template to change — the look is controlled by site styles and section layouts. On 7.0, install one from the Design panel, preview, then set it live. Content carries over; layout-specific settings do not, and moving between template families breaks some page structures.

How do I edit the announcement bar in Squarespace?

Website > Website Tools > Announcement Bar. It is not in the page editor, which is where almost everyone looks first.

Sources and further reading

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