Is your Squarespace website loading slowly?
Slow websites are nobody’s idea of a good time, especially if you’re the one paying for visitors who never see your work. An unresponsive page frustrates readers, sabotages sales, and quietly erodes your professional credibility. If you’re battling laggy loading times on your Squarespace site, rest assured: you’re in the right place, and you’re far from the only one.
Below, I’ll walk you through straightforward, practical steps (with Pixelhaze tips and a few real-world nuggets you won’t find in the Squarespace help docs). We’re not here to chase “perfect” speed scores. Our aim is to get your site reliably quick, so your ideas land exactly where they should — front and centre.
Why This Matters
If your Squarespace site loads slowly, you’re burning opportunity every minute. Today’s visitor expects a site to appear fast, often within two seconds. Any longer, and most will vanish. That’s a missed connection, lost sales, fewer email signups, and a growing suspicion among would-be clients that you’re not on top of things.
That’s just the start. Google punishes slow websites by pushing them down search results. Impatient users often leave before they’ve read a single line or seen your portfolio. For businesses and creative professionals, speed is non-negotiable. A sluggish website puts a cap on what you can achieve.
A slow site can feel like something big and out of your hands. The good news is, with Squarespace, most performance problems are solveable once you know where to look.
Common Pitfalls
Why do so many Squarespace users struggle with site speed? Here are the classic stumbles:
- Assuming it’s “just Squarespace being slow.” Many people give up as soon as things lag, believing they’re powerless. It’s usually not true.
- Uploading huge images. We all want crisp, stunning visuals, but dropping in a 5MB banner photo, then doing it again on every page, will break your site’s speed.
- Ignoring file size warnings. If you hawk lots of products or love a photo-heavy layout, your homepage can easily creep over the safe zone.
- Leaving URL redirects unchecked. Old, forgotten redirects pile up, quietly slowing things down behind the scenes.
- Blindly trusting “scores.” Google PageSpeed Insights loves showing scary numbers, but plenty of those warnings don’t actually apply to Squarespace sites.
Most speed issues are a result of decisions made during site building and updates. If too many pile up, your site moves like treacle.
Step-by-Step Fix
Step 1: Check the Platform Status
If your site grinds to a halt out of nowhere (or visitors report slow access at odd hours), start by checking the official Squarespace Status page: status.squarespace.com.
- If there is an outage or platform problem, you’ll see it reported here.
- “All systems operational” means you can rule out a global issue.
- You can also peek at SquarespaceHelp on Twitter for updates.
There’s no sense struggling to fix problems that don’t originate on your end. If Squarespace reports an incident, wait until it’s resolved.
Bookmark the status page if you manage client sites. It prevents unnecessary panic the next time someone rings up shouting, “My site’s gone!”
Step 2: Keep Your Pages Lean (Under 5MB)
One of the main reasons for slow load times is the sheer size of your pages. Every bit of content adds to your page’s file size: images, videos, scripts, fancy galleries, and more.
- Aim for a page file size under 5MB. Yes, really.
- To check this, use Pingdom’s Website Speed Test. Punch in your page URL and let it analyse.
- If the total size is over 5MB, anything above 3MB should be trimmed with urgency.
How do you shrink a bloated page?
- Swap out high-res images for compressed versions (see Step 3).
- Remove or replace unused video and audio files.
- Limit large animations or third-party code blocks.
Keep your site’s essentials visible and trim down the rest.
For landing pages used in ad campaigns, keep them even leaner. Quick-loading pages convert more visitors into customers.
Step 3: Compress Your Images Ruthlessly
The single largest contributor to slow speed on Squarespace is over-sized imagery, especially big banners or galleries that haven’t been compressed.
Here’s how you handle it:
- Before uploading any image, run it through Compressor.io or a similar tool.
- Set export settings in Photoshop or Canva to JPG, quality 70–80%. Rarely will anyone notice the difference, but the load time improvement is night and day.
- For galleries, don’t use images straight from your camera or stock site. Even “web-sized” downloads are often much larger than you need.
It’s wise to revisit old pages and update legacy images.
Even for something as small as a logo, check the file size. We’ve seen 2MB PNGs powering a basic footer! Aim for logos and icons under 100KB.
Step 4: Audit (and Remove) Unnecessary URL Redirects
Over months or years of site updates, it’s easy to accumulate a graveyard of old URL redirects. All of these add a micro-delay to each request.
- Go to Settings > Advanced > URL Redirects in your Squarespace admin panel.
- Prune anything you don’t truly need.
- Keep only the essential redirects: products you’ve moved, permanent “page has moved” notices, and canonical routes.
Long chains of redirects (A → B → C) are especially damaging. Each extra hop is another wait for the browser.
If you’re unsure about deleting a redirect, paste both the old and new URLs into your browser before and after. If nothing breaks, it’s safe to remove.
Step 5: Choose the Right Speed Testing Tool
You may have plugged your site into Google PageSpeed Insights and recoiled at the results: bright orange warnings, complicated jargon, and scores that seem impossible to fix.
There’s no need to panic. Google PageSpeed is built for bespoke-coded sites. Squarespace sites use their own optimised CMS layer; many “failures” flagged by Google have no bearing on your real visitors.
- Use Pingdom to check load times and page size instead.
- Focus on “Load time” in seconds and total file size.
- Anything under 3 seconds and under 5MB is solid. Under 2.5 seconds is fantastic.
If Pingdom reveals slow loads or big file sizes, use Steps 2 and 3 to address the problems.
Test from multiple locations (Pingdom offers several), as speeds can vary widely between different regions. Choose the test region closest to your primary audience.
Step 6: Be Wary of Heavy Third-Party Code and Extensions
Squarespace covers the basics well, but adding custom code blocks, external chat widgets, multiple analytics trackers, and other embedded tools can slow everything down dramatically.
- Review each third-party snippet, and remove anything that isn’t mission-critical.
- If you must use a widget, see if there’s a lighter version or one supplied directly by Squarespace.
- Test load speed before and after each addition. If the site feels slower, dial things back.
Before copying code from a “speed-boosting” blog or plugin reseller, check the Squarespace help docs. Many so-called “miracle scripts” create new problems.
What Most People Miss
A common reality is that most Squarespace site slowdowns happen due to an accumulation of issues rather than a single technical problem. Fixing the major culprits is straightforward, but few people audit their sites regularly or check real page file sizes as their content grows.
The best website owners schedule a quarterly “website health check”:
- Run a speed test (Pingdom).
- Review your heaviest pages and recently added media.
- Clear out obsolete images, files, or code.
Maintaining your site in this way keeps it nimble throughout the year and prevents last-minute, high-stress repair sessions.
Another important detail: Squarespace’s Content Delivery Network (CDN) will only deliver the best possible performance if your files are already well optimised before uploading. Large, unoptimised assets can’t be fixed by a CDN alone.
The Bigger Picture
When you optimise your Squarespace site for speed, you get more than just a good score from Google. Your daily experiences change:
- Site visitors hang around longer and see more of what you offer
- Conversions rise because nobody gets bored waiting for your shop or contact form to load
- Brand credibility improves, since a fast site always looks more professional
- Less scrambling to fix problems and fewer “Can you check my site’s broken?” messages
Speed can set your site apart from others using similar templates and visual editors. It’s often the reason one website wins new business while another gets ignored.
Another benefit: once you build the habit of routine speed checks and image compression, keeping your site running quickly becomes much easier over time.
Wrap-Up
Squarespace makes it easy to build a beautiful website, but speed doesn’t happen by accident. Managing images, page sizes, and redirects gives your site the best chance of success. Avoid getting lost in scores and technical jargon. Take care of the basics:
- Regularly check platform status
- Monitor and trim page file sizes
- Always compress imagery
- Remove unnecessary URL redirects
- Trust real load times rather than scary “insights” from automated tools
- Remove extra code that slows you down
Do this, and you’ll surpass most of your competitors – no wizardry required.
Want effective systems like this? Join Pixelhaze Academy for free at https://www.pixelhaze.academy/membership.
Related Resources from Pixelhaze
- Keep an eye out for scam emails, appearing to come from Squarespace
- How to Fix logo reels on Squarespace using Canva
- Mailchimp vs. Squarespace Email Campaigns – The match-up
- Getting started in Squarespace – Help for beginners
- An introduction to Squarespace Plugins and Extensions
About the Author
Elwyn Davies is the founder of Pixelhaze Academy and your plain-speaking guide to demystifying web design for creative professionals. He spends his days turning headaches into how-tos, with just enough sarcasm to keep things lively.
Troubleshooting FAQ
Q: My site is still slow after compressing images. What should I try next?
A: Double-check page file size with Pingdom. If it’s still high, look for large video files, code snippets, or unchecked redirects.
Q: Are popups and email forms making my site lag?
A: They can, especially if loaded from third-party services. Try disabling everything except essential forms and retest speed.
Q: Does using lots of font types slow things down?
A: Yes. Stick to two fonts if possible. The more font files your site loads, the slower every page becomes.
Q: Can I revert to an earlier site version if things get worse?
A: You can restore pages or images individually in Squarespace. It’s a good idea to back up critical content first, just in case.
Q: Should I use a plugin to “speed up” my Squarespace site?
A: Be careful. Most “speed up” plugins don’t deliver results. Your best improvements will come from optimising images, content, and code as above.
For more support, join the Pixelhaze community, where real-life designers share their best advice — without the fluff.