Why Is My Squarespace Site So Slow?

Is your Squarespace site slow? Learn common causes like large images, video backgrounds, and font files.

Squarespace

•Jul 5, 2025

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Jul 2, 2025 03:46 PM

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Squarespace

Speed Up Your Squarespace Site

TL;DR:

Large images and video backgrounds are the biggest speed killers on Squarespace sites

Multiple fonts and custom code quietly slow things down without obvious warning signs

Test your site speed with Google PageSpeed Insights to see what needs fixing

Compress images before uploading and avoid auto-playing videos where possible

Remove unused fonts and audit any custom code you've added over time

Main Content

Most Squarespace sites run pretty fast out of the box, but certain elements can drag performance down without you realising it. Here's what usually causes problems and how to fix them.

The Main Speed Killers

Large Image Files If you're uploading photos straight from your camera or phone, they're probably massive files that take ages to load. A photo that looks fine on your screen might be 5MB when it only needs to be 200KB for web use.

Before uploading any image, run it through a compression tool like TinyPNG or use your photo editor's "save for web" option. Aim for under 500KB per image, and under 100KB for images that repeat across multiple pages.

Video Backgrounds Auto-playing video backgrounds look impressive but they're performance killers, especially on mobile. They also eat through visitors' data allowances, which doesn't win you any friends.

If you must use video backgrounds, keep them under 30 seconds, compress them heavily, and consider disabling them on mobile devices.

Font Overload Each font family you use requires a separate download. If you're using Google Fonts and have selected multiple weights (light, regular, bold, etc.) plus multiple font families, you're forcing visitors to download several font files before they can see your content properly.

Stick to two font families maximum, and only load the weights you actually use. Most sites work fine with just regular and bold weights.

Custom Code Accumulation Over time, you might have added various code snippets for analytics, chat widgets, custom styling, or third-party integrations. Each piece of code adds loading time, and some poorly written scripts can block other elements from loading.

Go through your site's custom code areas (Settings > Advanced > Code Injection) and remove anything you're not actively using.

Testing Your Site Speed

Use Google PageSpeed Insights to test your site. It'll give you a score out of 100 and highlight specific problems. Don't panic if you get a low score initially - even a score of 60-70 represents a decent loading speed for most visitors.

Pay attention to the "Opportunities" section, which shows you exactly what's slowing things down and how much time you could save by fixing each issue.

Squarespace-Specific Optimizations

Image Optimization Squarespace automatically creates multiple sizes of your images, but it can only work with what you give it. Upload high-quality but compressed images, and the system will create appropriately sized versions for different devices.

Template Choice Some Squarespace templates are heavier than others. Templates with lots of animations, complex layouts, or built-in video features will naturally load slower. If speed is crucial for your site, choose simpler templates.

Mobile Performance Test your site on an actual mobile device, not just by resizing your browser window. Mobile performance often differs significantly from desktop, and most of your visitors are probably on mobile.

FAQs

How can I check what's slowing down my Squarespace website? Use Google PageSpeed Insights - just enter your URL and it'll show you exactly what's causing slowdowns. Focus on the "Opportunities" section for the biggest wins.

Are certain Squarespace templates slower due to their design? Yes, templates with complex animations, video backgrounds, or intricate layouts tend to load slower. Avenue, Bedford, and Pacific templates are generally faster than heavily animated ones like Five or Forte.

What built-in Squarespace features help optimize site speed? Squarespace automatically compresses images, creates multiple image sizes for different devices, and includes a content delivery network (CDN). You don't need to do anything to activate these features.

Jargon Buster

PageSpeed Insights - Google's free tool that analyses your website speed and suggests improvements

Custom code - Any code you've added to your site beyond Squarespace's standard features, usually added through Code Injection

Embed codes - Code snippets that pull in content from other websites, like YouTube videos or Instagram feeds

Font files - The files that tell browsers how to display your chosen fonts

CDN (Content Delivery Network) - A system that serves your website files from servers close to your visitors' location for faster loading

Wrap-up

Site speed isn't about stripping everything down to bare bones - it's about being smart with what you keep. Start with image compression and font cleanup, as these usually give you the biggest improvements with the least effort.

If you're still seeing slow speeds after the basics, look at your custom code and consider whether all those widgets and tracking scripts are really necessary. A fast-loading site keeps visitors around longer and ranks better in search results, so the effort pays off.

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Why Is My Squarespace Site So Slow?

Speed Up Your Squarespace Site

TL;DR:

Main Content

The Main Speed Killers

Testing Your Site Speed

Squarespace-Specific Optimizations

FAQs

Jargon Buster

Wrap-up

Need help with your website

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