Understanding the Difference: Google Sites Vs. Squarespace
If you’re weighing up Google Sites vs Squarespace, chances are you’re trying to answer a deceptively simple question: what’s the best website platform for a small business? I’ve worked with plenty of small businesses who started on Google Sites because it’s free, familiar, and quick and just as many who later realised they’d quietly outgrown it.
In this showdown-style comparison, I’m going to walk you through the real, practical differences between Google Sites and Squarespace - not from a feature checklist point of view, but from the perspective of someone who builds, fixes, and migrates small business websites for a living. By the end, you’ll know which platform fits where you are now, and which one supports where your business is heading next.
If you already suspect Google Sites is holding you back, this article will confirm it.
And if you want help moving to a professional Squarespace website without over-engineering things, my Basics and Essentials packages are designed specifically for businesses making that exact jump.
Overview of Google Sites
Google Sites is part of the wider Google Workspace ecosystem. It’s free, tightly integrated with tools like Google Docs and Drive, and extremely easy to use. You can create a site in an afternoon with no technical knowledge, which is precisely why many small businesses start there.
However - and this is the important bit - Google Sites was never designed to be a marketing website. It’s closer to a publishing tool for internal pages, community hubs, or simple informational sites. That distinction matters far more than Google’s branding might suggest.
What Google Sites does well
Free to use
Very low learning curve
Seamless Google Workspace integration
Where it quietly falls short
Extremely limited design control
Weak SEO foundations
No real concept of brand expression
Not built for conversion or growth
Google Sites works best when expectations are low. The moment your website needs to represent your business rather than simply exist, cracks start to show.
Overview of Squarespace
Squarespace is a fully-fledged website platform built for businesses that care about how they appear online. It combines strong design foundations with solid built-in functionality, making it ideal for service businesses, creatives, consultants, and small companies that want to look credible without hiring a developer.
I work almost exclusively with Squarespace because it strikes the best balance between professional output and long-term manageability for users.
What Squarespace is designed for
Strong branding and visual identity
Clear page structure and navigation
Built-in SEO fundamentals
Scalable content and services
Unlike Google Sites, Squarespace assumes your website has a job to do: attract, reassure, and convert.
Design & Branding: Where the Gap Becomes Obvious
This is usually where the decision becomes unavoidable.
Google Sites design limitations
Google Sites offers very few templates and minimal layout control. Fonts, spacing, and responsiveness are largely locked down. Every Google Site looks… like a Google Site.
For a hobby project, that’s fine. For a business trying to build trust, it’s a problem.
Squarespace design flexibility
Squarespace templates are professionally designed and highly adaptable. You can:
Establish a consistent brand look
Create clear visual hierarchy
Control spacing, typography, and layout
Build pages that guide users, not confuse them
Your website stops looking like a document and starts looking like a business asset.
Ease of Use: Simple vs Sustainable
Google Sites wins on immediate simplicity. Squarespace wins on sustainability.
Google Sites is easy because it does very little.
Squarespace is intuitive because it’s designed for real websites.
In practice, I see far fewer Squarespace users feeling “stuck” after launch. Google Sites users almost always hit a ceiling, and it arrives faster than expected.
SEO & Visibility: This Is the Big One
This is where Google Sites quietly lets people down the most.
Google Sites and SEO
Despite being made by Google, Google Sites offers:
Very limited control over SEO settings
Weak page structure
Poor content hierarchy
Minimal optimisation options
Yes, a Google Site can appear in search results, but competing seriously is another matter entirely.
Squarespace and SEO
Squarespace gives you:
Editable page titles and descriptions
Clean URLs
Structured headings
Image optimisation
Mobile-first performance
Scalability & Growth
This is usually the moment businesses decide to move.
Ask yourself:
Will I add services?
Will I write blog posts?
Will I want better enquiries?
Will I need integrations later?
Google Sites doesn’t grow with you. Squarespace does.
I regularly migrate businesses who didn’t plan to outgrow Google Sites - they simply did.
Pricing & Value
Google Sites
Free (with caveats)
No paid upgrades worth mentioning
Hidden cost: opportunity
Squarespace
Monthly or annual subscription
Clear tiers
Real return on investment
Squarespace isn’t “more expensive” - it’s actually built for business.
Pros and Cons
Google Sites Pros
Free
Simple
Fast to launch
Google Sites Cons
Limited design
Weak SEO
Poor scalability
Not conversion-focused
Squarespace Pros
Professional design
SEO-ready
Scalable
Trusted by businesses
Squarespace Cons
Annual or monthly cost.
Slight learning curve. Training is provided with selected Tenji Digital web design packages.
Final Verdict: Which Is Better for Small Businesses?
If your goal is simply to exist online, Google Sites will do.
If your goal is to:
look professional
attract the right clients
grow over time
then Squarespace is the better option.
This is exactly why my Basics and Essentials packages exist: to help businesses move from “just online” to properly positioned without overcomplicating things.
FAQs
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For small businesses, Squarespace is significantly better in terms of design, SEO, and long-term value.
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Limited design, weak SEO controls, poor scalability, and a lack of professional polish.
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No. This confusion comes from Squarespace acquiring Google Domains — the platforms themselves are completely separate.
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Technically yes, but realistically it’s very difficult to achieve a professional, competitive result.
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Most businesses outgrow it quickly once they want better branding, visibility, or enquiries.
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For most service-based small businesses, Squarespace is the best balance of professionalism, usability, and growth potential.
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Yes! Especially when set up correctly. This is exactly what my Squarespace packages focus on: solid foundations, not shortcuts.
