89: SEO Crash to AI Comeback: How I'm Rebuilding My Squarespace Business
Six months ago, my website traffic dropped by over 80%—virtually overnight. In this behind-the-scenes episode of Think Inside the Square, I share what happened, how I navigated the fallout, and the strategies that helped me rebuild a more sustainable Squarespace business.
Spoiler: the comeback wasn’t about chasing old traffic—it was about redefining what success looks like in 2025.
From rethinking how I structure my content, to leaning into video and YouTube as my top discovery channel, to reconnecting with the Squarespace Circle community—I’ve learned that resilience comes from adapting, not just recovering.
One of the biggest shifts? Learning to work with AI instead of against it. What started as frustration over AI dominating search results eventually led to the creation of Custom Codey, my very own GPT trained on my Squarespace expertise. This new tool has become a core part of how I serve my audience—offering personalized support around the clock.
This post is a reminder that algorithm changes, tech shifts, and tough pivots don’t have to derail your business. They can be the push you need to innovate in ways you never expected.
Related Resources:
🤖 Custom Codey, My Squarespace Code AI: customcodey.com
🎙 Adobe Podcast Tools: podcast.adobe.com
The audio enhance feature is AMAZING - i usually set mine to about 70%, unless my backyard chickens are going bonkers, then I’ll crank it up to 90% 😅
🎧 Episode 62: When Google Says Goodbye: Reinventing Inside the Square
🔍 Episode 66: SEO vs AIO: I’m giving up on Google & optimizing for AI
🙋♀️ Episode 83: SEO in the Age of AI: What Actually Works in 2025 with Mariah Magazine
This episode is one of my favorites; SEO expert Mariah Magazine and I had a candid convo about the future of search.
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[00:00:00] Six months ago, I shared some behind the scenes details about my business, specifically how I ended up losing about 80% of my search engine traffic virtually overnight. Since then, it has been a roller coaster, but there is good news. Things are finally starting to turn around. My content is being found again.
[00:00:17] My traffic is slowly climbing. My community is growing, and I have learned a lot along the way. Welcome to Think Inside The Square. A podcast full of tips and tricks to help you build a website and a business that you're proud of. I'm your host, Becca Harpain, and in this episode, we're taking a look behind the scenes of inside the Square.
[00:00:34] I'm going to share what's been working, what didn't go as planned, and how I've spent the last six months rebuilding a smarter, more sustainable way to create content for our community without relying entirely on Google. Before we get into it for a transcript of this episode, along with the links to any resources mentioned, visit insidethesquare.co/podcast
[00:00:53] now, let's rewind for a second. Last year I was sitting at my desk cup of coffee in hand, planning some new tutorials. When I noticed something a little off in Google Analytics, I kind of brushed it off because I had been ignoring my SEO tactics for a bit. I spent a little bit of time updating articles and optimizing newer content, and I thought that traffic dip would fix itself.
[00:01:13] It started to. And then it went in the opposite direction. I lost almost 80% of my traffic overnight. It turns out that Google's latest EEAT update decided that my Squarespace focused content looked a little too repetitive and possibly even spammy. Despite years of handcrafting, every single tutorial I published and pouring my heart into each and every one, Google basically stopped trusting my site.
[00:01:38] That paired with the fact that AI answers were on the rise. This was before they would actually cite their source. That combination was brutal for my business.
[00:01:48] It felt like overnight someone flipped a switch and I was no longer visible to anyone in my community. So I pivoted. I split my content between two separate sites, tutorials.Squarespace.com for pure Squarespace training and insidethesquare.co for everything else, business strategy, content creation, digital products.
[00:02:07] And honestly, that didn't work that great. And now it's time for an update.
[00:02:11] So here's the good news. My traffic is coming back slowly and steadily growing. Right now, I'm sitting at about 35 to 40% of the traffic that I had before the drop, and that might not sound like a lot, but when you've seen your numbers hit rock bottom, getting back to even a fraction of your former audience feels like a win.
[00:02:29] But here's what's even more exciting. My average search ranking is now three positions higher than it was before the update. I'm showing up higher in search results, and that's leading to better engagement, even if the overall numbers are smaller.
[00:02:41] While my average search ranking is higher and my traffic is lower, my bounce rate is also better. I'm showing up for about 40% of the searches that I was showing up for before the drop. However, those 40%, they are sticking around. They are finding the answers that they need.
[00:02:58] They're exploring more of my content and that quality that's irreplaceable. I would definitely rather have half the amount of high quality website visitors. Than people showing up to my website who aren't interested in my content in the first place. And then there's YouTube. YouTube has become one of the top resources for my community.
[00:03:17] People are finding me through video first and then heading over to my blog or my resources. It's becoming one of my top traffic sources. But my favorite part of what YouTube has done for me is that people don't have to go to my blog to get the support that they need. I've discovered that since this update, my YouTube traffic.
[00:03:34] Has skyrocketed and now my tutorials are showing up way higher in search than any of my blog posts ever did, even when I was at my peak. So while Google might not love my blog like it used to, my content is being found in new and powerful ways and the traffic that is reaching my blog, those are the people that want to be there.
[00:03:53] It is been really interesting to watch my business, my audience, and my overall exposure online completely evolve. And the strategy for my business here in 2025, it's no longer about reclaiming that traffic that I lost. It's about reaching people where they are. And right now, more and more of them are watching videos instead of reading long articles.
[00:04:12] And that change in behavior is something that I'm absolutely leaning into. I do wanna take a second to address the irony that I'm talking about leaning into video. While this particular episode of my podcast is going to be released as audio only, that is the fun part of running your own business life outside the square Got in the way of my plans and I am a few hundred miles away from my studio.
[00:04:33] So I'm recording this on my laptop using the web-based Adobe podcast tools. This is not a promotion or a plug or a pitch of any kind. I'm not an affiliate of the Adobe podcast program, but I'm using their podcast program online. To record this and enhance the audio, I'll include a link to this tool in the show notes, just in case you wanna check it out.
[00:04:53] But anyway, back to the topic at hand. I wanna talk about the shift I made in my business strategy that did not work. I mentioned earlier that splitting my content into two websites, oh, that didn't exactly go as planned. The idea, I thought it was a pretty good one, was to have one site for tutorials and technical how-tos and another site for business strategy and creative entrepreneurship in general.
[00:05:15] But in practice, it was beyond confusing for my audience. People were so used to finding everything in one place and they now had to figure out where to go and for what And if. There's one thing that I've learned from building websites for other people, it's this confusion kills momentum. So I've been slowly integrating more of my content strategy back under one umbrella.
[00:05:35] I. I'm still keeping tutorials. Do squarespace.com laser focused on Squarespace specific stuff, but inside the square.co has become more of a central hub. Again, although it may never rank as high as it did in search engine results. This is the home for my business online. This is where I share updates like this podcast episode and my long format content in my blog and all of my weekly tutorials.
[00:05:58] I had to find a balance between specialization and simplicity, and that is still a work in progress, but the shift has definitely helped to clarify what I do for my audience and clarity is everything. I am here to teach people how to create and customize Squarespace websites, and there's no reason that I need to have multiple sites to do that.
[00:06:18] There's also no reason to expect that the way people found me three years ago is going to be the way that they'll discover my content right now. I used to be so focused on data and metrics and numbers, trying to figure out exactly what people were wanting to learn how to do and how I could teach them how to do it through my content.
[00:06:36] Now, I still do that to a degree, but I feel like the pressure is gone. I'm no longer chasing those metrics, so now I get to focus on creative ways that I wanna use Squarespace and sharing that with my community. When I see a cool design or a neat website, or I'm inspired by a billboard on the freeway, I can think about creative ways that I can customize Squarespace and go back to sharing that creativity.
[00:06:58] Rather than chasing the clicks. That has been one of the biggest differences in my business, and honestly, I'm grateful to have made that change. I was definitely getting too focused on wanting to be everything for everyone, and now that I'm able to hone in on my creativity and focus on the content that I really want to share, I've had a lot more fun creating videos.
[00:07:18] There's something else that's been a huge part of this journey that I have to mention on this episode. Something I didn't expect but truly needed community. Over the last few months, I've had the chance to connect more deeply with other Squarespace experts through the Circle community. And let me tell you, being able to share ideas, vent frustrations, celebrate wins, and just.
[00:07:37] Talk shop with people who get it. It has been incredibly grounding. When I lost my traffic, I felt really isolated at first. I felt like I was the only one going through it, but the truth is so many of us were dealing with similar shifts, trying to figure out what's next, how to adapt, and how to keep showing up for the people that we serve.
[00:07:56] Having the support system, this comradery that we are in this together kind of energy, it reminded me that I'm not alone. And even though the landscape is constantly changing here online, there are people out there who are passionate and generous and committed to helping others succeed. Being a part of that kind of community has been one of the most unexpected gifts of this entire thing.
[00:08:17] It has helped me stay focused, stay encouraged, and stay excited about what's truly possible. Now there's one more big shift that I wanna share. Something that honestly changed everything for me. When I first saw what AI was doing to search results, I felt like I was being replaced. I had spent years creating tutorials, writing helpful content, and building my reputation from the ground up.
[00:08:40] My reputation of someone who genuinely wanted to help others succeed with their Squarespace websites, and suddenly AI answers were showing up above my carefully crafted blog posts. With no mention of where that information came from. At the time I was mad at ai. I felt like it had completely distorted how people find content online.
[00:09:00] I didn't wanna engage with it. I didn't wanna touch it. I just wanted to fix my SEO and get back to what I had lost. But here's the thing I couldn't see. Back then AI wasn't going away. Google was becoming the Yellow pages. It was outdated and people were finding new ways to get information. So more importantly, AI wasn't a threat.
[00:09:19] It was a tool, and it could be a really powerful one. Once I realized I could work with AI instead of against it, the entire game changed. I started thinking, what if I could give AI my content? How can I structure my content in a way that AI is going to understand it's an accurate up-to-date answer so it can provide answers based on my information?
[00:09:42] I started realizing that restructuring my blog posts could be really helpful, so I studied as much as I could about AI optimization. I actually have another episode of this podcast specifically about that, and I will link to it in the show notes. Again, you'll find those at insidethesquare.co/podcast
[00:09:58] That was definitely the start of the pivot of my business. But my gears kept turning and I realized that I needed to be asking a completely different question. What if I could train AI to understand Squarespace the way that I do?
[00:10:12] What if instead of fighting for attention in search results or serving up my answers on a silver platter, what if I could create an AI that understood how Squarespace works.
[00:10:22] An AI trained entirely on my Squarespace expertise, all the tutorials, all the code collections, all the little tricks that I've learned from working with this platform for years, and that is when Custom Codey was born. I've talked about Custom Codey on this podcast before, and I still think it is the pinnacle of my career so far.
[00:10:40] I'm so excited to see the way that Custom Codey is growing and learning and helping our community. And it was not on my radar when I stared at a flatline analytics dashboard six months ago, but now it's a core part of my business. It's opening doors that I didn't even know were there.
[00:10:56] Launching my own custom GPT helped me stop chasing an outdated version of success and start building something entirely new. Something that can grow. Something that can actually support my community in a deeper and more scalable way than I ever could. So if you're sitting there feeling like a platform update or an algorithm change has just pulled the rug out from under you, trust me, I get it.
[00:11:18] But I'm here to tell you that sometimes the pivot you didn't plan for ends up being the one that takes you to the next level.
[00:11:24] So let's quickly recap this wild journey of mine. I went from losing 80% of my search engine traffic virtually overnight, to slowly, steadily rebuilding over the last six months. I'm now sitting at about 35 to 40% of where I was, but my average position is higher than ever, and the people who are finding me, they're sticking around.
[00:11:43] My balance rate is better than ever. YouTube has become a major discovery platform for me and my audience is growing in entirely new ways, so I'm focused on creating more YouTube content for the next six months. I tried splitting my content into two websites and learned the hard way that that was a terrible idea.
[00:12:01] While I'm still going to be posting on tutorials.squarespace.com
[00:12:04] insidethesquare.co is absolutely the virtual home for my business, and that's where I'm going to stay.
[00:12:10] One of my favorite parts of my business growth in the last six months has been reconnecting with other Squarespace leaders and our Circle community. I found a support system that I didn't even know I needed, and I'm so excited to continue to foster those relationships and support our community in new and connected ways. And most importantly, I stopped fighting AI and started working with it, launching Custom Codey, a custom GPT, trained on my own Squarespace expertise. This six month journey, I thought it was about recovering lost traffic, but it really isn't. It was about redefining what success looks like for me and realizing that growth does not always come from the same source. Sometimes it comes from being willing to start fresh and try something new.
[00:12:50] Speaker: So if you're listening to this and thinking, yeah, I've been there, or maybe you're there right now, here's an action step that I want you to take. I want you to take a look at what you're trying to get back to in your business and ask yourself if that's even the place that you want to be. Maybe it's not about reclaiming what was, maybe it's time to reimagine what could be.
[00:13:09] Check in with your creativity and check in with your community. Revisit your why. Ask yourself how you could work with the tools and trends that feel like obstacles right now. Because on the other side of frustration, there might be an opportunity waiting for you.
[00:13:24] As always, thank you so much for being a part of this journey with me. It means the world to me that I get to share these behind the scenes moments and lessons with my community. If you wanna explore the tools and resources I mentioned, like Custom Codey or the AI podcast tool that I'm using to record this in my hotel room, head on over to insidethesquare.co/podcast for links, transcripts, and more.
[00:13:45] And if this episode resonated with you, I would love it if you shared it with a friend or left a comment wherever you happen to be listening, your support helps this little podcast of mine, reach more creatives just like you. Until next time, keep creating, keep growing, and most importantly, have fun with your Squarespace website.
[00:14:01] Bye for now.
