Straight answers from Andrea Block, a Squarespace website designer and SEO and AI search strategist in Marlborough, Massachusetts. Each answer comes first, with details after.
Andrea Block is a Squarespace website designer and SEO and AI search strategist based in Marlborough, Massachusetts.
She builds websites for small businesses that rank on Google and get recommended by AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Google’s AI Overviews. Before starting Andrea Block Search, she spent 10+ years in digital marketing and analytics, including leading SEO, GEO and performance marketing for Fortune 500 brands. Why work with me.
An SEO website designer builds a website so search engines can find, understand and rank it, along with designing how it looks.
That usually includes keyword research before pages are written, a page for each service, clear titles and headings, fast load times, structured data and a Google Business Profile. Some designers focus mainly on the look of a site, so it’s worth asking which of these are included.
Most Squarespace designers charge $1,200–$3,600 for a template site and $5,000–$15,000 for a custom site.
Price depends on page count, whether the designer writes the copy, and whether SEO and AI search are included or billed separately. For reference, my prices are fixed and published, from $2,000 for a website makeover to $8,500 for a Signature website. See every price and what’s included.
Most small business websites take 2 to 6 weeks, depending on the number of pages and how ready the content is.
A template site with finished content can launch in about 2 weeks. A custom site with new copy and SEO research usually takes 4 to 6 weeks. Waiting on photos, copy and logins is the most common delay. My quick-launch website takes about 2 weeks and a Signature website about 4.
I work best with service businesses where each new client is worth $1,000 or more.
That includes med spas, wellness and integrative clinics, therapy practices, dental offices, veterinary and pet care, Pilates and boutique fitness studios, small law firms and sustainable home and beauty brands. Startups are welcome too, especially when the website is part of opening.
Yes. I’m based in MetroWest Massachusetts and work with small businesses across the US.
Calls happen by video, and everything else happens by email, so location doesn’t change the process or the price.
It depends on what you need, your budget and how much you want to manage yourself.
A web designer is the right fit when you mainly need a new or better-looking site and already have a handle on marketing. An SEO specialist makes sense when your site is in good shape but isn’t being found, usually for $1,000–$3,000 a month. An agency suits larger businesses that want design, search and ads managed together, often for $7,000–$35,000 plus a monthly retainer. If you want design and search handled together without a retainer, look for a website designer who also does SEO and AI search. Compare the options in detail.
Yes. Squarespace handles the technical basics well, and the rest depends on how the site is set up and written.
It includes SSL, a sitemap, mobile-friendly templates, editable page titles and descriptions and clean URLs. What it can’t do for you is choose the right keywords, structure each page or write answers people search for. Use the Squarespace SEO checklist.
Both can rank well. The better choice depends on who will maintain the site and how much flexibility you need.
Squarespace suits owners who want to make their own updates without managing plugins, hosting or security. WordPress suits sites that need custom features or many plugins and have someone to maintain them, since a neglected WordPress site often slows down and slips in rankings. Read the full comparison.
Most small business sites cost about $25–$40 a month on an annual Squarespace plan.
A domain is free for the first year, then about $20–$70 a year. Squarespace bills you directly, so the site, the account and the domain are always yours. See the full cost breakdown.
Yes. Squarespace is built for owners to make their own changes without a developer.
Every website I build comes with a custom GPT that walks you through updates step by step, plus 2 weeks of support after launch. For bigger changes, I take updates at $150 an hour with an estimate first.
Make your business easy for AI tools to understand, trust and quote.
In practice that means a clear page for each service and location, direct answers to the questions clients ask, consistent business details across Google and directories, real reviews and structured data. AI tools draw on sources like these when they recommend a business. Step-by-step guide.
GEO is the work of getting your business mentioned and recommended in AI answers from tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity.
It overlaps heavily with SEO. The difference is the goal: GEO aims to be named in the answer, not only ranked in a list of links.
AEO is writing and structuring content so search engines and AI tools can pull a direct answer from it.
That means questions as headings, the answer in the first sentence, short paragraphs, comparison tables and FAQ structured data. This page is built that way.
SEO helps you rank on Google, AEO helps your answers get quoted, and GEO helps your business get recommended by AI.
All three rely on the same foundation: a clear, fast, well-structured website with useful content. Read the plain-English guide.
Rank well for the question first, then answer it clearly in the first lines of your page.
AI Overviews mostly cite pages that already rank on page one and give a short, direct answer backed by detail. How AI Overviews choose sources.
Yes. Most AI tools still lean on search results and well-ranked pages to decide what to recommend.
Google still sends most website traffic for small businesses, and good SEO is the base that AI visibility is built on. Why SEO still matters.
Expect early signs in 4–8 weeks and steadier results in 3–6 months.
Technical fixes and Google Business Profile updates show up fastest. New content and reviews take longer to be picked up. I check where you stand at launch and again on a results call about 3 months later.
No. Google and AI tools decide what to show, and no one can promise a ranking or a recommendation.
What I can do is make your business clear, credible and easy to quote, and show you the before-and-after data.
Every package includes a Squarespace website set up so Google and AI tools can find and read every page.
The Signature website adds a competitive report, client journey map, AI prompt and search research, every page written for you, an AI and SEO content makeover, 5 blog posts, custom design, a Search Console and Google Analytics report and a Google Business Profile. Compare packages side by side.
A common guideline is to spend 7–8% of yearly revenue on marketing, and a website project often takes about 15–30% of that year’s marketing budget.
The 7–8% figure is a rule of thumb the U.S. Small Business Administration has long suggested for businesses under $5 million with healthy margins. The 15–30% share is a practical range, not an official one. For example, a business doing $1 million a year might spend $70,000–$80,000 on marketing, so a website in the $10,000–$24,000 range fits comfortably. A business doing $300,000 a year usually fits better at $2,000–$6,000. See what websites cost.
Divide the cost of the website by what one new customer is worth to you. That tells you how many new customers it takes to pay for itself.
If each new client is worth $1,000 or more over time, as with most med spas, clinics, dental offices, law firms and vet practices, an $8,500 website pays for itself after about 8–9 new clients. If a customer is worth $300–$500 a year, like a coffee shop regular, the same site needs 20 or more new customers, so a smaller website budget usually makes more sense.
Yes. You can keep your current design and add SEO and AI search work on its own.
Options include a competitive intelligence report ($600), a site health and crawlability tune-up ($850), an AI and SEO content makeover ($1,800), blog posts ($500 for 2 or $900 for 5) and hourly updates ($150 an hour). See the add-ons.
With a Search Console and Google Analytics report and a results call about 3 months after launch.
The report shows searches, clicks, top pages, AI referral visits and inquiries over time, so you can see what changed and what it brought in. How to measure results.
Usually because visitors can’t quickly find what they need, trust you or see the next step.
Common causes are vague headlines, missing prices, no reviews near the decision point, slow pages on phones and forms that ask too much. Fixes for traffic without leads.
| Topic | SEO | AEO | GEO |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goal | Rank on Google | Get your answer quoted | Get your business recommended by AI |
| Where it shows | Google results and maps | Featured snippets, AI Overviews, voice answers | ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews |
| What it needs | Keywords, page structure, speed, links | Questions as headings, answer first, FAQ schema | Clear business facts, reviews, listings, citable content |
| How you measure it | Rankings, clicks, inquiries | Snippets and AI Overview citations | AI mentions and AI referral visits |
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