In short. Squarespace documents Settings > Crawlers > Block Search engine crawlers, with a Disallow: / rule that controls crawling while URLs may remain in search.
Definition: As of 17 October 2026, Squarespace documents a site-wide Block Search engine crawlers checkbox under Settings > Crawlers. Its search exclusion guide identifies
Disallow: /as the associated rule in robots.txt, a file of crawler access instructions, requesting that crawlers avoid the site's paths.
Key facts
- Squarespace's search exclusion guide directs site owners to check Block Search engine crawlers in the Crawlers panel.
- Google's robots.txt introduction explains that a blocked URL can still appear in search results when other pages link to it.
- Google's robots.txt creation guide places the file at the root of the site host and describes rules grouped by crawler name.
- Google's noindex documentation requires crawler access for
noindex, an instruction to exclude a page from search indexing, to work.
Where is the site-wide setting?
Squarespace's documented procedure starts in Settings, then Crawlers. The next step is to check Block Search engine crawlers. The guide shows this robots.txt rule:
Disallow: /
This is the rule excerpt published by Squarespace. A robots.txt file contains instructions that crawlers read before requesting pages. Google's rule syntax documentation explains that a User-agent line identifies the crawler to which a group applies; Disallow identifies paths excluded from crawling. The surrounding group therefore matters when reading the generated file.
How can the generated rules be checked?
Google's testing instructions recommend opening the site's robots.txt address in a private browsing window. Its example uses:
https://example.com/robots.txt
The actual site's hostname replaces example.com. Inspecting that address after changing the Squarespace setting allows the served file to be checked for Disallow: / and its associated User-agent group. The same Google documentation identifies the robots.txt report in Search Console as a way to check markup in an already accessible file.
Does blocking crawling remove existing search results?
Google's robots.txt introduction says a disallowed URL can still be indexed through links elsewhere on the web. The URL and information such as link text can consequently remain visible in Google Search.
A noindex instruction asks supporting search engines to exclude a page from their index, the stored information used to produce results. Google's noindex guide explains that the crawler must fetch the page to read that instruction. Combining a crawl block with a page-level noindex can prevent Google from seeing the exclusion instruction. A site owner seeking removal from search therefore needs to account for crawl access when choosing the setting.
Related terms
- robots.txt
- noindex
- How do I hide a Squarespace page from search results?
- Can Google read noindex on a page blocked by robots.txt?
FAQ
Can visitors still open my site?
Yes. Squarespace's search exclusion guide describes requesting search exclusion while leaving the website available to visitors.
Does this stop every crawler?
Google's robots.txt introduction says some crawlers may ignore these instructions. It recommends password protection for private files that need protection from crawler access.
Can I put noindex in robots.txt?
Google's noindex documentation says Google does not support that method. The supported locations are a page's meta tag or an HTTP response header.
Sources
- Squarespace, "Hiding your site from search results", 22 May 2026
- Google Search Central, "Introduction to robots.txt", 10 December 2025
- Google, "How to write and submit a robots.txt file", 21 November 2025
- Google Search Central, "Block Search indexing with noindex", 10 December 2025
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