How to Add Search to Squarespace Sites with Monocle
Our phones, computers, and inboxes are all built around one simple question (with one simple magnifying glass): What are you looking for? But when it comes to our websites, we still give visitors navigation menus and submenus and lists and tables and hope they’ll stumble upon what they need. They really don’t. They want to find the answer to their question—and quickly.
By making a search interface the central way to navigate your content, the pain of sifting through menus (or organizing them in the first place) fades away. The good news: Squarespace already comes with a native search feature. And, for those who want to take their sites to the next level, there is Monocle Search, a Squarespace Extension that enhances Squarespace search in many ways. Benefits of Monocle Search include:
No more missing content: Monocle finds everything, even including the content of Member Sites, blog posts, and PDFs.
No more waiting for results: Real-time search shows results as fast as you can type.
No more take-it-or-leave-it: A beautiful interface with customizable design, filters, and fine-tuned content fits your vision, branding, and site.
Convert visitors into customers
When visitors can simply ask for what they need, everything changes. They find what they were looking for much faster, spending less time clicking around and more time actually engaging with your content, story, and products.
That’s not just good user experience (UX); it’s good business. A satisfied visitor is more likely to convert into a satisfied customer. A gorgeous site can garner applause, but world-class functionality is what drives the sale.
We have users that love using Monocle on their own site to find their own content!
Help visitors find what they need
Not all search results are created equal, and the goal isn’t to show more results; it’s to show better ones. Monocle is typo resistant and great at sorting results by relevancy, based on the content and hierarchy of your pages. Visitors can also search for variants of products, which is great for ecommerce sites selling multiple colors or sizes of a product.
These are just some of the factors leading to less clutter and more relevant results, resulting in reduced bounce rates and happier customers.
Trust is the most valuable resource
As a web designer, you may be familiar with the feeling of hitting a wall on a website—not knowing where something is, trying three menus, and putting your inquiry into a search engine before eventually giving up. That moment of friction is small, but costly.
Visitors leave, sometimes without ever seeing what they were looking for. A smooth, intuitive search experience keeps that from happening. It creates a sense of effortlessness, of clarity—the feeling that this site just works.
Monocle’s interface can be fully adapted to fit each project’s individual style and branding. When a site feels cohesive, it reflects back on the brand and shows visitors that you’ve thought about their time, attention, and needs.
Make Member Sites content discoverable
With Squarespace, you have a powerful tool to create and sell member-only areas and courses. In a world of ad-ridden business models, Member Sites offer great content that your clients can simply pay for with no strings attached.
Out of the box, though, Member Sites aren’t searchable, requiring smart design, page structure, and overview pages. Even then, your subscribers may not have an easy time finding your content. This is where Monocle Search comes in (again). With Monocle Search, you can make your Member Sites content discoverable.
Pro tip: Using Monocle Search on a site with members-only content is beneficial for members to find the nuggets of information that they need faster. It also serves as a way of advertising your member content to prospective new members with customizable badges on the search results.
Who should use Monocle Search?
With four plans available, all the way from free basic search to “professional” for ecommerce and paid content sites, Monocle offers something for every Squarespace site owner. Already, Squarespace customers are using the extension on sites dedicated to recipe sharing, social communities, art galleries, bookstores, and big warehouse sales.
The usefulness of a search feature increases exponentially the more content or products are on offer. A powerful search feature unlocks countless opportunities for conversion, in that case.
Everyone wins with Monocle Search
For web designers, developers, and agencies, Monocle can be a quiet hero. It reduces the need for complicated navigation structures and gives your clients something they’ll immediately appreciate: a better UX without extra maintenance.
Adding Monocle to a project feels like upgrading the site’s usability—not through fancy animations or copy, but with simple, powerful functionality that makes sense.
For site owners, it’s equally straightforward. Once installed (which takes just a couple of clicks), Monocle keeps everything indexed automatically. When you adjust settings through the admin interface, you can see the outcome right away. No complex setup, no ongoing management burden.
In a world where everything else starts with a search bar, your website shouldn’t be the exception.
Want more?
Check out Squarespace Circle, Squarespace’s program for professional designers and web design agencies. Along with exclusive content, discounts, and other perks, Circle brings professionals together from across the globe to exchange advice while connecting with new clients and collaborators.
