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Eight years back, I was a WordPress user. Built a site for my wedding photography business—home page, contact, portfolio, about me. All the nuts and bolts to get me rolling as a wedding photographer in Cork. Wasn’t flawless—lagged a bit—but it did what it needed to. Clients found me, booked me, and I was chuffed. New to this whole website racket, I figured, “It’s working, business is coming in—what more do I need?” Felt like I’d cracked it, a small win for a lad starting out.
That buzz didn’t last. A few weeks in, the cracks showed up—my site started getting hacked monthly. Not just a glitch—full-on ransom demands. Some digital scumbag locking me out, demanding cash to give it back. I’d scramble to restore from backups, sweating every time. Those online cleanup companies? Quoted me prices that’d make your eyes water—way more than a wedding photographer like me could stomach, especially just starting out. Small business margins are tight—couldn’t keep forking over cash to fix what shouldn’t have broke.
Why’d it keep happening? I was clueless about security back then. Didn’t know you had to hide login files from prying eyes. Didn’t realize plugin folders were like an open invite if you left ‘em exposed. Had no clue that keeping WordPress in top shape—updates, clean code, tight settings—was non-negotiable to keep hackers out. I’d slapped on security plugins, sure, but it was like putting a Band-Aid on a busted pipe—looked fine ‘til you saw the leak. They found the gaps, every bloody month.
Two years of that nonsense wore me down. Constantly on edge, waiting for the next hit. Couldn’t focus on wedding photos or chasing gigs—too busy playing whack-a-mole with hackers. Had to change something.
So I jumped ship to Squarespace. Why? Heard it was dead easy—drag-and-drop, no faffing about with code. Gave it a whirl, and Christ, my site looked better than ever. Polished, sleek—everything linked up like a dream. Work started rolling in again, and the real kicker? No hackers. Squarespace locked it all down for me—hid the files, patched the holes, kept the bad lads out. Didn’t have to think about it. After years of WordPress stress, that was pure relief. Slept at night knowing my site wasn’t a sitting duck.
For a while, it felt like the answer. A wedding photographer needs a site that works, not one that’s a liability. Squarespace delivered that—safe, simple, sorted. But it wasn’t all roses.
About a year in, I copped on—I needed more juice from my site. Set up a Google Business account to snag local photographers’ gigs in Cork, branch out to Munster, maybe even shoot weddings nationwide. Love meeting couples, having the chat—business fits me like a glove. Linking Google Business was a doddle, but then I kept hearing about “local schema.” What the hell’s that? Googled it ‘til I was blue in the face. Turns out it’s code telling Google exactly what you’re about—where you’re based, what you do, like wedding photography prices or elopement photographer services. Helps local packs pop you up when folks search “wedding photographers near me.”
Squarespace’s schema? Absolute rubbish. Took me ages to figure that out—didn’t even know what I was looking for at first. By then, I’d learned a fair bit about SEO, miles from the greenhorn who started. Still hadn’t fixed the schema, but I wasn’t totally lost anymore.
Then ChatGPT came along—thank feck for that. An AI that knew code better than me, better than most. Every day, I’d hammer it with questions: “Check my URL, what’s the schema say?” It’d spot Squarespace’s default mess—Google’s Rich Results Test backed it up, useless every time. Squarespace support? Nice enough, told me to tweak this, adjust that. Tried it all. Nothing clicked. Months dragged on, me pulling my hair out.
But ChatGPT kept getting smarter, Google rolled out SEO updates, and we cracked it. Found a workaround—custom code in an HTML block. Told Google, “Screw Squarespace’s schema, read this instead.” Gave Chat my details—location, services, wedding photos vibe. It churned out a gem of a code. Plugged it in, and boom—worked like magic. Local SEO for photographers? Sorted. Felt like I’d dodged a bullet.
Thought I’d cracked the big one. Then ChatGPT dropped a bomb—Squarespace was holding back my whole SEO game. I’d been so laser-focused on schema, I’d missed the forest for the trees. Few months later, I clocked it—other wedding photographers near me, some of the best wedding photographers in my niche, were outranking me. Proper annoying. What were they doing that I wasn’t?
Back to ChatGPT. Kept one chat open all week, picking up where we left off each day. It broke it down—SEO keywords, long-tail stuff like “wedding photography prices near me” or “elopement photography packages,” H1s, H2s, blogs that hit hard. Gave me a crash course in SEO best practices and website development. Been doing this mostly solo, so I was all in—hungry to learn. Fixed blog posts, wove in keywords—professional wedding photographer here, candid wedding photographer there—resubmitted to Google Console. Waited for the crawl. Chat gave me the nod: “Solid work, mate.”
Signed up for SEMrush and Ahrefs free versions. Audited my site, tracked keywords—wedding photographer cost, photographers near me wedding, the works. Issues popped up, I’d haul ‘em to Chat, sort ‘em, resubmit. Wrote stacks of blogs, structured ‘em right—green lights in Console. But my Core Web Vitals? Still a disaster.
Google’s obsessed with fast sites. Core Web Vitals—speed, stability—play a big role in rankings. Mine were in the toilet. Back to the AI. Tried every trick it threw at me. Converted images to WebP, kept ‘em under 500kb—lighter than a feather. Stripped my front page bare—practically a ghost town. Nothing shifted. Dug online—Squarespace forums had lads moaning the same, years back. Same gripes, same limp response from support: “Our tests say it’s fine, tech team’s looking at it.” Years apart, same old dodge. Utter nonsense.
Why wouldn’t it budge? Squarespace’s internal code was the problem—locked tight, no way to tweak it from my end. Google’s changing how it ranks sites, and my site’s stuck in the slow lane—I’m toast if I stay. Gutted my front page to a shell—still sluggish. Keywords wouldn’t climb either. Had 80 blogs, 8 landing pages, hundreds of keywords—only 30 ranked. That’s not cutting it.
As we speak i have brought my website to this score, in but a few weeks, something i could never do in squarespace
ChatGPT laid it out cold—Squarespace kept me safe from hackers, but it was murdering my speed, Core Vitals, and SEO potential. Couldn’t ignore it anymore. Safe’s grand, but if I’m losing ground to every other wedding photographer in Cork—or anywhere—because my site’s a snail, what’s the point? Had to bail, not just ‘cause I was fed up, but because my business was choking. Couldn’t rank for “best wedding photos” or “elopement photographer near me” with a site that wouldn’t move.
Where to go? WordPress kept popping up everywhere—80% of the web runs on it, they say. Best platform for wedding photography websites if you want performance and SEO juice. But it scared me stiff—back to monthly hacks, endless restores? Been there, hated it. Then I remembered—I’ve got AI now. ChatGPT and Grok, code wizards who’d have my back. That tipped it. Safety’s nice, but growth’s everything.
Start of 2025, I said, “Sod it, I’m back to WordPress.” Squarespace was second nature by then—WordPress a hazy memory. Hired a dev team to kick it off—four weeks, and they barely scratched the surface. Pitiful effort. Told ‘em to shove off—waste of cash I could’ve spent on wedding photography packages. Kept Squarespace live so clients could still reach me, then rolled up my sleeves and built this site myself.
Had to relearn WordPress from scratch—Elementor too. Rough as hell at first, February 2025. Took days to pull assets off Squarespace—one-by-one downloads? Absolute torture. No “export all” button—figures, they don’t make leaving easy. Dug up workarounds—Google’s your mate for that. Got thousands of pics and files off, bit by bit.
Built it page by page—copied titles, URLs, blogs. Matched ‘em up, pasted ‘em over. Resubmitting my sitemap was a breeze. Two weeks in, mid-Feb, SEMrush and Ahrefs started twitching—organic keywords rose, rankings shifted. Console flagged broken links—fixed ‘em with ChatGPT and Grok. The three of us—me, Chat, Grok—hammered out glitches. Rankings climbed, keywords shot up 10x. Wobbly at times—up a spot, down a spot—but trending higher.
Here’s the truth, my side of the lens:
Squarespace kept me safe, I’ll give it that—grand if you just want a pretty site. But it throttled my growth—speed, SEO, the lot. WordPress? Riskier, no doubt, but the payoff’s real. Took hacks, headaches, and AI to see it. Happy I dug through the muck, happier I’m here now. Future’s wide open—I’ll polish this site, tweak wedding photography near me pages, make it hum.
Squarespace vs WordPress comparison? Squarespace is safe, simple—fine for a basic gig. Wedding photographers near me prices on a shoestring? It’ll do. But for local photographers chasing rankings, Core Vitals, and keywords like “best wedding photography near me” or “candid wedding photographer”—WordPress is the real deal. Took me years of grief to figure it out. Do you want safety or scale? I’m WordPress now—AI in my corner, fighting the good fight. What’s your call?
Here’s the proof, laid out straight. Dug up the dirt from forums, studies, and stats—everything I’ve said holds water. Check the table below—links live, evidence solid. Google loves a graph, so I’ve made it pretty, but it’s all grit underneath.
| What I Said | Proof It’s True | Link to Verify |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress got hacked monthly back in the day | Studies show WordPress’s open-source nature makes it a target—40% of sites hit without proper security. | Wordfence Security Stats |
| Squarespace kept me safe from hackers | Squarespace’s closed system and built-in security cut hack risks—no user config needed. | Squarespace Security Overview |
| Squarespace tanked my speed and Core Vitals | Tests rank Squarespace low on Core Vitals—slow LCP scores drag it down vs. WordPress. | Search Engine Journal Core Vitals Study |
| Squarespace forums full of Core Vitals moans, years old | Users have griped since 2020—same speed issues, same brush-off from support. | Squarespace Forum Thread (2023, refs earlier) |
| ChatGPT and Grok helped me fix SEO and security | AI tools are legit for small biz—schema hacks and security tips boost rankings fast. | SEJ on AI SEO Tools |
| WordPress rankings shot up—10x keywords | WordPress’s SEO plugins and control crush it—85% of top sites use it for a reason. | Ahrefs WordPress SEO Study |
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