How to Add Instagram Photos to Squarespace

Displaying your Instagram photos directly on your Squarespace website is a fantastic way to keep your site’s content looking fresh and instantly show visitors your brand’s active personality. This guide covers everything you need to know, from using Squarespace’s built-in Instagram Block to fine-tuning its design and troubleshooting common headaches.

Why Display Your Instagram Feed on Squarespace?

Before we get into the step-by-step, it's helpful to understand why this is such a powerful move for an online brand. Integrating your Instagram feed isn't just about putting pretty pictures in your footer, it’s a strategic decision that offers several clear benefits:

• Provides Instant Social Proof: An active, up-to-date Instagram feed shows potential customers and clients that you are a real, thriving brand with an engaged community. It acts as a living testimonial to your business's vitality.
• Keeps Your Website Content Dynamic: Let's be honest, updating your website's portfolio or gallery can be time-consuming. An Instagram feed automatically pulls your latest content, ensuring that every time someone visits your site, there might be something new to see. It breathes life into otherwise static pages.
• Enhances Visual Appeal: Instagram is a visual-first platform. By bringing that curated aesthetic to your website, you can add a beautifully designed, dynamic grid of images that captures your brand’s look and feel better than a simple photo gallery ever could.
• Grows Your Instagram Following: By presenting your feed to website traffic, you create a direct path for visitors to discover and follow your Instagram account. It’s an effective funnel, turning website visitors into long-term followers who see your content daily.

The Easiest Way: Using Squarespace's Native Instagram Block

Squarespace has a built-in feature specifically for this purpose, making the process straightforward. There are no plugins or custom code required - just a few clicks. Here's exactly how to set it up.

Step 1: Adding the Instagram Block

First, navigate to the Squarespace page where you want your Instagram feed to appear. This could be your homepage, your footer for sitewide visibility, or even a dedicated contact or community page.

Once you're on the page:

1. Enter edit mode by clicking the “Edit” button in the top left corner of your site preview.
2. Hover over the section where you’d like to add the feed and click “Add Block” or click one of the plus-sign insert points that appear on the grid.
3. A menu of content blocks will pop up. You can either scroll to find the Instagram Block or simply type “Instagram” into the search bar at the top.
4. Click on the Instagram icon to add the block to your page. You can drag and drop it exactly where you want it.

Step 2: Connecting Your Instagram Account

Once you’ve added the block, a default placeholder grid will appear, along with the block’s editor window. Before you can display your photos, you need to give Squarespace permission to access them.

In the block editor, you will see three tabs at the top: Account, Design, and Content. Make sure you’re on the Account tab.

• Click the dropdown menu under “Instagram Account” and select “Add an account...”
• A pop-up window will appear, prompting you to authorize the connection. It will likely ask you to log into Facebook. Don’t panic! This is normal. Professional Instagram accounts are managed through Meta’s Business Suite, so authorization happens via Facebook.
• Log in with your credentials and follow the prompts to grant Squarespace access to your Instagram Business account.
• Once connected, your Instagram account handle should appear in the dropdown menu. Make sure it's selected.

Step 3: Customizing Your Feed's Design

This is where you get to make the feed match your website's aesthetic. Click over to the Design tab in the block’s editor. Squarespace offers a surprising amount of control over how your feed looks.

Layout Options

You have four main layouts to choose from. Each has a different feel:

• Grid: This is the most popular option. It displays your photos in a clean, masonry-style grid. It's clean, organized, and familiar.
• Carousel: This layout shows your posts in a single, endlessly scrolling row. It's great for saving vertical space while still showing a good number of recent posts.
• Slideshow: This option displays one post at a time with arrows to navigate. It's ideal if you want to highlight the detail in each individual image.
• Stacked: This simply lists your posts vertically, one after another, much like the main Instagram app feed. This works best in a narrow column or sidebar.

Experiment with each one to see which best fits the flow of your page.

Visual Adjustments

Beyond the layout, you can fine-tune several other design details:

• Aspect Ratio: Choose whether you want your images displayed as Squares (1:1), Landscape (3:2), Portrait (2:3), or automatically detected from the original. A consistent ratio like Square generally creates the cleanest look.
• Columns and Space: For the Grid layout, you can control how many columns of photos are displayed and the amount of padding (gutter) between each one. Fewer columns make the individual images larger.
• Show Metadata: You can toggle on or off elements like the Instagram "Like" counter, comment counter, and thumbnail titles/images for videos. Turning these off often creates a more minimalist aesthetic.
• Lightbox: Keep this option enabled. It allows visitors to click on an image to see it in a larger pop-up view without leaving your website.
• Theme: Finally, you can choose from a "Light" or "Dark" color scheme for the overlay text and icons, allowing it to blend in with your website’s design.

Step 4: Choosing What Content to Display

Next, click over to the Content tab. This area lets you get more specific about which posts appear on your feed.

Your main choice here is under "Select Source." You can either pull from your connected account or choose Hashtag. If you select Hashtag, you can input a specific hashtag (like #yourbrandcampaign) and Squarespace will pull in all public posts that use it. This is an incredibly powerful tool for showcasing User-Generated Content (UGC) and building a sense of community directly on your site.

You can also set the Number of Items to display, from 1 up to 20 images. Pick a number that looks balanced in your design without being overwhelming.

Step 5: Save Your Changes

Once you are happy with the design and content settings, close the Instagram Block editor. In the top-left corner of the page, click "Done" and then "Save." That's it! Your live, dynamic Instagram feed is now part of your Squarespace website.

Best Practices for an Eye-Catching Instagram Gallery

Getting the technical setup right is half the battle. To make your integration truly effective, keep these principles in mind.

• Be Strategic with Placement: The footer is a classic spot because it appears on every page, offering consistent social proof. However, consider adding the block to other pages where it makes sense. An "About" page could feature a feed to show your brand's human side, while a dedicated "Community" or "Press" page is the perfect place for a hashtag-driven UGC feed.
• Remember Your Grid Curation: The content on your Instagram profile is now officially part of your website's design. Be mindful of this when posting. Ask yourself if your upcoming posts will look good not only in the Instagram app but also within the grid on your site. A cohesive color palette and style on Instagram translate into a professional-looking gallery on Squarespace.
• Encourage interaction with a CTA: Above your Instagram grid, add a simple text block with a call-to-action like, "Follow our journey on Instagram for daily updates!" This small prompt can significantly increase the chances of visitors clicking through to your profile.
• Balance Beauty and Performance: While displaying a massive grid of 20 images might seem impressive, it can also increase your page’s load time. Stick to a reasonable number, like 6 to 12 images, which is usually enough to look full and inviting without slowing down your site speed.

Troubleshooting: What to Do When It Breaks

Sometimes, things go wrong. Here are the most common issues with the Squarespace Instagram Block and how to fix them quickly.

"My Instagram Account Disconnected."

This is by far the most frequent issue. For security reasons, the authorization (or "token") between Squarespace and Instagram expires every 60-90 days. You will need to re-authenticate it.

The Fix: From your main Squarespace dashboard, go to Settings >, Connected Accounts. Click on your Instagram account and then click "Disconnect." Next, click "Connect Account," find Instagram, and go through the authorization process again. After reconnecting it here, go back to your Instagram Block on the page and make sure the correct account is selected. This usually resolves the issue immediately.

"My Newest Photos Aren't Showing Up."

Squarespace caches data to keep your site running fast, which means that sometimes the Instagram Block doesn't update instantly. Usually, it syncs within an hour.

The Fix: If you need it to update right away, an easy way to force a refresh is to simply edit the page, click on your Instagram block to open its settings, make a tiny change (like changing the number of items from 8 to 9), and then change it back. Then save the page. This action forces Squarespace to fetch the latest data from Instagram's servers.

"I Can't Connect My Personal Instagram Account."

The native Squarespace block requires an Instagram Business Account. Personal or Creator accounts sometimes have connectivity issues or can't be connected at all.

The Fix: The solution is simple! In the Instagram app, go to Settings, find the Account section, and select "Switch to Professional Account." This is free and also gives you access to valuable analytics within the Instagram app. Follow the prompts to set it up as a Business account and connect it to a Facebook page.

Final Thoughts

Seamlessly adding your Instagram feed to Squarespace is one of the most effective and low-effort ways to enrich your site. It automates content updates, builds visitor trust with social proof, and creates a visual bridge between your website and your social media community, all through a user-friendly, built-in block.

Keeping that Instagram feed full of great content you're proud to display on your website is the other half of the battle. We built Postbase specifically because we know how chaotic managing social media can feel - especially when you're trying to plan and schedule visually-driven content like Reels and posts. Our visual calendar lets you see your entire content strategy at a glance, and our rock-solid scheduler means you can trust your posts will go live on time, every time, keeping that on-site feed fresh and engaging for your audience. With Postbase, you can spend less time wrestling with social media and more time building your brand.