How to fix meta refresh on Squarespace
Remove or disable any `<meta http-equiv="refresh">` tag that automatically redirects or reloads the page in under 20 hours.
Steps for Squarespace
- Squarespace does not allow direct editing of `<head>` HTML on a per-template basis, but custom code can be injected via Website → Pages → (select a page) → Page Settings → Advanced → Page Header Code Injection, or site-wide via Website → Website Tools → Code Injection → Header.
- Check both the site-wide Header injection field and the per-page Advanced Header Code Injection field on every page for any `<meta http-equiv="refresh" ...>` tag and delete it.
- Also review any Developer Mode custom files if your site was built with Squarespace Developer Platform — check the 'site.region' file for head-section meta tags.
- For redirects, use Website → Not Linked → URL Mappings (Squarespace native 301/302 redirect feature) instead of meta-refresh.
<!-- REMOVE this tag entirely: -->
<!-- <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="10"> -->
<!-- <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=https://example.com/new-page"> -->
<!-- For URL redirects, use a server-side HTTP redirect instead.
In Apache (.htaccess): -->
<!-- Redirect 301 /old-page https://example.com/new-page -->
<!-- In Nginx: -->
<!-- return 301 https://example.com/new-page; -->What is meta refresh?
A `<meta http-equiv="refresh">` tag is a snippet of HTML code that can be placed in the `<head>` of a web page to automatically reload the current page — or send visitors to a different URL — after a set number of seconds. For example, `<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="10">` reloads the page every 10 seconds without the visitor doing anything. WCAG Success Criterion 2.2.1 (Timing Adjustable) requires that any such automatic time limit can be turned off, adjusted, or extended by the user — and a silent, instantaneous meta-refresh gives users no such control.
Automatic page refreshes are disorienting and actively harmful for users with cognitive disabilities, motor impairments, screen-reader users, and anyone who reads slowly or uses assistive technology — a sudden reload can interrupt a screen reader mid-sentence, lose a user's place on the page, or clear a partially filled form. This violates WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 2.2.1 at Level A — the most basic conformance tier — creating legal accessibility risk under laws like the ADA (US), EN 301 549 (EU), and the Equality Act (UK). Beyond accessibility, Google's crawlers and ranking signals also penalise pages that redirect or refresh unexpectedly, which can suppress your organic search rankings. Removing the tag costs nothing and immediately eliminates all of these risks.
See the complete Meta refresh guide for every platform and the full background.
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