Wix SEO: the settings that matter, the limits, and when to move

Wix SEO: what the platform already does for you

“wix seo” is searched 260 times a month in the UK. The usual worry is that a builder is bad for Google. On the technical basics, Wix does most of the work itself, and the Help Center says so:

• A sitemap: “Every Wix site has a sitemap that updates automatically with your site’s most current information.”
• Redirects when you rename a page: “If you change a page’s URL, Wix creates an automatic 301 redirect, taking visitors and search engines from the old URL to the new one.”
• An editable robots.txt file, with a warning worth reading: “Editing your robots.txt file is an advanced feature.” Leave it alone unless you know what you are blocking.
• A site-wide switch, “Let search engines index your site”, under SEO Settings in the dashboard. Check it first if the site is missing from Google altogether.

One rule catches people out: “Search engines can only index pages that you have published.” A change saved in the editor but not published does not exist for Google. What Wix cannot do for you is the part that decides your ranking: the words on each page.

Titles and meta descriptions, page by page

Every page has its own title tag and meta description, set in the editor under Pages & Menu > More Actions > SEO basics. Wix’s advice is the same as Google’s: “Make each page’s title tag unique.” and “Make the length of your title tag less than 60 characters. Search engines often trim title tags that are longer than this.”

For a local business, Wix suggests the format “Keyword | Location | Brand Name”, for example “Boiler Repair | Leeds | Your Business Name”. Write the service the way your customers type it, not the way you name it internally. Keep in mind that Google does not always show what you wrote: search engines may sometimes use other content on your page if they decide that it’s a better match for a search query.

URLs and redirects on Wix

Each page’s address ends with a URL slug that you set in the same SEO basics panel. Google’s advice applies as is: “Try to include words in the URL that may be useful for users”, because “A URL that only contains random identifiers is less helpful for users”. A service page at /boiler-repair-leeds says more than /copy-of-services-2.

Wix redirects the old address when you rename a page, with two conditions. You must first upgrade your site and connect a domain to your site for the redirects to be created. And for the blog the rule is different: “For Wix Blog pages, 301 redirects will not automatically be created.” Rename a post and you must add the redirect yourself in the URL Redirect Manager.

• Shop products and blog posts get a fixed prefix by default: https://domain.com/product-page/{product slug} and https://domain.com/post/{post slug}. You can change the prefix in SEO Settings, but Wix warns that “Customizing your URLs incorrectly can drastically change your site and cause issues with its search engine ranking.”
• On a site that is already indexed, change a URL only for a real reason, then check that the old address lands on the new page.

Connect Google Search Console

Search Console is where Google tells you which pages it has indexed, which it has not and why, and the searches you already appear for. On Wix, the SEO Setup Checklist in the dashboard connects it for you, with one condition: “To connect to Google Search Console, you must have a Premium plan and a domain connected to your site.” Without your own domain, you are building on Wix’s address, not yours.

1. 1
   Upgrade to a Premium plan and connect your domain.
2. 2
   Open the SEO Setup Checklist in the dashboard and click Connect to Google at the end of the first step.
3. 3
   In Search Console, check that the sitemap is listed in the Sitemaps report, then read the Pages report: it gives the reason for each page that is not indexed.
4. 4
   After an important change, request indexing of the page with the URL Inspection tool.

Speed: what you can change on Wix

Google writes: “We highly recommend site owners achieve good Core Web Vitals for success with Search and to ensure a great user experience generally.” On Wix you do not tune the server, so speed comes down to what you put on each page. The Help Center’s advice:

• Read real visitor data, not one test: “We highly recommend focusing on real visitor data.” It is in the Site Speed dashboard and in Search Console’s Core Web Vitals report.
• “Limit the number of apps and widgets on each page.” Every chat widget, pop-up and embedded feed adds code to load.
• Upload photos as JPG or WebP rather than PNG, keep galleries and videos lower down the page, and do not animate the first large image or block of text.
• Review third-party code added in Custom Code and Marketing Integrations, and remove what you no longer use.

What you will not be able to fix: Wix says itself that “Some fixes suggested by third parties may be beyond your control.” A speed test that tells you to change the server or the platform’s own files is not a to-do item on Wix.

What Wix does not let you control

Wix is a hosted service: you rent the platform, and some decisions stay with Wix. The ones that matter for search:

• Hosting: in order for your site to work properly, it needs to be hosted and operated on Wix’s servers. You cannot move the site to another host and keep it as it is.
• Server and platform code: no server settings, no access to the files Wix loads on every page, and some speed advice you cannot apply.
• Redirects on a free plan: they need a Premium plan and your own domain.
• Leaving: Wix states that the content you build on Wix belongs to you, but the site itself does not export. Moving means rebuilding the pages elsewhere and redirecting every old address to its new one.

One thing you do keep: you can connect a domain to your Wix site, and purchase and manage the domain with another provider. Register your domain in your business’s name, with Wix or elsewhere, so that the address stays yours if you ever move.

Squarespace SEO: the same checklist, the same trade-off

“squarespace seo” is searched 170 times a month in the UK. Squarespace is the same kind of hosted builder and its own SEO checklist covers the same ground. On titles: “We recommend you keep the title under 60 characters and include one or more keywords.” On addresses, a trap specific to the way it creates them: “If you save a blog post, product, or event before adding a title, the URL slug will be a random string of characters.” Check every slug and replace any that does not use real words. And when you change one: “If you change the URL slug on a page on your site, create URL redirects to forward visitors who go to the old URL to the correct page.”

Its limit when you leave is written in its Help Center too: “Many features rely on our platform’s JavaScript and CSS, so some content doesn’t export.” Among the content that does not export are the store pages, so a shop is rebuilt by hand on the new platform.

When to stay on Wix and when to move

Stay on Wix if your site is a handful of service pages, a contact form and maybe a booking tool: what holds it back on Google is almost never the platform but the pages (titles, one page per service and area, real content). Moving costs a rebuild and a redirect for every address, and only pays off when you hit a limit you cannot work around:

• You need control the platform does not give: server settings, your own code on every page, a speed fix the Help Center says is beyond your control.
• Your shop outgrows the builder: a large catalogue, complex variants or a dedicated e-commerce platform such as Shopify.
• You want to own the whole site, files included, and be free to change host.

If you move, list every indexed address first (Search Console, Pages report), map each one to its new page, and set the 301 redirects on the day of the switch. Then watch the Pages report for several weeks before you change anything else.

Our take

For a tradesperson or a local practice already on Wix, we would not move: we would spend the time on the titles, the meta descriptions and one page per service and area, then connect Search Console and read the Pages report. The platform matters less than what is written on the pages. The trap we would avoid is renaming blog posts or shop prefixes on an indexed site without checking the redirects, because Wix does not create them for the blog. Move only when you hit a limit you can name, and plan the redirects before the new site goes live.

The FindMyCompany team