SEO for Wix websites
SEO is essential to the success of any website, including those built with Wix. It not only improves your site’s visibility in search engine results, but also attracts high-quality traffic. Wix offers users a user-friendly platform with several built-in SEO features designed to help websites perform better in search engines such as Google. By using these SEO tools effectively, Wix users can significantly improve their online presence, which is essential for attracting visitors and boosting conversions. In this article, I’ll take you through my roadmap for the SEO for Wix websites .
Basic SEO settings in Wix
Wix makes it easy to manage your website’s basic SEO settings. This includes customizing your site description, keywords, and URL structures, all accessible through the Wix Editor:
- Site description and keywords: Go to the “Settings” menu, select “My Site,” then “SEO (Google). Here you can enter your site description and keywords that best describe your website.
- URL structures: Wix allows you to customize URLs for your pages, allowing you to create clean, descriptive links that help both users and search engines understand what your page is about. Go to “Page Settings” and then “SEO (Google)” to adjust the URL slug.
Extensions and tools for SEO in Wix
Wix offers a range of built-in tools and extensions specifically designed to support your SEO efforts:
- Wix SEO Wiz: A powerful tool that generates a personalized SEO plan for your website. It guides you through optimizing your site for search engines, including setting SEO-friendly URLs, optimizing titles and descriptions, and more.
- Site Booster: An app available in the Wix App Market that helps increase your website’s online visibility. It helps manage business listings and increase your site’s findability on location-based services.
By using these settings and tools effectively, you can significantly improve the SEO of your Wix website, improving your performance in search engine results and attracting more qualified traffic to your site.
Read more about SEO within the largest CMSes
I wrote an article on optimizing SEO for all the major platforms that websites are built on. Check out the full list below and read on.
- SEO for Squarespace websites
- SEO for BigCommerce web shops
- SEO for PrestaShop web shops
- SEO for WooCommerce web shops
- SEO for Shopify web shops
- SEO for HubSpot websites
- SEO for Joomla websites
- SEO for Webflow websites
- Magneto 2 webshop and SEO
- SEO WordPress
Product page optimization in Wix
For Wix websites, product page optimization is a crucial aspect of SEO. Here are some specific steps for Wix users:
- Product titles: Make each product title specific and descriptive, including relevant keywords close to the beginning. In Wix, you can edit the product title directly in the product settings of your Wix Stores dashboard.
- Product descriptions: Write comprehensive and keyword-rich product descriptions. Wix offers a rich text editor for product descriptions that allows you to not only format text but also add links, images and videos.
- Images: Use the alt text feature for each product image. Wix lets you add alt text by clicking on an image and choosing “Settings,” which allows you to better inform search engines about the image’s content.
Structured data and schema markup for product pages in Wix
Structured data via schema markup is essential for Wix websites to provide search engines with detailed information about products. This improves display in search results and can lead to higher clickthrough rates.
- Implementation in Wix: Wix automatically generates structured data for products on your website, including name, description, price and more, making your product pages ready for rich snippets with no extra effort.
Using rich snippets and schema markup in Wix
Rich snippets enhance search results by displaying specific product details such as reviews, prices and inventory status. This makes your products more attractive to potential buyers searching search results.
- Benefits in Wix: Wix’s automatic schema markup allows product reviews and prices to appear directly in search results, increasing the visibility and attractiveness of your products.
How to add schema markup to your Wix site
Although Wix automatically provides a basic level of schema markup for product pages, you may need custom schemas for specific needs:
- Custom schema markup: For advanced schema markup, such as for articles or events, you can use the Wix Editor to insert custom HTML code with the required schema.org structure. Go to ‘Add’ > ‘More’ > ‘HTML iFrame’ and place your custom schema markup code there.
By optimizing product pages and using schema markup effectively, Wix users can significantly improve their SEO, leading to better search engine rankings and ultimately more traffic and conversions.
Speed and mobile optimization for Wix
Website loading speed is a crucial factor for both SEO and overall user experience. Search engines such as Google prefer faster websites, which can lead to higher rankings. For users, a fast loading speed results in smoother navigation and increased satisfaction, which is essential for retaining visitors and increasing conversions.
Extensions for pagespeed in Wix
Wix offers several built-in features and tools to improve the speed of your website:
- Wix Turbo: Automatically implemented on all Wix websites, Wix Turbo optimizes performance by using advanced technologies to increase loading speed.
- Image optimization: Wix automatically resizes and resizes images and uses advanced techniques such as lazy loading, which means that images are loaded only when they come into view.
Optimizing Wix for mobile
- Use a Mobile-Friendly Design: Make sure your Wix site uses a responsive design that automatically adapts to different screen sizes.
- Minimize the use of heavy media: While multimedia elements are attractive, they can affect load times. Use these elements sparingly and optimize the file size of images and videos.
- Test your website on mobile devices: Use the Wix mobile editor to see how your site looks on different devices and make adjustments as needed for the best mobile experience.
How do you install Google Analytics in a Wix website?
Integrating Google Analytics with your Wix website provides in-depth insights into visitor behavior and the effectiveness of your SEO strategies.
- Create a Google Analytics account if you have not already done so and obtain your unique tracking ID.
- Go to your Wix dashboard, select “Settings,” then “Tracking & Analytics.
- Click “+ New Tool” and choose “Google Analytics.
- Enter your Google Analytics tracking ID. Be sure to check the “Enable IP anonymization” checkbox to comply with privacy regulations such as the AVG.
- Click “Apply” to complete the integration. Google Analytics is now starting to collect data about your Wix website, which can give you valuable insights to further improve your SEO strategies.
How do you install the Google Tag Manager in a Wix website?
Integrating Google Tag Manager (GTM) with your Wix website allows you to efficiently manage tracking codes and related scripts without the need to directly modify your website’s code. Here’s how to install GTM on your Wix site:
- Create a Google Tag Manager Account: Go to the Google Tag Manager website and create an account. Follow the instructions to create a new container for your website. You will receive a GTM ID and two code snippets.
- Add GTM to your Wix Site: Log in to your Wix dashboard and navigate to “Settings. Click on ‘Tracking & Analytics’ and then ‘New Tool’ > ‘Custom’.
- Insert GTM Code Snippets: Copy and paste the GTM code snippets you received from Google into the appropriate fields. Make sure you place the header code snippet in the main body and the body code snippet in the first part of the body of your website pages.
- Publish Your Changes: After you add the GTM code, publish the changes on your Wix site. Your GTM container is now active and you can start adding tags through the GTM interface.
How do you install the Google Search Console in a Wix Website?
Google Search Console is an indispensable tool for monitoring and optimizing your website’s presence in Google search results. Here’s how to add your Wix website to Google Search Console:
- Add your Site to Google Search Console: Go to Google Search Console and click “Add a Property. Enter the URL of your Wix website.
- Verify your website: Choose an authentication method. For Wix websites, using the HTML tag method is often the easiest. Copy the verification tag that Google gives you.
- Add the Verification Tag to your Wix Site: Go back to your Wix dashboard, to ‘Settings’ > ‘Tracking & Analytics’, and click on ‘New Tool’ > ‘Custom’. Paste the HTML verification tag in the appropriate field.
- Verify your ownership: Return to Google Search Console and click “Verify. Once verification is successful, you will have access to important data about your website performance in Google.
SEO company for Wix Websites
Choosing the right SEO company is crucial to improving the visibility and performance of your Wix website in search engines. Here are some important considerations:
- Experience with Wix: Choose a company that has experience optimizing Wix websites, as they will be familiar with the specific features and limitations of the platform.
- Transparency and communication: Look for a company that is transparent about their methods and offers regular updates and reports on progress.
- Recommended practices: Make sure the SEO company follows ethical SEO practices that are consistent with search engine guidelines to avoid future penalties.
- Portfolio and testimonials: Examine previous company successes, including case studies and customer reviews, to assess their effectiveness.
- Understanding your goals: A good SEO company will take the time to understand your specific goals and develop a customized strategy that fits your unique needs.
How does Wix compare to other CMSs
Wix is a user-friendly, drag-and-drop website-building platform known primarily for its simplicity and visually appealing designs. Compared to other CMSs such as WordPress, Shopify, and Joomla, Wix offers a more streamlined and less technical approach to website development. This makes it an attractive option for beginners and small businesses who want to set up a professional Web site quickly and easily. However, this simplicity can sometimes come at the expense of the customization flexibility and control that more advanced users or large enterprises require, such as that available in CMSs such as WordPress.
Wix vs WordPress
Wix is a user-friendly platform known for its drag-and-drop interface, making website building accessible to beginners without technical knowledge. It offers integrated SEO tools such as Wix SEO Wiz, which provides a personalized plan for improving a website’s SEO.
WordPress, on the other hand, offers more flexibility and control over SEO thanks to a wide range of plugins such as Yoast SEO. These plugins offer in-depth analysis and customization for SEO, but require more technical skill to fully utilize. WordPress is powerful for SEO because of its adaptability, but it requires a more active role in optimizing and maintaining SEO settings.
Wix vs Shopify
Wix and Shopify are both popular platforms for building e-commerce websites, but they serve somewhat different markets. Wix is versatile, designed for a wide range of websites, including e-commerce, with tools that make it easy for small business owners to build their online presence.
Designed specifically for e-commerce, Shopify provides powerful tools for managing an online store, including advanced e-commerce SEO features. Shopify’s focus on e-commerce means it is better equipped for large online stores, with better support for e-commerce-related SEO such as product schema markup and advanced sitemap customization.
Wix vs Squarespace SEO
Both Wix and Squarespace offer integrated SEO features geared toward ease of use, including basic SEO tools such as customizing titles, descriptions, and URLs. Both platforms automatically generate sitemaps and offer mobile-friendly designs, which is essential for modern SEO.
Squarespace stands out for its clean, design-oriented templates that are particularly attractive to creative professionals. Although Squarespace offers similar SEO capabilities as Wix, the platform can be a little less intuitive for pure beginners. Squarespace also provides automatic schema markup for certain objects, which can help improve search results.
In general, both Wix and its competitors offer powerful SEO tools suitable for building SEO-friendly websites. The choice between these platforms often depends on the specific needs of the user, the desired degree of control over SEO, and the focus of their website (e.g., e-commerce vs. general content). Each platform has its own strengths and weaknesses when it comes to SEO, and the effectiveness of SEO efforts will ultimately depend on how well a user can utilize these tools within the chosen platform.
What kind of websites are usually built with Wix?
Wix is versatile and supports a wide range of website types, including:
- Small business websites
- Personal portfolios
- Blogs
- E-commerce stores
- Event promotion and registration
- Restaurants and hospitality services
Its rich library of templates and intuitive drag-and-drop editor make Wix suitable for users who want to create a visually appealing Web site without in-depth knowledge of Web development.
What are the biggest pitfalls of a Wix site?
Some of the biggest pitfalls of Wix sites are:
- Limited SEO customization: Although Wix has made significant improvements in its SEO capabilities, some users find that the platform still has limitations compared to more customizable platforms such as WordPress.
- Speed issues: Wix websites can sometimes load slower than websites built on other platforms, especially if they are heavily loaded with media.
- Less flexibility: Wix’s simplicity can be a drawback for complex sites or for users who need deep customization beyond the templates and apps offered.
- Transition difficulties: Migrating a Wix site to another platform can be challenging because there is no easy way to export all site content.
Is Wix good for SEO?
Wix has made significant improvements to its SEO capabilities over the years, making it a competitive platform for search engine optimization. Some benefits include:
- SEO-friendly URLs: Users can now customize SEO-friendly URLs for their pages.
- Mobile-friendly design: All Wix templates are responsive, which is crucial for mobile SEO ranking.
- Integrated SEO tools: Wix offers an SEO Wiz tool that guides users through basic SEO settings, including keywords, meta titles, and descriptions.
- Schema markup: Wix supports schema markup, which helps generate rich snippets in search results.
Although Wix provides a solid foundation for SEO, the success of SEO on any platform depends on how well the user applies the available tools and regularly optimizes for best performance. For simple to medium projects, Wix can be very effective for SEO, provided the content is properly optimized and the website is well maintained.
Summary
When choosing between Wix, WordPress, Shopify and Squarespace for SEO, the best option depends on your specific needs, technical skills and website focus. Wix is user-friendly and offers integrated SEO tools, ideal for beginners. WordPress offers the greatest flexibility and control with a wide range of SEO plugins, ideal for those who want to make in-depth customizations. Shopify excels in e-commerce SEO, while Squarespace combines strong design capabilities with built-in SEO features. Each platform has its own strengths when it comes to SEO, making it important to consider your goals and requirements when making a choice.