How to optimize your website on wix platform

Wix SEO Review and Optimization Guide

For many new business owners, building a website and arranging web hosting isn’t in the cards.

Many people end up selecting free website platforms, like Wix.

They inevitably force a website to accept compromises, but is SEO one of them?

The focus here is a WIX Review to find out if it is search engine friendly.

Wix is a top player in the free market (or budget site builder market, depending on if you choose to upgrade).

WIX can save entrepreneurs just starting out money. However, if those savings are detrimental to search and organic traffic, what is the point?

Back in 2016, Wix was considered a complete no-go for those who wanted search engine exposure. Today, things are improving for Wix’s search engine potential. More and more website owners are taking notice.

Wix has most certainly made improvements.

Likely realizing how imperative it is to create one of the best website builders for SEO if they want to rank.

Wix Review: “The Before Picture”

Before we can go forward, we need to take a look back at some of the Wix SEO problems in the past.

Here are a few of the old Wix SEO issues:

  1. Poor URL structure
  2. No image descriptions
  3. Many pages on Wix hosted websites were not able to be fully crawled by Google bots
  4. Problems with lightbox URL’s

Is Wix bad for SEO?

Maybe you have heard that Google is not crawling Wix sites?

The inability for Google to scan your website and all of its connected pages is nothing short of search engine death. A site that doesn’t get scanned by Google bots has no chance of surviving in search engines.

The original issue was a result of Wix using AJAX and Javascript coding to create new web pages. So each time you, the site manager, created a new webpage on your site, this code function was used. Google was initially (or seemingly) have technical issues scanning for these pages. Therefore, Wix sites were ranking in Google’s cellar.

This issue has been resolved as evidenced by a great many Wix sites starting to find more glory in Google’s upper-rankings. Why has been fixed isn’t entirely clear, however.

There are two likely scenarios at play:

  • Wix upgraded their AJAX code
  • Wix now more intelligently utilizes HTML code in the header

Both of these changes would likely render much better SEO results for Wix site owners.

Url Structure of WIX Websites

If your URLs are poorly constructed, they can be inefficient for crawling and confusing to users.

As a side note, overly long URL structures have also been known to confuse Google and users. Adding on to the reasons site owners should truncate to only the pertinent URL directory information.

Wix used to offer up longer, less efficient URL structures. For example,

Wix made changes and is displaying merely the title.

Like This:

For example, if you are running a top digital marketing blog, you want a clear structure that contains essential information.



However, the buck certainly did not stop here for improvements by Wix.

What else?

Lightbox Issue – Resolved?

Last year, Wix issued a statement regarding the use of Lightbox URLs. This has offered some clarity regarding the situation as well as a method to render the URL dilemma a non-issue.

Here’s how the issue invariably exposed itself:

As you can see in the above URL, there are no keywords to help Google interpret what the image or content is about.

They depend on URL strings and file names as a factor to provide information about the image.

Wix has clarified this is only an issue for those sites that have their images, which are embedded in a gallery, also deployed as a pop-up.

Currently, this is merely an expanded image issue, not an on-page issue.

You can change this entirely by editing preferences in your settings.

Wix Page Speed, Seconds Matter

website speed matters

In the end, a variety of the above points directly influence a website’s page speed. Google most definitely highly considers Google page speed in their search engine algorithm (and for a good reason).

Slow websites frustrate consumers.

Image optimization is essential to site speed. As of the summer of 2018, website speed is an official ranking factor.

If you use a site builder and free host, make sure you don’t post bloated images on your website.

Google is always looking for ways to improve the search experience.

Anytime you use a free website builder and a free host; you limit your ability to influence technical change that could help improve your website’s speed.

Bloated Javascript codes, oversized and unoptimized images, poor host responsiveness, and subpar DNS settings can all crush a site’s responsiveness, particularly on mobile.

One of Wix’s downfall is that they did not allow for site owners to merely optimize images.

To solve this issue, my recommendation is to use a third party source to optimize your images.

If you do not understand how to do this in Photoshop or don’t have access to it, there are several free optimization programs such as Tinypng.

Using an actual website example, I ran a Wix website through Google’s page speed tester. The results, were, mixed.

wix seo review of the speed

As you can see, the site performs amazingly in mobile, and that is incredibly important. It leaves a bit to be desired with a desktop score of 78%. Your mobile page speed is the more important number.

5 WIX SEO Tips: How to Improve Google Search Ranking

1. Verify URL With Google and Bing

If Google and Bing do not know your site is there, how can they index it?

By submitting your site to all the major search engines verifies your website’s existence.

For Google, use the Google Search Console to submit your URL. In this case, we are not exactly “submitting” as much as we are “verifying.”

  1. Using the Submit Your URL function, you will need to click on the Alternative Methods option.
  2. Grab that HTML code.
    how to verify url in wix
  3. Now, inside of your functions, click on the “site manager” portion.
  4. Choose the SEO option.
  5. Choose the More Settings option.
  6. Insert the Google HTML tag you saved earlier into this area.
  7. Return to Google’s Search Console and proceed to verify your site.

Now you have successfully verified your Wix site with Google,

For Bing, the verification works the same; you simply need to get Bing’s code to insert in same place in your Wix editor.

2. Utilize Google Analytics

Many website owners think of Google Analytics as just a tool for website stats. There is no doubt that Google Analytics is the most robust website stats system on the planet. Did you know it can also be vital for SEO?

Google typically uses the information to extract important algorithmic data, such as user time on website pages, bounce rates, pages visited per session, and the demographics of the people visiting your website.

The good news is that Wix allows you to insert your GA code.

The bad news is Wix will require you to upgrade to do so.

To utilize Google Analytics with Wix, do the following:

  1. Upgrade your plan and make sure you are using your own domain, this will help with your SEO domain authority.
  2. Inside your account, on the top right, scroll over the user panel area and choose “domains.”
  3. Click the arrow that’s located next to your domain you want to add GA code to.
  4. Click “analytics.”
  5. If you do not already have a Google Analytics account, get one here.
  6. When you are finished signing up, you will be given some code. Copy that code.
  7. Back in your account, click Analytics.
  8. Place your GA code inside the form and make sure you hit the submit button.

It may take 24 hours before Google Analytics will begin displaying your stats.

If you see no statistics inside your Google Analytics account for longer than a day, this either means your site seriously has no traffic or, you pasted the GA code incorrectly.

3. Edit Wix Title Tags

Title tags are essential for search engines, and they typically make or break how your website ranks.

Title tags are tucked away in the source code of your website; many site owners forget to attend to them. Title tags can be used by social media platforms, such as Facebook, to display as the title of your content.

Google utilizes it for the same reason in their search engine results pages. If your title tags are weak, your CTR will suffer. Title tags also give Google a strong signal of what your content is about.

NOTE: Google will typically truncate any titles which exceed 60 characters. Your best bet is to keep your title tag around 55 characters to not risk being truncated by Google

Now, let’s look at how to change the title tag.

  1. Find the “pages” menu and click it.

pages menu in the editor

  1. Find the page you want to edit the title tag for and click that.
  2. Click on the “show more” button (looks like ellipses …).
  3. You now need to create the title you prefer under the section titled, What’s the page’s title on search engines?
  4. Once you are finished, click “done” and then publish the change.
  5. Now, your titles will not only be serving up more optimal search engine fuel, but they will be more lively, more engaging, and hopefully, attract more clicks.

Are You Ready to Develop a Powerhouse WIX SEO Plan? Contact The #1 Ranking SEO Expert!

4. Edit Meta Description Tags

Now that your Wix site has more engaging titles, it is time to take things a step further.  Improve meta descriptions will help improve your search click-thru rate with is a small ranking factor.

Google bots utilize meta descriptions as a way to log a more in-depth understanding of what your content is about. Think of meta descriptions as quick summaries of your content.

Unlike meta titles, your meta descriptions can be longer at 200-230 characters.

Example Title and Meta Description Tags

Example Title and Meta Description Tags

This will allow you to summarize better what your article is truly about. You should note, if you pass on inserting your meta description, Google will do the best it can to choose one for your content.

That can either be a good or bad thing depending on what Google runs with. You are always best off controlling your destiny in these type things.

  1. Click the pages menu (just like before with the meta title).
  2. And again, click the (…) show more option.
  3. Now, “pages SEO.”
  4. Under “What’s the page about,” add your description.
  5. Click “Done,” make sure you publish changes.

At this point, your site should have both a meta title and meta description.

5. Edit/Create Permalinks

Just like on non-Wix hosted websites, permalinks are essential.

They allow Google a concise, quick insight into what your page is about. Your permalink should contain vital keywords that your article is targetting to rank in the search results.

You do not want your permalinks to be spammy; you want them to be succinct and specific.

  1. In the Editor, click the “advanced editor.”

advanced editor

advanced SEO

  1. Now, type in the most relevant keywords which support your content’s search goal.
  5. Now, your Wix titles will not only be serving up more optimal search engine fuel, but they will be more lively, more engaging, and hopefully, attract more clicks.

My Wix SEO Review,  A Work In Progress

WIX search engine optimization capabilities and tools are no longer a significant obstacle for online businesses.

They still aren’t the superior experience offered by using a robust CMS like WordPress. Wordpress is the best option for modern content management platforms.

If you can avoid starting out using WIX, you will help your cause down the road by leaps and bounds.

I know that is not possible for everyone. WIX is now a viable option. Don’t sweat the SEO stuff; you can get it to work with a little savvy and effort, or hire a professional.

Do you want to how to improve google search rankings? Contact me.