Why Wix Isn’t Good for SEO: A Comprehensive Guide on Wix SEO Issues

When it comes to building a website, choosing the right platform is crucial for your business’s success. Wix, while popular for its user-friendly design and ease of use, often falls short in terms of SEO capabilities. In this article, we’ll explore the primary Wix SEO issues and how they can impact your site’s visibility on search engines. You’ll also learn practical steps to mitigate these issues and improve your site’s performance. Understanding the nuances of SEO is essential for driving organic traffic and ensuring that your website ranks well on search engines like Google. Let’s dive into the key SEO challenges associated with Wix and discover ways to address them effectively. From technical limitations to inaccurate SEO advice, we will cover everything you need to know to make an informed decision about using Wix for your business.

Overview of Website Building Platforms

Introduction to Website Builders

Website builders like WordPress, Wix, and SquareSpace have revolutionized the way businesses create an online presence. These platforms offer various functionalities that cater to different needs, from blogging to e-commerce. They have made it possible for even those with little to no technical expertise to build attractive and functional websites. However, while they all provide basic tools for building a site, their capabilities in search engine optimization (SEO) vary significantly.

SEO Comparison

When it comes to SEO, not all website builders are created equal. WordPress is often touted as the best option due to its flexibility and extensive plugin ecosystem. It allows for a high degree of customization, which is crucial for implementing advanced SEO strategies. SquareSpace offers decent SEO tools but can be limiting for users who need more control over their site’s SEO elements. Wix, on the other hand, is easy to use and comes with built-in SEO features, but it has several shortcomings that can hinder your site’s SEO performance.

Key Wix SEO Issues

No Exporting Sites

One of the significant drawbacks of using Wix is its inability to export sites to other platforms. If you decide to migrate your website to WordPress or another platform for better SEO capabilities, you’ll face a tedious process. Wix does not allow direct site exports, meaning you’ll need to rebuild your site from scratch. This process is not only time-consuming but can also severely impact your existing SEO. All the SEO work you have done on your Wix site could be lost, and you will have to start over, which can be a critical hit to your online presence.

Googlebot Can’t Crawl

For a website to appear in search results, Googlebot must index it. This process involves Googlebot crawling the site, reading the content, and categorizing it appropriately. Users have reported that Googlebot often struggles to crawl Wix sites. Despite Wix’s efforts to improve their URL structures and code, some pages remain unindexed, making them invisible in search results. This SEO search result issue with Wix can significantly reduce your site’s organic traffic. If your pages are not indexed, they cannot appear in search results, which means potential customers cannot find your site.

Little Technical SEO Customization

Wix’s platform offers limited options for technical SEO customization. Technical SEO involves optimizing a site’s backend structure to improve its ranking on search engines. Issues with Wix include:

• Extra strings in URLs: Wix automatically adds additional strings to URLs, which can confuse search engines and impact rankings.
• Limited use of h-tags: Proper use of heading tags (H1, H2, H3) is crucial for SEO. Wix restricts the use of these tags, making it harder to optimize content for search engines.
• Non-customizable sitemaps: A sitemap is essential for search engines to understand the structure of your site. Wix offers limited customization options for sitemaps.
• Absence of canonical tags: Canonical tags help prevent duplicate content issues by indicating the preferred version of a webpage. Wix does not support this feature, leading to potential SEO penalties.

These limitations can affect your site’s SEO performance and make it harder to implement advanced SEO strategies. Technical SEO is a critical aspect of improving search engine rankings, and Wix’s restrictions can put your site at a disadvantage.

Inaccurate SEO Advice from Wix

Wix provides users with SEO tips, but some of their advice is misleading. Following inaccurate advice can lead to ineffective SEO practices and poor site performance. For instance:

• Meta descriptions are important for rankings: Google has stated that meta descriptions do not impact rankings directly, although they do affect click-through rates (CTR). While meta descriptions are important for attracting users to click on your link, they do not influence your ranking on their own.
• Social media metrics boost SEO: Google does not factor social media engagement into its ranking algorithm, contrary to Wix’s claims. While social media can drive traffic to your site, the number of likes or shares does not directly impact your search engine rankings.
• Exact match domains improve SEO: This old SEO tactic involved using domain names that exactly matched search queries. Google has updated its algorithm to devalue this practice, focusing more on content relevance and quality.
• Ideal content length is 250-400 words: While Wix recommends shorter content, studies have shown that longer, in-depth content tends to perform better in search rankings. Aim for content that is at least 500-1500 words to provide value and keep users engaged.

Common SEO Issues and Fixes Using Google Search Console

Setting Up Google Search Console

To address SEO issues on Wix, start by connecting your site to Google Search Console. Google Search Console is a free tool that helps you monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your site’s presence in Google Search results. Here’s how to set it up:

1. Sign in to Google Search Console: Use your Google account to log in.
2. Add a new property: Enter your Wix site URL and select the appropriate property type.
3. Verify ownership: Choose a verification method (e.g., HTML tag, Google Analytics) and follow the instructions to verify that you own the site.

Once your site is verified, you can start using Google Search Console to monitor and improve your SEO performance.

Using the Coverage Report

The Coverage Report in Google Search Console helps identify crawling issues and indexing errors. This report shows the status of pages on your site and any issues that might prevent Google from indexing them. Common issues include:

• Pages marked as “noindex”: Ensure that important pages are not accidentally marked with a “noindex” tag, which tells Google not to index them.
• Soft 404 errors: These occur when a page appears to be missing but does not return a proper 404 status code. Fix these by ensuring that non-existent pages return a 404 error.
• Server errors: These indicate that Googlebot encountered an issue when trying to access your site. Check your server settings and resolve any issues.

By resolving these issues, you can improve your site’s visibility and ranking. Regularly monitoring the Coverage Report can help you stay on top of any new issues that arise.

Addressing SEO Issues

Fix common problems by:

• Ensuring all important pages are indexed: Use the URL Inspection tool in Google Search Console to check the status of specific pages and request indexing if necessary.
• Removing or redirecting broken links: Broken links can negatively impact user experience and SEO. Use a tool like Screaming Frog to find and fix broken links.
• Improving page load speed: Slow loading times can hurt your SEO rankings. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to identify and fix issues that slow down your site.

2020 Updates and Ongoing Issues

Recent Improvements by Wix

Wix has made several updates to address some of its SEO shortcomings. The introduction of Wix Turbo aimed to enhance site speed, a critical factor for SEO. Faster load times improve user experience and can positively impact search rankings. Wix Turbo includes improvements to the platform’s infrastructure and optimization techniques to ensure that sites load quickly.

Persistent Issues

Despite these improvements, Wix still lags behind other platforms in several areas:

• Limited technical SEO options continue to be a major drawback. While Wix has made some improvements, it still does not offer the same level of control as platforms like WordPress.
• Issues with SEO location on Wix persist, affecting local SEO performance. Local businesses may struggle to optimize their Wix sites for local search queries due to these limitations.

Final Thoughts and Recommendations

Wix offers a user-friendly platform ideal for simple websites However, its SEO issues make it less suitable for businesses serious about their online presence. Understanding and addressing these SEO limitations is crucial for improving your site’s visibility and performance.

Recommendations

To mitigate Wix’s SEO limitations:

1. Regularly update and monitor your site using Google Search Console:
   • Utilize the Coverage Report to identify and resolve crawling and indexing issues.
   • Use the URL Inspection tool to check the status of specific pages and request indexing if necessary.
2. Follow accurate SEO advice from reliable sources:
   • Ensure your meta descriptions are optimized for click-through rates rather than relying on them for rankings.
   • Understand that social media metrics do not directly impact SEO but can drive traffic to your site.
   • Focus on creating high-quality, relevant content rather than relying on exact match domains.
3. Consider migrating to more SEO-friendly platforms like WordPress for better long-term results:
   • WordPress offers greater flexibility and control over technical SEO aspects.
   • The extensive plugin ecosystem allows for advanced SEO customization and optimization.
4. Improve page load speed:
   • Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to identify and fix issues slowing down your site.
   • Implement best practices for optimizing images, reducing server response times, and leveraging browser caching.
5. Optimize content length and structure:
   • Aim for content that is at least 500-1500 words to provide value and keep users engaged.
   • Use proper heading tags (H1, H2, H3) to structure your content and make it easier for search engines to understand.

Conclusion

Choosing the right website platform is vital for SEO success. While Wix is convenient for beginners, it may not meet the needs of businesses aiming for high search engine rankings. Understanding the issues with SEO and Wix is the first step towards improving your site’s performance and visibility.