Many small business owners who own a WIX website wonder if it’s good for SEO. While WIX websites do give you an online presence so customers can find you, WIX websites are not the best when it comes to SEO.
WIX website SEO can be done on a website to add a custom META title and description. WIX does provide fields for on-page search engine optimization, however your web pages may still not show up in organic search engine results.
WIX websites are not as SEO-friendly as other websites build on content management systems like WordPress. There are limits to WIX SEO and what can done to a website to improve web page rankings for target keywords and phrases.
Optimizing SEO On WIX Websites For Organic Search Ranking
Is your website built using WIX and you’re wondering if it is good for SEO? Our answer is a hard no. WIX is not good for SEO in our opinion.
You’ll find search engine optimization companies who will gladly do the work but we just don’t have it in our hearts and souls to do that to people. We have been doing SEO since the early 2000’s and have worked on hundreds if not thousands of sites over course of 20 years.
The SoFloWeb team can’t help you. Not because we don’t want to, because we do not like to take money from small business owners who will see almost no return from the SEO efforts done to their WIX website.
WIX Versus Other Website Builders
WIX websites are great for small business owners who get almost all of their leads from word of mouth and referrals. The website only serves the purpose of being an online business card. WIX websites tend to have little SEO value.
Unfortunately, websites built on the WIX website builder platform don’t do as well in Google search as well as websites built using other content management systems. No matter the amount of SEO done to a WIX website, it will always struggle competing for top positions against small business websites built on better website builders.
WIX Is One Of The Most Popular Website Builders
When WIX came on the scene in 2006 it was seen as a great marketing website tool for small business owners. The company also has large marketing budgets which make them visibly dominant online. Any person who searches for a website builder or a developer will see ads from WIX. The only thing WIX has been a standout for in recent years when it comes to SEO is a failure.
Is Wix Free To Use?
WIX does have a free website builder version available however options and features will be very limited in use. A free WIX website does not allow you to use a personalized domain name. Instead, you are given a subdomain vanity URL on their server – example: https://accountname.wixsite.com/siteaddress
Free WIX websites also have ads displayed on them. To remove the banner advertising you’ll need to upgrade to a premium account which starts at $13/month and goes as high as $500/month. Two other items not included in the free WIX plan are the ability to do online sales transactions directly on the website and having Google Analytics reporting to record visitor data.
You can view a comparison of features for WIX free vs WIX premium websites in the support section of their website.
Is WIX The Best?
Wix does not get this title because they are the best website builder. They are one of the best at advertising and remarketing their company to small business owners who are none the wiser.
CNBC reported in October 2017 that WIX had a $100 million dollar marketing budget. DigiDay.com has also information stating WIX spends around $70 million per year on online marketing promoting their company. The marketing campaigns are highly targeted and this is the reason why they are the number one website builder for small business owners based on data.
Once the “we make it easy to build a website” advertising lures people to buy a one from WIX, they are correct in saying it is easy. The platform guides you through the website building steps. A few clicks here and there. Add some words. Upload a logo. Done! You have a website.
What those new WIX website owners do not take into account is SEO and whether the new website will do well in organic search results. While the website builder does have SEO tools included to optimize your website, they are inferior to plugins like Yoast and All-in-One-SEO (AIOSEO). WordPress, Shopify, SquareSpace and Magento websites usually outrank WIX websites in organic search results.
Why Is WIX Bad?
WIX has made great strides in recent years to up their SEO game. Even with the changes and additions they have made, their websites still load slower than other content management systems. Web pages have strange URL structures that are not SEO friendly. Inability to customize or edit the sitemap directly through the website. Can’t add custom code or tags, you are limited to the features WIX provides.
Is WIX Unprofessional?
We wouldn’t say it is, as long as you are using the paid version. If you own a small business and choose the free website version, WIX plasters a banner across the top of your website, which technically doesn’t make the website free. They are advertising on your website in return for “giving” you a website. Many online users find this to be a turn-off. It diminishes the value of your business simply by projecting to the world your business doesn’t want to invest money into your website or online appearance.
WIX Versus WordPress and Shopify For SEO
SoFloWeb prefers to only work on WordPress or Shopify websites. Both of these do very well in Google. We are able to dominate a lot of target keywords for clients who have their sites built on these website builders.
Here are a few resources from reliable sources regarding the use of WIX: