Wix SEO 5 Tips To Get The Results You Want
Over 200 million people trust Wix.
This is a lot of people creating many websites and creating lots of web content.
It’s important to discuss the details of SEO on Wix sites.
Although I could write a post about the SEO features built into Wix, it doesn’t seem very useful.
Instead, I’ll focus on what you might not know about Wix and how it works to optimize Wix sites.
(As an added bonus, I also collected tips from our wider SEO staff to give you a better understanding of working with Wix for SEO.
1. Use Strips to Place Content
Let’s begin with a Wix SEO tip I discovered after a random call with a Wix client support manager: “Strips” are used to create responsive functionality.
Place content as many times as possible inside “strips.”
Two editors can be used when building Wix sites: EditorX for advanced designers and the main Wix Editor.
Editor X can be fully responsive, but the leading Wix Editor can be adaptive.
Wix uses a complicated algorithm to convert your desktop work to be mobile-friendly. However, there may be instances when you need to make some adjustments.
(I have had to adjust the buttons’ sizes on my Wix mobile sites.
You can create a responsive page using the main Wix editor by placing all Content within strips.
Strips can be used as page elements and are responsive, so everything you put within them will also become responsive.
What exactly is a strip?
A strip is an element that allows you to create new sections on your website. The image below shows an example of an idea that fits within a strip.
As you can view, the strip is black to match what’s in the image.
Wix strips can be used to create new sections on a page. They also serve as page elements of full length that can contain Content.
The Wix Editor divides a webpage into three sections, as shown in the image above.
The middle section (represented by #2) is shown across all screen sizes. However, the contents to the right and left need to be adjusted.
A strip, which is a full-length element that spans the entire page width, must be responsive to work properly.
A strip, therefore, is responsive and responds to any content you add, be it an image, heading or just a few paragraphs of text.
to make creating columns for different content elements easier. You can use a templated or blank strip. Then add whatever Content or component that you wish inside the strip.
Last point: Strips are primarily used on static pages (e.g., homepage, about page, and landing pages). ).
Vertical pages are pages that do not use the entire page width, such as blog pages or product pages.
They automatically adapt to different screen sizes.
2. Understanding The Platform’s Logic
Although I am tempted to choose a more seductive Wix SEO tip, I believe that understanding the platform’s functions will help you make the most of everything available.
This also makes it easier to work more efficiently, which is an integral part of optimizing.
Wix is the most popular place where you will do most of your SEO work.
- Pages in the Wix Editor
- Pages in the Wix dashboard
- The Wix dashboard allows you to adjust your SEO settings.
Wix users have two options to manage their pages: the Wix Editor or the Wix Dashboard.
The Wix Editor handles static pages. Vertical pages (blogs, products, event pages, etc.) are managed in the Wix Editor. The Wix dashboard allows you to manage them.
Why? It is partly because of the above discussion about strips.
Vertical pages have a particular configuration. With static pages, the structure is yours.
The two-page types can be created in two different ecosystems: Wix Editor or the Wix dashboard.
SEO professionals need to know that the Wix SEO Panel will be available whenever you manage a page.
The panel can be used to set the canonical tags or add customized structured data markup at the page level.
The SEO Panel can be found in the page settings menu of a page that is designated for main Editor pages:
You can set your robots meta tags and structured data within these settings.
The SEO Panel for static pages in Wix Editor can all be accessed the same way. However, you will find different locations to access the SEO Panel for vertical pages (which again are managed in the Wix dashboard).
For Wix blogs, the SEO Panel can be found in the left-hand navigation.
The SEO Panel for product pages can be found in the Promote section, just to the right of product info.
Although some inconsistencies here might cause some confusion, you should know that the SEO Panel is available on the page you’re working on, so you can modify what you want.
The SEO Panel also allows you to set folder-level patterns, but what you type will prevail.
The SEO Panel is your tool in this situation to remove a page that falls within a larger pattern.
For example, if product prices are set to appear in all product page title tags but not for one product, you can go to the SEO Panel and customize the label.
You can also set meta robots and title tags at the folder level.
This is done at the third location where most SEO work is performed on Wix: the SEO Tools section of the Wix dashboard.
You can change anything here, including the URL structure (for blog and product pages), and even pull something like a product title to serve as the meta description for all pages in specific folders.
This is not just because the SEO Panel allows you to edit a setting but also because many site owners don’t know these options exist.
I asked Einat Hoobian–Seybold our SEO Product Manager, what information she wanted SEO pros should know about Wix. She replied:
“Use SEO defaults or patterns if your site has many pages. You can adjust the structure of your meta tags to fit all pages of a particular type. We already have it pre-defined for you.
Why? It’s because so few people use the SEO Settings tool to their advantage.
The tool will be most helpful if you are trying to work on a large scale.
Wix also allows you to assign link attributes.
This is different from most SEO-related tasks. It’s not handled in the SEO Tools in the dashboard or SEO Panel.
Instead, you will see a particular panel whenever you add a new link.
The link panel has an expandable section called Advanced SEO Settings. Here you can add the appropriate attribute.
Wix static pages apply the no opener and no referrer attributes by default to all links.
Editable Robos.txt Files and The Automated Log
We’re discussing the platform’s logic, so I thought it would be a good time to talk about robots.txt on Wix sites.
First, Wix makes robots.txt files editable. You can put any directives in the file or just a cool logo to show off to your SEO friends.
It is also possible to restore the file to its default state. You can quickly convert an order to a file with many problems or illogical instructions by clicking a single button.
For the record, Petal Bot is automatically blocked because it is resource-intensive. We stopped it for server performance reasons. You can edit robots.txt if you still need it.
We also banned Google’s Ad Bots from accessing scripts or resources to optimize how they crawl Wix sites.
3. When to Use Manual Page Caching
If you don’t have stock prices displayed in real-time, automatic page caching can greatly improve your load times. In this case, your users might end up with outdated information.
Wix automatically caches the majority of pages.
We also track changes to pages so we can re-cache them. This ensures that users are served the most current Content.
One problem.
What happens if there is Content on the page that could be negatively affected by page caching?
We often turn off page cache when custom code is added via Wix’s dev tool Velo.
Wix says that they don’t understand the logic on your page and don’t want it to be damaged by automatic page caching.
If you work for a client that has hired a developer to add custom functionality to their Wix site, then the page is probably not automatically cached.
It is possible to use Velo to add custom codes that would benefit page caching.
You should enable manual page caching in such cases. This can be done within the page settings of the main Wix editor:
After you have enabled manual caching, it is possible to set a caching interval.
It’s one more thing that you probably didn’t know about Wix SEO-wise.
4. Wix SEO Success means Leveraging the Little-Things
It is important to remember that Wix’s SEO options are not the only highlights. One of the most important considerations is making the most of the little things.
Wix is an excellent platform for SEO, as it was designed with multiple audiences in view.
People who don’t have a lot of SEO experience are one of these audiences.
Although you might not believe that the Content we created for this audience is relevant for SEO professionals, it is.
We have built safeguards into tools that are meant for advanced users to protect those who don’t have a lot of experience in SEO.
These “protections” are beneficial for SEO professionals working on Wix sites as they can help catch errors and make your work more efficient.
Redirect Loops & Errors
The Redirect Manager is located within the SEO Tools section of the Wix dashboard.
If the path is identical, you can create individual 301 redirects or group redirects. Bulk redirects can also be made via a CSV file upload.
Wix will detect any errors and redirect loops in all cases.
While we are already discussing redirects, here are some notes. A Wix website can support 5,000 redirects. This should be enough. If it is not, please let us know.
A custom domain is required to implement a redirect. You can’t implement a redirect if you are still using Wix, which doesn’t use a custom field.
Redirecting to another domain is more complicated. This requires you to connect external domains to Wix. This is also true for shifting to your homepage. It would support if you did this within your Wix site’s Domain Settings, not via the Redirect Manager.
You can set a group re-direct with identical paths, but we don’t support complete regex redirects. However, this is something that we are already planning to do. The group redirects can be used for many similar purposes.
Auto-Redirects
This is an important tip that will save you time.
We automatically create 301 redirects when you change URLs for specific page types. This means you won’t need to spend time setting up the redirects.
When you change the URL, Wix will display a notice saying that Wix will automatically redirect your old URL to the new URL. You can opt-out of this redirect, however, if you wish.
This applies to all static pages in Wix Editor, as well as product, booking, event, and online program pages.
Structured data markup errors
When you add custom structured data markup on a Wix webpage, we will display an error message. This happens if the code is not in JSON–LD format or does not follow the correct syntax.
You will find links to the structured data generator and Google’s Rich Results Test in the panel where the markup is entered.
We also automate and streamline tasks so users can work more efficiently.
This, naturally, can help you save a lot of your time – the SEO.
Here are some examples:
Automated structured data
A variety of page types can automatically have structured data added to them. This includes course and product pages.
Your clients will be eligible for rich results right out of the box.
This could affect your priorities. You could improve the code we use or add additional markups to the page, but this would not be necessary to qualify for rich results on the SERP.
There are also areas where you might not realize that structured data markup is automatically added. Local business markup is one example.
We automatically add the markup if the client’s homepage includes the physical address.
One-Click Connectivity To Google Search Console
Although you can manually add a meta-tag to verify a site or connect it to Google Search Engine, when you work with Wix sites, I recommend that you do not.
Instead of using the initial SEO settings Wix provides when creating a site, you can use our partnership with Google to connect to Search Console with a single click.
This partnership with Google includes instant indexing your homepage.
Google seems to think that if it crawls your homepage immediately, it may notice other pages on your site.
Automatic Image Compression
You do not have to panic about compressing images when working with Wix clients. Wix automatically compresses them.
JPEGs are better than PNGs, as they compress images to a smaller size.
WebP is not required for images. We convert them automatically to this format if the browser supports it.
5. Get the Advice of Wix’s Larger SEO Team
Wix has an extensive SEO team that supports the platform in many ways.
It would be great for SEO professionals to hear from Wix SEO specialists and those who work on the SEO product.
These tips and tricks from the more comprehensive SEO team will help you improve your Wix SEO skills.
How to Audit A Wix Website
Nati Elech, Head of SEO, said:
“Wix uses dynamic render to serve crawlers and bots the final HTML rendered on server-side. It doesn’t need JavaScript to load.
To replicate how search engines view your Wix website, use a tool or a manual audit.
Use What Wix Has to Offer Around Images
Crystal Carter is Head of SEO Communications.
“Take advantage of Wix’s built-in image optimizing tools.
You can upload images and use the API integration to Vision AI to interpret the data labels Google gives you from your pictures. This will help you optimize for visual search.
We can also automatically serve structured data for product image images, regardless of whether they are the primary or thumbnail.
These tools enable you to use image-heavy SERPs features and increase the viability of Content as search evolves.
It is also worth noting the Wix image optimization, which includes but not limited to:
- Automatically resizes and compresses images
- When the browser supports it, you can convert images to WebP.
- Lazy-loading supported by LQIP.
We have done extensive work over the years to optimize how Wix handles images.
We partially use srcset to fix images to deliver images to high-definition devices. Although most Wix images are responsive from the client, we are looking at fully implementing responsive images on the server side.
Although we don’t currently offer an option to preload LCP images, the possibility of moving them to HTML makes it impossible. PSI will show the LCP image that was successfully preloaded, as shown below.
Priority Hints are used to optimize the loading of images above the above-the-fold at certain times. This plays into LCP because the LCP image is often above the fold.
In the “Builder Overview,” you can find more information about Wix’s support and capabilities for serving images on the Image Tooling Report.
Enhance Your SERP Presence with Meta Robots Tags
Moshe, Wix SEO Domain Expert.
Use the ‘nosnippetrobot’ meta tag to hide the page’s meta description. To limit the length of your meta description, you can also use the’maxsnippet’ meta tag.
It is straightforward. You can use the SEO Panel or the SEO Settings to set this for each page.
You can also set the max image preview to large so that your Google Discover result includes that large, clickable image.
Lightboxes Are Not For Important Content
Naomi Gallula, Wix SEO Domain Expert, said:
Important Content should not be placed in the light boxes. This Content won’t be rendered into the DOM HTML by Wix on bot flow. It will, therefore, not be indexed.
Lightboxes can be used to promote, register for newsletters, and other thin Content that isn’t meant to be indexed.
Wix lightboxes are displayed automatically after users click on links or perform an action such as clicking on a link.
Get User Journey Insights from Wix Analytics
Kyle Place SEO Specialist created:
“In Wix Analytics’ Behavior Report, you can see which journeys users are making within your site.
These data/information can be used to answer questions like:
- Are your topic clusters effective for users and search engines? Is it possible for users to navigate to product pages using informational blog posts?
- What are the following pages that users visit after visiting your homepage?
You can then optimize your internal linking with:
- Make your internal links helpful to users (don’t make them struggle to follow the flow that you want).
- You can add or remove links to direct traffic to your site and increase authority.
Multilingual And Hreflang Tips For Wix
Assaf Cohen, Wix SEO Domain Expert, explained:
“Working on a multilingual website? Wix will do it automatically, so you don’t have to spend your time adding hreflang.
We also apply tags with logic that considers whether pages have a canonical, no index tag, etc., so everything works smoothly and without errors.
You can also auto-translate this site. However, we recommend that you constantly review the translation and add nuanced language specific to the language.
Remember that in the past, multilingual Wix sites had to use subdomains. Now, you can choose between subdomains or subdirectories.
Keep an eye on things.
Although the title says “5 Tips”, I will add a sixth: Keep an eye.
Wix is a platform that permits you to change your web design constantly. Features are continually added, updated, and sometimes even removed. This is especially true for our SEO offerings.
So you can know what to expect, I will briefly outline our current focus on SEO.
Many of the most expensive items are already available.
Edit your robots.txt, bulk upload redirects, and folder names within URLs for product and blog pages can all be done.
Many alterations are aimed at making your job as an SEO easier when optimizing Wix sites.
You can expect some of these workflows to be more streamlined so you can do more efficiently.
Our core focus is to make SEO work as simple as possible.