How to optimise the SEO of your Wix site?
Wix is a website-building platform that is very popular for its ease of use and its intuitive approach. However, it has long been criticised for its limitations when it comes to organic search (SEO). Fortunately, Wix has made many recent improvements that now make it possible to achieve good rankings on Google.
In this article, we will look at how to effectively optimise the SEO of your Wix site.
Setting up your Wix site correctly for SEO
Optimising the SEO of a Wix site starts with a solid setup from the outset. A well-thought-out structure and good configuration help to improve visibility and indexing on search engines. Here are the key steps to follow:
Choose a good domain name
Choosing your domain name is essential for SEO and for your site's credibility. Opt for a name that is short, relevant and, if possible, includes a strategic keyword. Avoid names that are too complex or hard to remember. A good domain name also contributes to your brand image and inspires trust in visitors.
Enable and configure the SEO Wiz
Wix offers an SEO Wiz tool that guides users through optimising their site. This assistant guides the configuration of title tags, descriptions and keywords, and also offers a direct connection to Google Search Console. The tool generates a personalised roadmap based on your field of activity and offers practical advice to improve your SEO.
Optimise the site structure and UX
Smooth navigation is crucial for SEO. Create a clear, hierarchical menu, use readable URLs and avoid unnecessary pages. A well-structured site improves the user experience and makes indexing easier for Google. Also consider adding a breadcrumb trail to help visitors and search engine bots understand the structure of your site.
Configure the advanced SEO settings
Wix gives access to advanced SEO settings such as editing the robots.txt and sitemap.xml files. Make sure your site is properly indexed and that the essential pages are accessible to search engines. Also remember to enable the HTTPS protocol to secure your site and improve your SEO ranking.
Enable AMP for blog articles
If you use the Wix blog, enable AMP technology (Accelerated Mobile Pages) to speed up the loading of articles on mobile. This improves the user experience and can help you achieve better rankings in mobile search results.
Optimise your content for better rankings
Well-structured, relevant content is essential to improve a Wix site's visibility on search engines. Google favours sites offering information that is useful, original and engaging for users. Here is how to effectively optimise your content:
Write quality, SEO-optimised content
Content is king! Publish unique, well-written and informative texts. Use relevant keywords without overdoing it (avoid keyword stuffing). Include engaging sentences and favour a natural tone to appeal to both visitors and search engines. Also think about content freshness: regularly updating your articles and pages helps to reinforce their relevance in Google's eyes.
Take care over your Title and Meta Description tags
These elements are decisive for rankings and click-through rate (CTR). Write catchy titles and enticing descriptions while inserting strategic keywords. Make sure each page has a unique title tag, no longer than 60 characters, and a compelling meta description of around 150-160 characters. These tags should make users want to click on your link in the search results.
Structure your content with Hn tags
Using H1, H2 and H3 headings lets you structure your content in a readable way. This makes reading easier for your visitors and helps Google understand the hierarchy of your information. Make sure you use only one H1 per page (often reserved for the main title), and distribute the subheadings across H2 and H3 in a logical way. Good structuring also improves your visitor retention rate.
Include optimised media
Images and videos enrich the user experience and encourage better engagement. Optimise your images by compressing their size and using modern formats such as WebP. Add ALT attributes to your images to help Google understand their content and improve accessibility.
Add CTAs and improve user engagement
Encourage your visitors to interact with your site by adding clear, visible calls to action (CTAs). Good engagement (time spent on the site, click-through rate) is a positive signal for SEO. Add internal links to other pages of your site to encourage navigation and reduce the bounce rate.
Optimise the technical aspects of SEO on Wix
Optimise page loading speed
A fast site is a key factor for SEO. Google favours sites that offer a good user experience, and loading speed is part of that. To optimise the speed of your Wix site:
- Compress your images with tools such as TinyPNG or by using the WebP format.
- Limit heavy animations and background videos that slow down loading.
- Use a clean design and avoid adding too many widgets and non-essential interactive elements.
- Enable caching and make use of Wix's built-in CDN (Content Delivery Network) to speed up page display.
Make your site mobile-friendly
Google favours mobile-friendly sites, as the majority of searches are carried out on smartphones. To guarantee an optimal experience:
- Use Google's Mobile-Friendly Test tool to detect any display issues.
- Check that fonts, buttons and images adapt well to all screen sizes.
- Avoid intrusive pop-ups, which harm the user experience and may be penalised by Google.
- Test touch navigation and make sure links are easy to tap.
Improve indexing and URL management
Good indexing management guarantees better visibility on Google. To do this:
- Connect your site to Google Search Console to track its indexing and detect any errors.
- Customise your URLs so that they are short, readable and contain relevant keywords.
- Use 301 redirects when pages are deleted or modified to avoid 404 errors and preserve link equity.
- Check the robots.txt file and the XML sitemap generated by Wix to make sure important pages are properly accessible to search engines.
- Enable the "canonical URL" option to avoid duplicate content if you have similar pages.
Work on netlinking to improve the site's authority
Get quality backlinks
Backlinks (inbound links) play a crucial role in SEO. They help to increase your site's reputation, improve its authority and achieve better rankings on Google. To maximise their impact:
- Seek out partnerships with sites that have a similar theme to yours.
- Publish guest articles on influential blogs to obtain natural links.
- Register on quality directories and favour those with a good Trust Flow and Citation Flow.
- Take part in forums and discussion platforms by inserting relevant links to your content.
- Monitor your backlinks via Google Search Console or Ahrefs in order to remove toxic links that could harm your SEO.
Use netlinking platforms such as MisterGoodLink
Platforms such as MisterGoodLink make it easier to acquire quality backlinks. They let you:
- Select themed sites suited to your field of activity.
- Obtain durable, secure links with no risk of Google penalties.
- Access a turnkey service including optimised article writing and link indexing.
- Track your netlinking campaigns thanks to performance indicators, so you can adjust your strategy if necessary.
Make the most of internal linking
Internal linking is an often underestimated SEO lever. It helps you to better structure your site, improve user navigation and distribute page authority. For an effective strategy:
- Insert internal links between your most important pages.
- Link your blog articles to one another to encourage reading and reduce the bounce rate.
- Use optimised link anchors containing strategic keywords.
- Regularly check your internal links to avoid 404 errors and guarantee a good user experience.
Tracking and continuous improvement of your SEO
Track performance with Google Analytics and Search Console
Performance analysis is essential to measure how effective your SEO strategy is and identify areas for improvement. Google Analytics lets you track your site's traffic, analyse user behaviour and identify the best-performing pages. Google Search Console, for its part, helps you to monitor your site's indexing, detect errors and improve your site's presence in the search results.
- Analyse the bounce rate and the time spent on each page to understand visitor engagement.
- Track how your keyword rankings evolve so you can adapt your content accordingly.
- Identify underperforming pages and optimise their content or structure.
- Spot crawl errors (404s, incorrect redirects) and fix them quickly.
Adapt your strategy based on the results
An effective SEO strategy relies on continuous improvement. Based on the data collected, regularly adjust your approach to maximise your performance.
- Content improvement: update your articles by incorporating new keywords and refreshing outdated information.
- Technical optimisation: reduce loading time, optimise your meta tags and adjust your site's structure.
- Netlinking strategy: obtain new backlinks and improve your internal linking to strengthen your site's authority.
- User experience: analyse visitor behaviour and adjust the navigation or layout for better engagement.
Constant monitoring and adjustments based on real performance will let you gradually improve your SEO and increase the visibility of your Wix site.
The Wix SEO tool
An overview of Wix SEO
Wix SEO is a built-in tool designed to make it easier to optimise websites created on the platform. It offers guided support to put SEO best practices in place and helps to improve your rankings on search engines thanks to several key features. This tool includes, in particular, personalised recommendations, simplified management of meta tags, optimisation of the sitemap.xml file and a smooth connection with Google Search Console.
Key features
- SEO Wiz: an interactive assistant that guides users through the SEO optimisation of their site based on their sector of activity.
- Meta tag management: customisation of titles and descriptions for each page to optimise how they appear in the search results.
- Mobile optimisation: checking mobile compatibility and recommendations to improve the user experience.
- SEO performance analysis: tracking results and making adjustments via dedicated dashboards.
- 301 redirects: managing old URLs to avoid 404 errors and preserve link equity.
Benefits and limitations
Benefits
- A friendly, intuitive interface, suited to beginners.
- Quick, automated configuration of many SEO optimisations.
- Direct integration with Google Search Console to track your site's performance.
- Automatic updating of the sitemap and robots.txt files without manual intervention.
Limitations
- Less flexibility compared with advanced SEO tools such as Yoast SEO on WordPress.
- Limited customisation for certain advanced technical optimisations.
- Sometimes higher loading times due to Wix's predefined features.
How to get the most out of Wix SEO?
- Use the SEO Wiz right from the creation of your site to get tailored recommendations.
- Regularly check your meta tags and adjust them in line with SEO trends.
- Connect your site to Google Search Console and Google Analytics to monitor your performance.
- Work on internal linking and netlinking to strengthen your site's authority.
- Regularly test your loading speed and optimise your media for a better display.
The essential tools for your SEO on Wix
Google Search Console
This tool lets you track your site's indexing, identify SEO errors and analyse page performance. It offers detailed reports on the queries that generate traffic and provides recommendations to improve your site's visibility on Google.
Google Analytics
An essential for tracking visitor behaviour: traffic analysis, bounce rate, session duration and conversions. By cross-referencing this data with that of Search Console, you can refine your SEO strategy based on real user behaviour.
Keyword research tools
- Ubersuggest: Lets you identify keyword opportunities and analyse the competition.
- SEMrush: Provides detailed analyses of keywords, traffic and competitors' strategies.
- Ahrefs: Useful for tracking backlinks and identifying strategic keywords.
- Google Keyword Planner: Ideal for finding relevant keywords based on users' real searches.
SEO audit tools
- Screaming Frog: A detailed technical analysis of your site (tags, 404 errors, redirects, etc.).
- Sitechecker: Lets you detect SEO errors and offers optimisation solutions.
- PageSpeed Insights: Analyses page loading speed and gives recommendations to improve it.
- GTmetrix: Provides a detailed performance assessment and suggestions to optimise the site's speed.
SEO extensions and plugins for Wix
- SEO Wiz: Wix's built-in tool offering a guided setup to optimise your SEO.
- Rank Math: An extension that lets you add advanced SEO features.
- Yoast SEO (for blogs): A good complement for structuring content and optimising blog articles.
The SEO constraints on Wix
Limited flexibility compared with WordPress
Wix offers less freedom than WordPress when it comes to SEO customisation. Restricted access to the source code and the inability to add certain advanced scripts limit the optimisation possibilities. In addition, the management of schema.org tags and other advanced technical features is less flexible than on other CMSs.
Managing URLs and redirects
Wix automatically generates certain URLs, which can be a problem for advanced optimisation. For example, it is difficult to fully customise URL slugs and avoid unnecessary URL structures. Moreover, the management of 301 redirects is not as complete as on WordPress, which can complicate a site migration or the handling of outdated pages.
Loading speed and performance
Wix runs on shared hosting, which can lead to slower loading times than other platforms. Performance optimisation is limited, and although Wix includes a CDN, certain features such as advanced code compression or fine-grained script management remain absent. It is therefore crucial to compress images, avoid excessive animations and limit the number of plugins installed.
Indexing and advanced SEO
Although Wix has made progress when it comes to SEO, some sites may run into indexing difficulties, notably because of the architecture of dynamic pages and certain limitations in content markup. The advanced optimisation of Open Graph tags, Twitter Cards or rich snippets is less developed than on other CMSs such as WordPress.
Conclusion
Optimising the SEO of a Wix site rests on several pillars: technical setup, quality content creation, netlinking and performance tracking. By applying these best practices and using tools such as MisterGoodLink for netlinking, you will maximise your chances of reaching the top positions on Google. Do not forget to regularly analyse your results in order to adjust your strategy!
