Wix and SEO: Friends or Foes?

Are the rumors true that Wix sites don’t experience great SEO results? In a word, yes. But the real answer isn’t that simple. Essentially, you can increase search engine optimization for certain aspects of a Wix site, but some problems just don’t have a solution yet. 

This is a real bummer, too, because Wix sites and templates are incredibly easy to use. The drag-and-drop design is about the easiest available, so even the most technologically challenged can handle creating their own website. Before you choose Wix over other similar options like WordPress or even Weebly, take a look at some of the factors that could negatively affect your SEO.

Javascript

Wix sites incorporate some pretty great elements, including drag-and-drop creation and unique page transitions. These are created through Javascript, which is not historically SEO friendly. Some crawlers can read Javascript, but the ability is limited. Google is still working on this technology and may someday be able to supply a solution that works for all Javascript elements. For now, JS should only be used to enhance a website, not as the basis for all content on the page.

Hash Fragments

After creating pages within the Wix designer, your website will generate URLs with hash fragments, which look like this #!. A hash fragment can negatively affect your SEO because the web crawler won’t search through these pages unless you tell the crawler your site supports the AJAX scheme. You will need a bit of work to set up the crawler, but Google’s developers made sure to provide step-by-step instructions.

The real problem here is this: If you knew how to direct crawlers to your Wix site, would you really even need the ease of design Wix offers in the first place? Chances are, if you’re relying on the drag-and-drop features Wix provides, you’re probably not tech savvy.

Free Sites

You may be tempted to choose the free version of Wix when creating your site, but nearly every expert would advise against this. For one thing, you’ll have the call-to-action bars on your website offering free Wix to anyone who visits you. More importantly, the free sites are even worse for SEO than the standard Wix website. The URL is one of the most important aspects of search engine optimization, and the free sites use only numbers. No one will remember your website address, and they won’t be able to find you with a Google search.

Yes or No?

Image source

The latest statistics show Wix has increased in popularity among users, but the design tool is still well behind other platforms like WordPress, Joomla, Magento, and Drupal. Whether or not you choose Wix as your design platform is up to you. You may find great success with a brilliant site if you rely solely on word-of-mouth to drive your customers. If you’re counting on SEO to direct traffic to your site, another option may suit you better.