Wix is one of the most successful and easy to use content management systems (CMS) around the world. It is the perfect platform for small business owners who want to control their website but don’t have the technical skills to use some of the other website platforms out there. However, one thing that has often held Wix back has been its reputation.
Even when users are on the Wix connect plan, the platform has unfairly received a bad reputation when it comes to SEO. Here are a few thoughts on the SEO for the Wix connect premium plan.
Wix and its SEO reputation
One part of that reputation is that Wix connect plan has a poor SEO rating. Generally, this reputation came from four historical aspects.
1. It had a poor URL structure because each page was built and defined by a number.
2. There was no ability to add ALT tags to website images.
3. Website owners could not add structured data markups.
4. Website owners could not optimise the title tags and meta descriptions for any articles they wrote on blog posts.
Although. there are many other Wix SEO myths, these four critical criteria often meant that high-end and professional website designers would ignore Wix. Their reputation wasn’t solely based on these elements, but they were the main stumbling blocks for the platform.
Wix SEO battle
In 2019, the platform launched the competition. There was a prize of $25,000 that allowed a professional website designer to show that a Wix website can, and will, rank at the top of search engines. Marie Haynes Consulting won the competition.
There was some debate over the motive of the SEO battle. However, John Mueller from Google said that the battle detracted from the primary efforts. A consulting company would be really good at ranking a website regardless of the platform. Even those who worked for the consulting company noted that Wix had made vast improvements to their SEO, but there are advantages and disadvantages like any other platform.
User skill
One of the biggest problems with Wix is not the platform itself. When you’re looking to rank a website, you need to think of several areas. This includes the website build, website content and external factors.
In many cases, these are not areas that the standard Wix user is well versed in. For instance, image optimisation. When loading an image to the website, it should have a balance between quality and file size. An image that is too large is going to use up more memory that takes longer for the website visitor to download.
A slower website often ranks lower than a faster website. There are also conversion problems with a 1-second loading delay causing a 7% drop in revenues on a website.
Therefore, before uploading an image to your website, you should resize the image in both actual and file size which will turn a high-quality image into one that is much more website friendly.
It is important to note that Wix do automatically resize images during the upload process, but to be fully effective, it is a lot better to help them along the way instead of uploading images which are 6,000 pixels wide to start with.
Customisation solutions for Wix SEO
When it comes to speeding up your Wix website, it is a two way thing. The performance team at Wix are constantly working on improving the website speed and user performance of the CMS itself, however, they cannot control what you put on your website. This is down to you. If you are going to build your Wix website using many of the Wix Apps available adding large image and video files all over your website, it is going to load slower regardless of what Wix do at their end. The key thing to remember when it comes to performance and having a fast loading website is, if it does not directly contribute to getting more enquiries or converting traffic into sales sales (if you are using the Wix Store), then it is not needed.
Keywords
At the same time, core keyword research has to be completed. No website owner should just think of a keyword and start using it without knowing the performance. A keyword could have high traffic but lots of competition, or no search traffic and low competition. Ideally, you want to be using keywords where there is low-medium competition but a significant search usage.
Keywords are the words, phrases or questions your potential customers use (search in Google and other search engines) to find the products or services that your business supply or provide.
Blogging
Wix provide the ability to add the Wix Blog to any Wix website. It is simple and straight forward. Just open the editor and click the plus sign (+) down the left and then mouse-over 'Blog'. All you have to do then is click the 'Add to site' button and Wix automatically builds your new blog for you.
You may have read or heard that you should be blogging at least 15 times a month and all your blog posts need to be 1,250 words at minimum. The fact is, if you are going to blog, you decide how many times per month you are going to write and publish an article on your Wix Blog. If you can only manage to publish one article per month, that is fine. If you have the time to publish one article per week, that is also fine. The key thing is that whatever you decide, try your best to be consistent. When it comes to the length of each blog post, there are no minimum or maximum word length you should be writing. Just select your article/blog title based on what your customers need to know and ensure you provide the information they need.
It's not the platform but the strategy
Therefore, it is safe to say that when it comes to ranking a website on Wix, it is not the platform that is holding back top rankings on Google. Suppose you’re able to use the platform correctly and insert keywords throughout content, URL structures, meta descriptions and other areas, and use proper images. In that case, there is no reason why Wix should hamper your on-site SEO.
Equally, if you can complete good link building strategies and use a wide digital marketing strategy plan, then there is no reason why a Wix website can’t rank at the top of Google. It is more about the skills deployed in improving the website's ranking rather than the platform itself. If all this sounds like a foreign language to you, check out my Wix SEO Course which will guide you through each step of the process, one step at a time and in a non-techie language.
Conclusion: Does being on the Wix connect domain plan affect SEO
When looking at Wix and SEO, nothing is holding back your website from performing well on search engines. Then Wix Connect domain plan is no different. It offers the user a better chance to improve their SEO by using their domain for the website. This can help you get the website built around the best keywords for your niche and what your audiences are following.
Once you’ve got this in place, you can build a better digital marketing strategy and a website design that will improve your Wix website’s ranking. You can rank high and attract audiences to your website. If you are not confident in building your own website to showcase your business in its best light, you may want to consider receiving a quote from a professional Wix website designer. It's not a cost but an investment into the future of your business.