What’s the Difference: Wix vs. Custom Developed Site

November 12, 2021
Updated:
May 1, 2023

What’s the Difference: Wix vs. Custom Developed Site

Red Shark Digital

Developing a website is essential for your business, and creating a custom website utilizing Webflow UI design can be more beneficial for SEO services than a template-based design. Using website builders such as Wix or Squarespace can be a cheaper option and suitable for beginners, but with that, there can be many downfalls in taking the easy route with a template-based design. Our Webflow SEO agency breaks down the similarities and differences between Webflow customized websites and template designs from Wix, helping you determine which best suits the needs of your business's SEO services.

SEO on Wix Sites

When using SEO features on Wix websites, you can ensure the features will be simple to use and readily available to the user. Wix provides pre-made template designs to create your custom website, meaning you don't have to understand Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), HyperText Markup Language (HTML), or any code. You can easily choose different template parts and develop your website within a few hours. The most significant advantage of using Wix is that it is immediately available. All template parts are readily available in Wix, cutting down launch time. A website builder is typically ideal for bloggers and hobbyists, as these types of users do not require a complex website. A simple template can allow you to focus on your content while only spending a small portion of delivering it.

SEO Tools for Wix

Wix offers multiple features for light on-page and technical search engine optimization. These SEO tools for Wix allow website design companies to enhance their current search efforts:

  1. Customizable meta titles and descriptions: Wix allows for meta titles and description optimization. This helps ensure that your website is appropriately indexed by search engines and displayed correctly in search engine results.
  2. SEO-friendly URLs: Wix automatically generates SEO-friendly URLs for your pages and blog posts. This makes it easier for search engines to crawl and index your website.
  3. Image optimization: Wix allows you to optimize your images for SEO by adding alt text and descriptive file names. This can help improve your website's search engine rankings and make it more accessible to users with disabilities.
  4. Site verification: Wix makes it easy to verify your website with Google Search Console and other search engines. This helps ensure your website is indexed correctly and displayed in search engine results.
  5. Mobile optimization: Wix's responsive design offers mobile optimization capabilities. Optimizing for mobile device users can improve your website's search engine rankings, as Google now prioritizes mobile-friendly websites in search results.
  6. Blogging features: Wix includes powerful blogging features that can help improve your website's search engine rankings. This consists of the ability to add tags, categories, and keywords to your blog posts.
  7. SEO analytics: Wix includes built-in SEO analytics that allows you to track your website's performance in search engine results. This can help you identify areas for improvement and optimize your website for better rankings.

Wix SEO Issues

  1. Limited control over technical SEO: Wix is a closed platform, which means you have limited control over technical SEO features such as server-side settings, structured data markup, and canonical tags. This can make it challenging to optimize your website for search engines entirely.
  2. Limited flexibility for website customization: While Wix offers many customization options, its closed platform can limit your flexibility to customize your website entirely. This can limit your ability to optimize your website for search engines.
  3. Slow loading times: Wix websites can sometimes have slow loading times, negatively impacting your website's search engine rankings. Search engines prioritize websites with fast loading times, so slow loading times can be a disadvantage.
  4. Limited blogging features: While Wix offers blogging features, they are less advanced than other website-building tools. This can make optimizing your blog content for search engines difficult.
  5. Limited SEO analytics: Wix provides basic SEO analytics, but they may not be as comprehensive as other website-building tools. This can make it difficult to understand your website's performance in search engine results.
  6. SEO limitations on free plans: If you are using a free program with Wix, you may experience limitations in terms of SEO features. For example, free plans do not allow you to use a custom domain name, which can impact your website's search engine rankings.

Are Wix websites good for SEO?

While Wix offers some SEO features, its closed platform and limitations in technical SEO, customization, and website speed can be a disadvantage for those looking to optimize their website for search engines entirely. Wix can provide SEO services, but they won’t be as complex. Using Wix for building a website is a helpful tool if you want to create a website to have one and not focus on the analytical and beneficial side of driving traffic to your site.

Related Articles