The Ultimate Wix SEO Audit Checklist to Boost Your Organic Traffic and Online Visibility

Attention all small business owners! Is your Wix website getting indexed by Google and shown to potential customers? If you know it could be better you need to follow these two checklists and start to make improvements.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a crucial aspect of any business's digital marketing strategy. With more and more people using search engines to find businesses and services online, having a well-optimised website can make all the difference in getting noticed by potential customers. By improving your website, you can rank higher in search engine results pages, drive more organic traffic to your site and increase your chances of converting visitors into customers. For small business owners, having a website that's optimised for search engines is especially important, as it can level the playing field against larger competitors and help you reach new audiences.

Having a website is essential for any business to get new customers. But it's not enough to simply have a website; you need to ensure that your website is optimised for search engines like Google. Improving your website will lead to more organic traffic and boost your online visibility. In this article, we'll show you, step-by-step, how to conduct an effective SEO audit for your Wix website and give you a list of steps you can take to optimise your Wix SEO and get more eyes on your business.

Quick links

• Wix SEO audit

• Wix SEO checklist

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SEO audit for a Wix website:

Conducting an audit is a crucial first step. An audit helps you identify areas for improvement in your website's SEO and provides you with a roadmap for fixing any issues. To help you get started, we've put together this audit guide that covers all the essential components of a successful strategy. The guide includes steps to ensure that your website is optimised for search engines, from technical aspects like site speed and mobile-friendliness to on-page elements like content and meta tags. We'll show you how to fix any issues identified in the Audit later on in this post on the SEO checklist.

1. Conduct a crawl analysis

To conduct a crawl analysis of your site, we recommend using a tool like SE Ranking or Seobility. With these tools, you can run a free audit of your site and identify any technical issues, crawl errors or broken links that need fixing. Not only are they cost-effective compared to other tools like SEMRush and Ahrefs, but they also offer many of the same features you need to optimise your website. Making them an ideal tool for small and micro business owners who are looking to get more bang for their buck. Once you've conducted your crawl analysis, you'll be able to identify any technical issues that are preventing search engines from crawling your site effectively and work to fix them, boosting your website's visibility and online presence. We'll show you how to fix any technical errors in the SEO checklist.

2. Analyse your on-page optimisation

Your Wix website on-page optimisation is an important part of improving your SEO. It involves reviewing your website's title tags, meta descriptions, header tags and content to ensure that they include relevant keywords related to your business. The audit tools we mentioned in the previous step (SE Ranking and Seobility) analyse all of these elements and show you any errors like duplicate tags and meta descriptions. By identifying these issues, you will know where to focus your efforts when you start making changes to your site.

3. Check site speed and mobile-friendliness

Site speed and mobile-friendliness are two critical factors that affect your website's SEO. Users expect websites to load quickly, and search engines favour sites that offer a good user experience, especially on mobile devices. To check your Wix website's site speed and mobile-friendliness, we recommend using Google PageSpeed Insights and Google Search Console. These tools analyse your website's speed and mobile-friendliness, providing you with insights into how you can optimise your website for a better user experience. Make a note of any issues with image size, page loading time and mobile usability so we can fix these issues later on.

4. Analyse your backlink profile:

The term "Backlinks" refers to links from other websites that point to your site and they are a major ranking factor for search engines. However, not all backlinks are created equal, and having spammy or low-quality links can actually harm your site's ranking. To analyse your website's backlink profile, you can use the same tools we did our technical audit with. These tools are great at identifying any spammy or low-quality backlinks that need removing. It's important to note that building high-quality backlinks from authoritative websites in your industry is a recommended way to boost your website's ranking and attract more organic traffic. However, it's crucial to only go after relevant and organically earned backlinks and avoid paying for spammy backlinks from PBNs (Private Blog Networks) and link farms, as these can do more harm than good to your rankings.

5. Analyse your site structure and internal linking:

Your website's structure and internal linking play a significant role in improving your Wix SEO. A well-organised, user-friendly site structure helps search engines understand the context of your content and how it relates to your overall website. To analyse your website's structure and navigation, we recommend conducting a manual review of your website. Make sure that your website is easy to navigate, with a clear hierarchy of pages and categories. Ensure that you have internal links to important pages throughout your site. Internal linking helps search engines crawl your website and discover new pages, improving your website's ranking potential.

Every website has a limited 'crawl budget,' which refers to the number of pages that search engines like Google can crawl and index from your website. If a page on your website is deep linked, meaning it is more than two clicks away from your homepage, it may not be crawled or indexed by search engines. Search engine crawlers may not have enough resources to scan through multiple layers of pages to reach the content so it is essential to ensure that your website's most important pages, such as your homepage, main categories and product pages, are easily accessible and not buried too deep within your website's structure.

6. Analyse your website's traffic and rankings:

Monitoring your website's traffic and rankings is an essential step in improving your SEO. By using the Wix dashboard analytics, you can monitor your website's organic search traffic and individual page performance, giving you valuable insights into how your website is performing in search engine results pages. Tracking your website's rankings and traffic is important because it helps you identify which parts of your website need optimisation the most. For example, if you notice a decline in traffic or ranking for a specific page, you can investigate why this may be happening and make the necessary changes to improve your website's performance. By regularly analysing your website's traffic and rankings, you can stay on top of your SEO and continue to improve your website's visibility and performance in search engine results pages.

SEO Setup Checklist for a Wix Website:

Congratulations on completing the SEO audit of your Wix website! (If you've not done the audit yet, I strongly recommend you start there). By conducting an audit, you've taken the first step towards improving your website's search engine optimisation.

Now that you have identified the areas for improvement, it's time to start working on fixing any issues that have been found. To help you get started, we've created this SEO checklist that covers all the essential components of a successful SEO strategy. From technical aspects like site speed and mobile-friendliness to on-page elements like content and meta tags, the list includes steps to ensure that your website is fully optimised for search engines.

1. Choose a primary keyword for each page

Choosing a primary keyword for each page of your website is a crucial step in laying the foundations of your website's SEO. Your primary keyword is the main topic or focus of your page's content and helps search engines understand what your page is about. To choose the right primary keyword, we recommend conducting thorough keyword research to identify the terms and phrases that your target audience is searching for. We have previously covered the topic of conducting keyword research in one of our blog posts, which we highly recommend reviewing before selecting your primary keywords. Once you have identified your primary keywords, make sure to include them naturally throughout your page's content, including the title tag, meta description and header tags.

2. Optimise title tags with primary keywords

Title tags are an essential on-page SEO element that helps search engines understand the main topic and purpose of your webpage. A title tag is the main heading that appears in search engine results pages and is also displayed at the top of the browser tab when a user visits your webpage. To optimise your title tags with primary keywords, make sure to include the targeted keyword near the beginning of the title tag. Additionally, keep your title tag concise and descriptive, limiting it to around 60 characters or less. This helps to ensure that your title tag is fully displayed in search engine results pages and provides a clear and concise description of your webpage's content. By optimising your title tags with relevant and targeted primary keywords, you can improve your webpage's visibility in search engine results pages and attract more organic traffic to your Wix website.

3. Optimise meta descriptions with primary keywords and a call-to-action

While meta descriptions don't directly impact SEO rankings, they play a crucial role in influencing click-through rates (CTR) from search engine results pages. A meta description is a brief summary of your webpage that appears below the title tag in search engine results pages. To optimise your meta descriptions with primary keywords, it's important to include your targeted keyword within the meta description. However, keep in mind that only the first 156 characters of your meta description are visible on search engine results pages, so make sure to place the keyword in the first section.

Crafting a short, compelling and descriptive meta-description that communicates the value proposition of your webpage can help attract users to click through to your website. Including a clear call-to-action in your meta description, such as 'Learn more', 'Sign up today' or 'Get started now' can further encourage users to visit your website.

Here's a template for a perfect meta description:

[Primary Keyword]: [Brief summary of your webpage]. [Call-to-action].

For example, if your primary keyword is "Wix website designer," your meta description could look like this:

"Wix Website Designer and SEO: Get a professional website that will show up on Google. Find out more about our design service today."

4. Use header tags (H1, H2, H3) to structure content

Header tags, including H1, H2 and H3s are the main framework for structuring your webpage's content. These header tags help search engines understand the hierarchy and organisation of your webpage's content, making it easier for them to crawl and index your website.

To optimise your header tags, include your primary keyword in the H1 tag, which is typically used for the main heading of your webpage. For the H2 and H3 tags, use semantic keywords related to your primary keyword to further support the main topic of your webpage. Semantic keywords are terms and phrases that are related to your primary keyword and help search engines understand the context of your webpage. Find out more in this blog about how to use Header tags on your website.

While using header tags is important for SEO, it's also important to keep in mind that header tags have design implications as well. In some cases, the use of header tags can impact the visual appearance of your webpage. Therefore, it's important to find a balance between design choices and SEO choices when using header tags on your Wix website. A common error on Wix websites is using large and bold fonts for all headings, which may not always be necessary from an SEO perspective. Instead, focus on using header tags to structure your content in a way that is easy to read and understand for both your audience and search engines.

You can easily change the Heading level in the Wix editor without altering the design appearance, here's how.

5. Write high-quality content that provides value to the reader

Writing high-quality content that provides value to the reader is a crucial part of SEO. Google's Helpful content update, along with the Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness (E-A-T) guidelines, emphasises the importance of creating content that is informative, trustworthy and engaging. This is especially important for websites that fall under the Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) category, which includes topics related to health, finance and personal safety. It is essential to ensure that your website's content is well-researched, accurate and up-to-date.

If copywriting is not your strength and you cannot afford a professional copywriter, consider using AI-powered tools. AI tools use natural language processing (NLP) to generate high-quality content that is optimised and provides value to your readers. This link to the Jasper AI content writing tool gets you a free trial so you can try it out and this link to Neuronwriter is for their lifetime deal, so you can buy it once and use it forever! It tells you exactly how many times to use a keyword and suggests semantically related keywords that will help to boost your content.

6. Use internal linking to connect pages and improve site navigation

Internal linking is an effective SEO strategy that involves linking pages within your website to improve site navigation and search engine visibility. When you link pages within your website, you help search engines understand the hierarchy and relationships between different pages on your website. This helps to distribute link equity across different pages of your website, which can ultimately improve your website's search engine rankings.

Internal linking can help improve site navigation by allowing users to easily find and access relevant content on your website. To optimise your internal linking strategy on your Wix website, consider creating a site map or a hierarchical menu that guides users through your website's structure. Make sure to use descriptive anchor text when linking to other pages on your website. This helps to provide context and relevance to both users and search engines. By using internal linking to connect pages and improve site navigation, you can create a better user experience for your audience and boost your website's search engine visibility.

7. Use external links to authoritative sites to improve credibility

When you link out from your site to authoritative sites, you signal to search engines that your website is a trustworthy source of information and that you are providing valuable resources to your audience. Linking to authoritative sites can help support your claims and provide additional context and information to your readers.

To optimise your external linking strategy on your website, consider linking to reputable sources within your industry or niche. Make sure to use descriptive anchor text when linking to external sites, as this provides context and relevance to both users and search engines. However, it's important to be selective with your external link choices and avoid over-linking or linking to low-quality sites, as this can negatively impact your website's credibility and rankings. And of course, you definitely don't want to link out to your competitors' websites.

8. Use alt text for images with descriptive text containing primary keywords

Using alt text for images is an important part of website accessibility. Alt tags provide a description of an image for users who are visually impaired or have other disabilities that prevent them from viewing images. However, alt tags can also benefit your SEO efforts by providing additional context and relevance to search engines.

When writing alt tags, make sure to use descriptive text that accurately describes the content and purpose of the image. Incorporate your primary keyword into the alt tag where it makes sense to do so, but be careful not to stuff keywords. Keyword stuffing can result in penalties and negatively impact your rankings. Make sure to keep your alt tag concise and relevant to the image.

If you have a lot of images that need ALT tags, here's a quick hack for you...

1. Open the Wix editor

2. Click on 'Settings' in the top right corner

3. Click on 'Accessibility Wizard'

The accessibility wizard will run a scan of your entire site and because the ALT tags are an accessibility feature, it will show you all of the images with missing alt tags. You can edit and add the tags directly there in the wizard.

9. Ensure the website is mobile-friendly and fast-loading

Ensuring that your Wix website is mobile-friendly and fast-loading is essential for providing a positive user experience and improving your website's search engine visibility. With the increasing number of users accessing websites on their mobile devices, mobile-friendliness is more important now than ever before.

Wix offers a mobile editor so you can make sure your website looks great on desktop and mobile. You should always try to design from a mobile-first perspective. Making tweaks and edits as you go along is much easier than finishing your desktop site and then trying to go back and edit the mobile site.

Speed is a critical factor in both user experience and SEO. While some aspects of Wix sites such as the amount of Javascript used are out of your control, there are still things you can do to optimise for speed. One of the most important factors is image sizing. Make sure your images are correctly sized and compressed to reduce load time. Wix converts all images to WebP format but you still need to make sure the images are correctly sized before you load them. Always use jpg file types, and keep the file size below 500 KB. Use a free tool like Compressor.io, and select 'Lossless' so you don't lose any image quality. The only time you should use PNG files is if it is absolutely necessary to have an image with a transparent background, but you can expect your PNG image to be much larger than a JPG would be.

Also, make sure to minimise the use of unnecessary animations and widgets that can slow down your website's loading time.

10. Use Google Search Console to monitor site performance and crawl errors

Google Search Console must be used to submit your sitemap and monitor your website's performance and identify any crawl errors that may be affecting your search engine rankings. It offers valuable insights into website traffic, indexing status and search performance metrics.

By reviewing this data regularly, you can identify areas of your website that may require improvement and make informed decisions about changes to your website's content, structure or technical components.

Fortunately, Wix makes it easy to connect your website with Google Search Console through the Wix dashboard. This allows you to view all your website's performance and crawl error metrics in an easy-to-read format directly from the Wix dashboard. To get this set up, from the Wix dashboard click on Marketing & SEO > SEO and follow the instructions to connect to Google Search Console.

11. Set up Google Analytics to track and analyse website traffic

Google Analytics offers valuable insights into website traffic, user behaviour and conversion rates. This information can help you make informed decisions about changes to your website's content, structure and marketing strategies.

To set up Google Analytics on your Wix website, you first need to create a Google Analytics account and generate a tracking ID. Once you have your tracking ID, you can connect it to your website through the dashboard. This allows you to track and analyse all your website's traffic metrics in real-time, including page views, bounce rates and traffic sources. By leveraging this data, you can identify areas of your website that require improvement and optimise your website's performance.

Sure, here's an additional paragraph reminding readers that UA has been sunset and to create a Google Analytics account on GA4:

Remember that Universal Analytics (UA) has now been sunset by Google and any new Google Analytics accounts should be created on Google Analytics 4. GA4 offers a more advanced and flexible analytics solution that allows you to track cross-device and cross-platform user behaviour, as well as integrate with other Google marketing tools such as Google Ads.

12. Build backlinks from high-quality websites in your industry

When other reputable websites link back to your site, it signals to search engines that your website is a trustworthy source of information and can help increase your website's authority and relevance. Backlinks can also drive referral traffic to your website, which can lead to increased engagement and conversions. To build backlinks from high-quality websites, start by creating valuable and informative content that other websites in your industry may want to link to. Reach out to other website owners and bloggers in your industry and ask if they would be willing to link back to your content. You can also use online tools to monitor mentions of your brand or website and reach out to those who have mentioned you but haven't linked back to your website.

It's important to avoid buying or exchanging backlinks, as this can result in penalties and negatively impact your website's search engine rankings. Read more about backlinks and social signals in this article.

13. Create and optimise your Google Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile displays important information about your business such as your address, phone number, hours of operation, reviews and more. This information appears in Google Maps and Google search results when users search for businesses similar to yours. By optimising your Google Business Profile, you can ensure that your business information is accurate and up-to-date, making it more likely for potential customers to find and contact you.

Google Business Profiles with positive reviews and high engagement rates can also help improve your website's search engine rankings. To create and optimise your Google Business Profile, start by claiming your business listing on Google. You can then add accurate information, including your website URL, photos and business description. Responding to customer reviews and adding relevant posts can also help improve engagement and encourage more positive reviews.

The good news is that you can set up and manage your Google Business Profile directly from your Wix dashboard.

To get this set up, from the Wix dashboard click on Marketing & SEO > Google Business Profile and follow the instructions to get set up and started.

14. Use your main keywords in your responses to your Google reviews

Using your main keywords in your responses to Google reviews is a simple yet effective way to improve your site's local search engine visibility. When you respond to reviews left by customers on your Google Business Profile, it shows that you value their feedback and are actively engaging with your audience.

By incorporating your main keywords into your responses, you can also signal to search engines the relevance and authority of your website within your industry. For example, if your business provides plumbing services, including related keywords such as "plumbing," "pipe repair," or "drain cleaning" in your responses can help improve your rankings for these terms. Using your main keywords in your responses can also help increase the likelihood of your business appearing in local search results for those specific keywords.

15. Continuously monitor and optimise your website's SEO strategy

As we reach the final point of our checklist, it's important to remember that SEO is an ongoing process that requires continuous monitoring and optimisation to ensure your website is performing at its best. As search engines regularly update their algorithms and ranking factors, it's important to stay up-to-date with the latest SEO trends and adjust your strategy accordingly.

By continuously monitoring your website's SEO performance metrics such as traffic, bounce rates and search engine rankings, you can identify areas that require improvement and make informed decisions about changes to your website's content, structure or technical components.

Regularly updating your website with fresh and relevant content, building backlinks from high-quality websites and keeping your Google Business Profile up to date are all essential components of an effective SEO strategy.

In today's digital age, having a strong online presence is essential for any business, and a solid SEO strategy is key to achieving this. Optimizing your website for search engine rankings can seem like a daunting task at first, but by following this Audit and Checklist, you can ensure that your website is optimised for maximum visibility and engagement. From conducting thorough keyword research and optimising your website's meta titles and descriptions to building backlinks from high-quality websites and creating and optimising your Google Business Profile, there are many components to a successful SEO strategy. By continuously monitoring and working on your website's SEO performance metrics, you can ensure that your website is performing at its best and attracting more organic traffic to your site.

About NX Digital

We have experienced Wix website designers and SEO experts who are passionate about helping businesses establish a strong online presence and attract more customers. As a leading provider of Wix website design and SEO services, we stay up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices in the industry to ensure that our clients' sites are optimised for maximum visibility and engagement. If you need help with your Wix website, don't hesitate to contact us. Our team of experts will work with you to create a customised strategy tailored to your business's unique needs and goals.

Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your business grow.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Wix SEO

Q: What is Wix SEO?

A: Wix SEO refers to the process of optimizing your Wix website to improve its visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs). It involves using various techniques and strategies to make your website rank better and attract more organic traffic.

Q: How can I perform a Wix SEO audit?

A: Performing a Wix SEO audit involves conducting a comprehensive evaluation of your website's SEO elements, such as the URL structure, keyword optimization, meta tags, content quality, internal and external links, and user experience. It helps identify areas that need improvement and provides insights into how to optimize your Wix site for better search engine rankings.

Q: Why is keyword research important for Wix SEO?

A: Keyword research is crucial for Wix SEO because it helps you identify the specific words and phrases that your target audience is using to search for products or services like yours. By using relevant keywords throughout your website content, you increase the chances of attracting organic traffic and ranking higher on search engine result pages.

Q: What is the Wix SEO checklist and how can it help me?

A: The Wix SEO checklist is a set of guidelines provided by Wix to help website owners optimize their Wix sites for better search engine rankings. It covers various aspects of SEO, including keyword optimization, URL structure, meta tags, content quality, mobile optimization, and more. By following the checklist, you can ensure that your website is properly optimized and increases its chances of ranking higher in search engine results.

Q: How can I optimize my Wix site for better SEO?

A: To optimize your Wix site for better SEO, you can follow several steps, such as conducting keyword research and using relevant keywords throughout your content, optimizing your page URLs, writing unique and informative meta tags, creating high-quality and relevant content, optimizing images and alt tags, improving website speed and mobile optimization, and building high-quality backlinks.

Q: How can I use Wix SEO Wiz to improve my website's SEO?

A: Wix SEO Wiz is a tool provided by Wix that offers personalized SEO recommendations based on your website's specific needs. It provides step-by-step guidance on how to optimize your website for better search engine rankings. By following the recommendations provided by Wix SEO Wiz, you can improve your website's SEO and increase its visibility on search engine result pages.

Q: How can I improve my Wix website's internal linking structure?

A: To improve your Wix website's internal linking structure, you can ensure that every page on your site has relevant and logical links to other pages within your website. This helps search engines understand the structure of your website and improves user navigation. Additionally, you can use anchor text with relevant keywords in your internal links to further optimize your site for search engines.

Q: How can I get backlinks for my Wix website?

A: Getting backlinks is an essential part of off-page SEO and can significantly improve your website's search engine rankings. To get backlinks for your Wix website, you can reach out to relevant websites or blogs in your industry and ask for a link, create high-quality and shareable content that naturally attracts backlinks, use social media to promote your content and attract attention, participate in online communities and forums, and collaborate with other website owners to exchange links.

Q: Can I use Google Analytics with my Wix website?

A: Yes, you can use Google Analytics with your Wix website. Wix provides a seamless integration with Google Analytics, allowing you to track and analyze various website statistics, such as the number of visitors, traffic sources, page views, bounce rate, and more. Integrating Google Analytics with your Wix site can provide valuable insights into your website's performance and help you make data-driven decisions to improve your SEO strategy.

Q: How can I ensure that my Wix website is mobile-optimized?

A: To ensure that your Wix website is mobile-optimized, you can use Wix's responsive templates, which automatically adapt to different screen sizes and devices. Additionally, you can preview and test your website on different mobile devices using Wix's Mobile Editor. It is essential to prioritize mobile optimization as search engines like Google consider mobile-friendliness as a ranking factor, and a mobile-optimized website improves the user experience.