Wix users get hit with the Google stick
If your business website was built with the online website builder tool, Wix, you may be noticing a recent dip in user activity. In fact, it’s likely that you are experiencing a major decline in activity due to a recent issue causing numerous sites powered by Wix to drop off the Google index.
The appeal of Wix lies in its affordability and ease. Wix’s easy-to-use site building process eliminates the need to hire web development experts, making it an attractive option for start up businesses hoping to save money. Unfortunately, because all Wix sites use one main platform, individual webmasters experience much less flexibility and control than they would with a personalized platform. And, when one Wix site starts having problems, all Wix sites are likely to suffer a similar fate.
Forums have been flooded on this topic
Google Webmaster Help forums have been littered with discussions over the last two weeks about Wix sites that have disappeared from the index. The search engine has issued an apology for the hassle, and told Wix users that they’ve taken another thorough look at the set-up of Wix sites. There may be a delay, but Google is working to resolve the issue on their end by reprocessing all affected sites.
For any Wix users unsure if your site has been affected, now is the time to take a look at your site’s search data for anything fishy. Ask yourself: Is there decline in index counts in your Google Search Console? Is there a sudden decrease in traffic from Google Search? You might also try performing your own Google search to see if your website can be accessed.
Don’t lose valuable business
If your Wix site has indeed fallen off the Google index, you are losing valuable business each day. Even worse—there is nothing to do but wait for Google to start reindexing, which they are in the process of doing.
Building your own platform through web management tools like WordPress is a great alternative to sites like Wix that hinder individualization and give you limited control. Even as new brands, its invaluable to have a strong website that allows you to own your own content, and your own destiny.
#SadWix
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Jacobus Lavooij
October 27, 2015 at 6:14 am
I have no clue why business people use Wix. Yes, easy, but when you are doing business, keep to your core business and have someone else build your website. Anyway, Hannah, thanks for pointing it out. I hadn’t heard of the problem yet. Always good to know and another tool for the ones that sell websites to close the client to use something else (like WP).
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James
October 27, 2015 at 10:45 am
Can you post some of the sources to this? I’m not finding much else aside from this article.
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Phil Simon
October 27, 2015 at 11:50 am
In a word, wow. That type of thing could puncture Wix’s business model, certainly for new clients.
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Andrew Anderson
October 27, 2015 at 1:59 pm
The truth is Free Website builders are never free. They in fact can cost you your whole business. Get yourself a hosted WordPress site and be done with it. Why put your financial future in someone else’s hands like that? If you have a real business then you need a real website.
Cheers,
Andrew Anderson
ContinualCustomer.com
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Andrew
October 27, 2015 at 5:52 pm
Does anyone know specifically what caused the deindex, whether it was Wix’s actions or a fluke?
Not arguing for them in any way, but the article does seem a little biased against them.
Kansas City
October 27, 2015 at 6:25 pm
Proof positive that you need to own your own asset as much as possible. WIX, Weebly, these could go belly up at any time (and Wix has, essentially). Only your own site can prevent these kinds of penalties (unless, of course, you use spammy SEO tactics)
Bryan Rempel
October 27, 2015 at 11:43 pm
Great article. I have been talking about this for months after learning WordPress, and still having about a dozen sites on a similar website builder to Wix. I have been with this unnamed company for over a dozen years (starting with Home and ending with Stead), and they have been punishing their customers with an upgrade over the last two weeks, making thousands of sites un-editable. If you are with such a company you cannot migrate your years of work and hundreds of hours of development to a new website service provider. You are a “renter” not an “owner” of your website. I have replaced about half my sites over the past year with WordPress sites that I can pack up and move to a different host whenever I want. I now “own” my work and can control it. These so-called free websites are like Hotel California, “You can check out any time you want, but you can never leave.” I am now working on the rest of my sites to get them out of website purgatory.
ryan
October 28, 2015 at 12:01 am
Ive always hated wix. It ruins businesses as people are cheap and always go for whats cheap and easy. But, like most things, you get what you pay for. Maybe our industry will get a bit busier now 😀
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Alexis Kasperavicius
October 28, 2015 at 7:38 am
You kind of made the argument for using Wix: Google is paying attention, they will fix it. Do you think Google would fix a bug in their ranking code, much less respond to you if it was only affecting your site?
arun
October 28, 2015 at 9:49 am
sometimes im fear because iahve one site in wix
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Tyler
October 28, 2015 at 3:46 pm
I’ve transferred a few client sites from Wix to WordPress so I got a chance to see the backend of Wix. It is actually a decent platform for simple sites, but falls short when it comes to complex CMS, advanced services, and complete customization. One problem, as seen today, is all these sites are squeezed onto the same servers. I’d imagine it has to be quite a task to keep that server clean from spammy sites.
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Larry Launstein Jr.
November 6, 2015 at 1:47 pm
Not a fan of Wix at all. Too limited in design options and a SEO nightmare. Prefer WordPress and HTML-CSS better. Even with so many templates in each format, you can take them and call them your own, especially the premium templates.
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David C. Brandon
December 18, 2015 at 3:52 pm
Wow, thats a huge hit right there. Why would G specifically target these?
Generally speaking and regardless to this ‘update’, Wix users are not thrilled with their online presence on search engines.
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John
February 22, 2016 at 11:25 am
Although it’s odd that Google would penalize Wix user sites as a whole, I can tell you from dealing with users of free website builder services like Wix, there has been a decline in user satisfaction as a whole.
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Michael
June 1, 2016 at 8:11 am
Where is the truth in this I have 20 wix sites and none have suffered any penalty.
Lani Rosales
June 1, 2016 at 12:22 pm
You’re right – it was a temporary de-indexing, and many felt no impact whatsoever.
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