How to Shift From WordPress to Wix Without Losing Your Mind (or Your SEO)

Cameron Rouch
Jun 26
5 min read

Thinking about swapping your self-hosted WordPress site for the all-in-one convenience of Wix? You’re not alone. Many small-business owners, freelancers and creatives reach a point where WordPress maintenance feels like a part-time job: themes, plugins, PHP updates, malware checks—goodbye weekends. Wix looks tempting: drag-and-drop design, automatic hosting, and no security patches. Yet there’s one nagging question: How do you move a live site that ranks in Google without causing digital carnage? Below is a practical, jargon-free roadmap—roughly 1,000 words—that shows you how to switch from WordPress to Wix as painlessly as possible.

Why Move to Wix?

WordPress is powerful, but with great power comes ongoing responsibility. For many small business owners, creatives, and consultants, managing a WordPress site eventually starts to feel more like running a software stack than a website. You’re patching plugins, handling hosting, worrying about security, and hoping an update doesn’t break your theme.

Wix strips all of that away.

With Wix, you get:

All-in-one hosting – No need to manage servers or cPanel.
Visual editing – Build or update your site without touching code.
Automatic updates – Security and performance are handled in the background.
Built-in SEO tools – From meta tags to sitemaps, all managed in one dashboard.
Faster setup – Go from idea to published site in hours, not weeks.

If you’re after convenience, visual design flexibility, and less tech maintenance, Wix is the lightweight solution that keeps your site running so you can focus on growing your business—not debugging it.

1. Decide Whether You’re Migrating Everything or Just the Blog

Not every WordPress site is equal. If you run a portfolio with six pages and a quiet blog, your migration path is short and sweet. If you’re sitting on a 500-post content machine loaded with WooCommerce products, comments and custom post types, buckle up.

Ask yourself:

Question	Quick Answer
Do you need WooCommerce in Wix?	You’ll have to rebuild products manually in Wix Stores.
Are comments important?	Wix doesn’t import WordPress comments. Consider a fresh start.
Do you rely on complex plugins (membership, LMS)?	Wix can’t replicate custom PHP. You’ll need a new solution or workaround.

If your answer to most of the above is no, congratulations—your job just got a lot easier.

2. Audit and Triage Your Existing Content

Before copying a single paragraph, map what stays, what goes, and what can merge. A simple Google Sheet does the trick:

Export a list of all WordPress URLs (use a plugin like Yoast or Screaming Frog).
Label each entry as Keep / Merge / Delete.
Note the target URL in Wix to stay on top of 301 redirects later.

Why bother? Because migrating decades-old, thin or duplicate articles chews up time and dilutes your new site’s focus. Pruning now means faster results later.

3. Grab Your WordPress Blog Posts via RSS

How can you transfer blogs from WordPress to Wix? You’re in luck, as Wix offers a built-in WordPress RSS importer for blog content. It’s not perfect, but it beats copy-pasting 200 posts:

Visit https://yoursite.com/feed (or /feed/ if your permalinks differ).
Copy the URL.
In Wix, open Blog → Settings → Import Posts.
Paste the URL, hit import, and let Wix do its thing.

Caveats:

Featured images sometimes miss the bus; double-check manually.
Categories come across as tags; you may want to tidy the taxonomy afterwards.
Only blog posts get imported—pages, custom post types, and products do not.

4. Rebuild Core Pages Manually in Wix

“Manual” sounds tedious, but Wix’s drag-and-drop editor makes light work of small page counts.

Copy text directly from the WordPress editor (in text mode to strip styling).
Upload images at original resolutions to preserve clarity.
Match URL slugs to your old site (e.g. /about-us remains /about-us).
Recreate internal links as you go to avoid orphaned pages.

Tip: Create a “stripped-down” landing page layout in Wix, duplicate it, and tweak the copy for each new page—this keeps the design consistent and halves your workload. Again, transferring your website from WordPress to Wix doesn’t have to be laborious.

5. Mind Your SEO: Redirects, Titles and Meta Descriptions

Moving homes without leaving a forwarding address annoys friends and search engines alike. Wix lets you add redirects in SEO Tools → URL Redirect Manager. Import a CSV of old → new links or add them manually.

While you’re there:

Copy-paste your existing meta titles and descriptions into Wix SEO settings.
Ensure alt tags accompany every image—Wix’s media manager makes this simple.
Turn on SSL (Wix does this by default, but double-check).

Your website doesn’t have to lose its SEO juice as it gets transferred from WordPress to Wix, thanks to Wix’s helpful tools. All you have to do is be clever and utilise these tools.

6. Handle Design, Theme and Branding

WordPress themes rarely translate one-for-one into Wix templates. Accept that your site will enjoy a new wardrobe:

Pick a Wix template closest to your brand colours and structure.
Drop in your logo, fonts, and brand imagery.
Use Wix’s section presets for contact forms, testimonials, and CTAs—faster than building from scratch.

Avoid the temptation to replicate every pixel. Users won’t mind a facelift as long as navigation feels familiar and the content they expect is present.

7. Integrate Third-Party Tools (Analytics, Email, Maps)

Any scripts in WordPress—Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, Mailchimp embeds—will need reinstalling in Wix:

Go to Settings → Custom Code.
Paste scripts in either the head or body-start, following platform guidelines.
Verify via Google Tag Assistant or Facebook Pixel Helper once published.

8. Point DNS Records to Wix

When content is live and redirects are set, it’s time for the switch:

In your domain registrar, create or edit the A record and CNAME to point at Wix’s servers (instructions vary; Wix offers step-by-step guides).
Allow up to 48 hours for propagation, though it’s often quicker.
Keep your WordPress hosting active for a week as a safety net; only cancel once you’re confident all traffic routes are correct.

9. Tick Off a Post-Migration Checklist

Task	Why?
Crawl the new site with Screaming Frog	Catch broken links or missing meta ASAP
Verify ownership in Google Search Console	Monitor 404s and coverage issues
Submit an updated XML sitemap	Speed up the indexation of new pages
Watch traffic and rankings for 2–3 weeks	Minor dips are normal; huge drops signal redirect or content issues
Cancel old hosting & plugins	Save costs, avoid duplicate content

10. Be Aware of Common Pitfalls & How to Dodge Them

Forgetting HTTPS – Google flags “Not Secure” sites; ensure SSL is active before launching.
Abandoning 301 redirects – Even niche pages accumulate backlinks over time. Redirect them or lose hard-won SEO equity.
Ignoring mobile layout – Wix templates are responsive, but always preview the mobile view; tweak font sizes and paddings if necessary.
Over-customising Wix code – The point of Wix is hassle-free editing; heavy custom code negates that benefit and complicates future updates.

Final Thoughts

Converting a WordPress site to Wix won’t happen with a single click, but it also doesn’t have to be a month-long ordeal.

Audit, triage, import the blog, rebuild key pages, handle SEO, and go live. For most small to mid-sized websites, that’s a comfortable weekend project.

If you manage dozens of posts or WooCommerce products, consider a phased approach—migrate high-value pages first, then the long-tail content. Alternatively, outsource the grunt work to a developer while you focus on the parts that require a human touch, such as copy tweaks, design nuances, and testing.

Remember: the goal isn’t just to “move” your site. It’s to land on a platform that frees up your time, simplifies maintenance, and keeps users (and Google) happy. Follow the steps above, and you’ll arrive in Wixland with minimal turbulence and maximum SEO intact.