Wix technical SEO: meta tags, redirects, and sitemap
Wix provides built-in settings for every core technical SEO configuration. This guide walks through where to find each setting, what to configure, and what Stackra checks in its audit.
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Meta tags: title tags and meta descriptions
Title tags and meta descriptions are set per page in the Wix Editor. Wix generates reasonable defaults but does not write optimized copy for you -- every page with SEO value should have a manually crafted title and description.
Where to find these settings
In the Wix Editor, click the page name in the Pages panel on the left.
Select SEO (Google) from the page settings menu.
Click Edit SEO Tags to open the per-page SEO panel.
Set the Title Tag (what appears as the blue link in Google search results). Keep it under 60 characters.
Set the Meta Description (the text snippet below the title in search results). Aim for 120-160 characters.
Confirm the canonical URL. Wix sets this automatically to the page's URL; you rarely need to change it.
Title tag best practices
- Keep under 60 characters to avoid truncation in SERPs
- Put the primary keyword near the start
- Each page should have a unique title
- Include your business name on key pages
Meta description best practices
- Target 120-160 characters -- shorter is cut off, longer is truncated
- Describe what the visitor gets from the page
- Include a soft call to action where natural
- Do not duplicate descriptions across pages
Wix SEO Wiz: For new sites, the SEO Wiz (Marketing & SEO > SEO Tools > SEO Setup Checklist) walks through title tags, Google Business Profile connection, and GSC verification. It is a useful starting checklist but does not replace per-page optimization.
Redirects
Use a redirect when you change a page URL, delete a page with existing backlinks or search traffic, or migrate content from one location to another. Wix supports 301 (permanent) redirects through the URL Redirect Manager.
How to create a redirect on Wix
In your Wix dashboard, go to Marketing & SEO > SEO Tools > URL Redirect Manager.
Click Add Redirect.
In the Redirect From field, enter the old URL path (without the domain, e.g., /old-page).
In the Redirect To field, enter the destination URL path or full URL.
Wix creates a 301 (permanent) redirect by default. This is correct for most use cases and passes link equity to the new URL.
Click Save. The redirect takes effect immediately.
When to use a redirect
- You changed a page's URL slug
- You deleted a page that has backlinks or traffic
- You merged two pages into one
- You migrated from a different platform
Limitations on standard plans
- No wildcard redirects (each URL listed individually)
- No redirect chains longer than one hop
- Redirects apply to your Wix domain, not external URLs
- Bulk import via CSV is not available on all plans
Sitemap
Wix generates and maintains your sitemap automatically. You do not need to create or update it manually. What you do need to do is submit it to Google Search Console so Google knows where to find it.
How to submit your Wix sitemap to Google Search Console
Your main sitemap is at: yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml. Wix maintains this automatically.
For sites using Wix Blog, an additional sitemap is at yourdomain.com/blog-sitemap.xml.
For Wix Stores, products appear in yourdomain.com/stores-sitemap.xml.
In Google Search Console, go to Sitemaps in the left panel.
Enter your sitemap URL and click Submit. GSC will crawl it within a few days and report coverage.
You can also submit sub-sitemaps (blog-sitemap.xml, stores-sitemap.xml) separately for more granular reporting.
Pages excluded from the sitemap: Wix automatically excludes pages you have marked as "hide from search results" (noindex) in their page SEO settings. Password-protected pages and pages with a noindex header are also excluded. If a page is not appearing in GSC, check its SEO settings first before investigating the sitemap.
Robots.txt
Wix generates a robots.txt file for every hosted site and provides an editor so you can customize it. Most small business sites need minimal changes beyond confirming the defaults are correct.
Wix provides a robots.txt editor
In your dashboard, go to Marketing & SEO > SEO Tools > robots.txt Editor. Wix gives you both a visual editor and a raw text mode. Changes take effect immediately.
PetalBot is blocked by default on all Wix sites
Wix adds a Disallow rule for PetalBot (Huawei's search crawler) to the robots.txt of every hosted site. This is a platform default, not something you configured. It is not an SEO problem -- PetalBot is not a ranking signal for any search engine relevant to US small businesses.
AI crawlers are allowed by default
Wix's default robots.txt does not block GPTBot (OpenAI / ChatGPT), ClaudeBot (Anthropic / Claude), or Google-Extended (Gemini training). These crawlers are allowed unless you have added custom Disallow rules. To confirm, open the robots.txt Editor and check for User-agent: GPTBot, User-agent: ClaudeBot entries.
Wix does not support wildcard redirects
Standard Wix plans do not support wildcard (*) patterns in robots.txt Disallow rules. Each URL you want to exclude must be listed as a separate Disallow line. Enterprise plans have more flexibility.
What Stackra checks for Wix technical SEO
Stackra's audit verifies each of these signals on every scan. Platform context is applied -- signals that are architectural Wix limitations (like custom security headers) are not flagged as owner action items.
Missing or duplicate title tags are flagged in Search Visibility.
Blank or truncated descriptions are flagged with a recommended length of 120-160 characters.
Stackra checks that sitemap.xml is reachable. GSC submission status is not checked automatically.
A robots.txt that accidentally blocks all crawlers is one of the most common causes of a site not appearing in search at all. Stackra verifies the file is accessible and Googlebot is allowed.
Stackra checks whether GPTBot, ClaudeBot, and Google-Extended are permitted in robots.txt -- a GEO (generative engine optimization) signal.
Self-referencing canonicals and missing canonicals are noted in the technical signals section.
See how your Wix site scores on technical SEO signals
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