Wix to WordPress: Move Your Site in 5 Easy Steps (No SEO Loss)

Years ago, when I wanted to start a blog, Wix came across as a good platform for it. It boasted of an easy to use interface and was supposed to be beginner friendly. But, as my blog grew, I hit limitations. I wanted more customization for my design and better control over my site’s content. I wanted to scale my site more easily. I had to move my site from Wix to WordPress.

Migrating to WordPress was probably my best move. WordPress offered everything I wanted. I decided to take the plunge and migrate from Wix to WordPress and this article is what I went through. Buckle up because it was a lot. 

TL;DR: Wix doesn’t let you export your site in a format you can directly import into WordPress automatically. You’ll need to handle the migration manually or use workarounds, which can take extra time and effort.

Now that I’ve moved from Wix to WordPress, here are are some things I wish I knew before I started:

• No automatic migration – Wix doesn’t let you export your site directly. You have two options – do it manually or use a paid tool like CMS2CMS. When I say manually, I mean that you have to copy every page and recreate it on WordPress – design, images, etc. Even CMS2CMS isn’t a complete solution. You can only move content.  Not images or design or videos. 
• SEO needs prep – You’ll need to match your old URLs or set up proper redirects to preserve your SEO rankings. 
• Media doesn’t move on its own – I had some images on my computer. But, most of my images had to be downloaded. They had to be uploaded, resized and inserted into all of my pages. 
• Interactive features must be rebuilt – Forms, galleries, and other custom elements won’t transfer. WordPress plugins are your solution here.

The whole process took me about 4 hours for a simple blog with about 20-30 posts. So, I would plan accordingly. Choose a time that works for your traffic. 

Step 0: Before the migration

Here are some things I did before I started the process of moving my site from Wix to WordPress:

1.  Decide what to migrate: I made a list of all the blogs, pages, forms, images, etc. It was an opportunity to do some spring cleaning as well and decide what posts deserved to be in the bin. 
2. Plan for your domain: I bought a free domain from Wix. So, I had to put on my big girl pants and buy a domain. But, if you bought one from Wix, you can transfer the domain to a new registrar like Namecheap.

Step 1: Choose a web host

The first step in moving from Wix to WordPress is choosing where your new site will live. Your choice of web host determines how you’ll install WordPress. Many hosts offer one-click installations to help simplify this. This is why I chose Cloudways. It  automatically sets up WordPress during the hosting setup, saving valuable time. I also chose it because it had great security features and great support. 

Expert Advice: Choose a web host based on factors like security, support, server size, prize. Cloudways, for example, was packed with features that help maintain our websites on a server level.

If you have to install WordPress manually, here is how:

1. Download WordPress files: Go to wordpress.org and download the WordPress package.
2. Set up your database: Use your hosting control panel (cPanel or similar) to create a MySQL database. Make note of your database name, username, and password.
3. Upload WordPress to your host: Use an FTP client or file manager to upload the WordPress files to your web server.
4. Run the setup: Go to your site URL, and follow the installation wizard to connect WordPress to your database and finalize setup.

The exact process will vary depending on your host, but most providers have guides or support to help you through it.

Step 3: Import your site

Like I’ve mentioned before, there is no plugin or tool that can help you migrate your site from Wix to WordPress easily. However, there are tools that can help you export your blog, reducing some time. For everything else, you will need to manually copy and replicate the content. This is the most time consuming part. So, grab a coffee before you start. 

Note: Irrespective of which option you use, you have to download all the images from Wix and reupload it to the WordPress media library.  

Option 1: Copy, paste, repeat

First, get comfortable with the built-in block editor Gutenberg or Elementor, or other page builders. Copy and replicate each page and post, one by one. This is a good opportunity to give your website a revamped design.

Expert Advice: Install a speed plugin if you choose a page builders. Plugins like Elementor are notorious for slowing down your site. They’re really helpdul for beginners though. You can quickly whip up new designs or use one of their templates.

Option 2: Import RSS feed

I had too many blog posts and I wanted to look for alternatives. I wanted to automate at least some parts of this tedious process. So, here’s what I did:

1. Download your RSS feed: Log in to your Wix account. Open your blog page and add /feed.xml at the end of your blog URL. For example:

Press Enter. Your RSS feed will open as raw code in your browser. Right-click the page and select Save As, saving the file as an .xml file on your computer.

2. Import the RSS feed into WordPress: Log in to your WordPress dashboard. Go to Tools > Import in the left-hand menu. Find the RSS option and click Install Now, then click Run Importer.

3. Upload the .xml file you downloaded from Wix. Press Upload file and import.
   
   This will bring your blog posts into your WordPress site.

Note: A lot of tutorials recommend using the CMS2CMS plugin. But, I was unable to find the plugin on the WordPress repository. The official website was also under maintenance when I checked. Maybe you’ll have better luck than I did. 

I was just about ready to give up at this point but we’re almost done.

Step 4: Setup SEO

The best way to maintain your SEO when migrating from Wix to WordPress is to maintain the same URLs and setup redirects. Let’s talk about how to do that here:

1. Install RankMath: Install an SEO plugin to help you automate this bit. We have tried RankMath and love using it but YoastSEO is a close seconf. I also set up Google Analytics. This created a foundation for the SEO work I still had to do. 
2. Export your Wix URLs: Use Google Search Console (linked to your Wix site) to export a list of your current URLs. Save the list in a spreadsheet for reference during the migration. This is essentially a checklist to make sure you don’t let anything fall through the cracks. 
3. Match URLs in WordPress: Create pages/posts with the same slug. For example, if your Wix About Us page is “yourdomain.com/about-us”, create a page with the slug /about-us on WordPress too.
   • Repeat the process for every page/post to keep the new URLs consistent.
4. Adjust WordPress permalinks: Permalinks are a URL structure that help with SEO. Go to Settings > Permalinks in your WordPress dashboard. Choose Post name or create a custom structure that matches Wix’s pattern. This ensures your WordPress URLs look clean and consistent.

5. Redirect unmatched URLs: If some URLs can’t be perfectly recreated (common for blog posts or dynamic pages), set up 301 redirects. I used the plugin Redirection to set it up. Test your redirects after you’re done. 
6. Update your sitemap and notify Google: Generate a sitemap: Use an SEO plugin like Yoast SEO or Rank Math to create a new sitemap. Then, submit it to Google. 

Step 5: Post migration checklist

At this point, I had spent a lot of time on this migration. But, the finish line was close. In preparation for this mammoth task, I had done some research and came up with a checklist to make sure everything went well. Here is that checklist:

1. Verify content: Check that all pages, posts, and media have been imported correctly. Make sure everything is formatted and aligned correctly. All embedded content should look consistent. Make sure that blog posts are categorized and tagged properly.
2. Design & theme review: Test different devices and browsers to ensure consistent appearance and functionality.
3. Install essential plugins: I had done this earlier in the process. But if you haven’t set up your security plugin, backup, and any other essentials, do it now. We recommend you try WPMail SMTP or an alternative to help send emails correctly as well. 
4. Check for broken links:Monitor for any crawl errors or broken links. I used a plugin called Broken Link Checker. 

5. Check site functionality: Test menus, buttons, forms, search, and checkout (if applicable). Ensure internal linking still works post-migration. Verify and fix unecessary 404 pages, There shouldn’t be too many.
6. Speed & performance testing: Use tools like PageSpeed Insights to test loading times. I also integrated Airlift into my BlogVault dashboard to optimize the speed of my new site. It automatically optimizes images, CSS files, etc. 

7. Security & backup: Don’t forget to install a backup plugin and security plugin. Install an SSL certificate to secure your site further. I used Cloudways and they had automatically installed an SSL certificate. 
8. Tie up loose ends with Wix: You can downgrade the account or unpublish the site. Go to Settings > Site Availability > Unpublish

That’s it. You’re ready to go. 

Final thoughts

I won’t sugarcoat it. Migrating from Wix to WordPress is a lot of work. I had a small site, and even then, it was an excruciating process. From manually moving content to fixing media issues and setting up SEO, it took time and effort. If your site is larger, I can only imagine the challenges you might face. That said, it was absolutely worth it.

Don’t forget to install a security plugin. You’ve put in a lot of work and you don’t want to risk losing it all froma. security hack. Checkout our other blogs to help you find WordPress plugins that can help you maintain your site. Happy Blogging!

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