Wix SEO Setup Checklist: A Step-by-Step Walkthrough for New Websites

Every Wix website includes an SEO Setup Checklist in the dashboard (under Marketing & SEO › SEO, and earlier known as the SEO Wiz). It asks a few questions about your business, suggests tasks and offers to connect your site to Google. It is genuinely useful, but we regularly audit Wix sites where the checklist shows 100% complete and the site still barely appears in Google. The reason is simple: the checklist tells you what to do, but the quality of what you enter decides the result. This walkthrough shows you how to complete each step properly and what to do once the progress bar is full.

This article is part of our complete guide: Wix and Squarespace SEO: The Complete Guide (2026).

If you want the broader list of every Wix setting that affects rankings, read our main Wix SEO checklist. This article focuses on the built-in setup tool for new sites.

Before you start: three decisions to make

1. Connect your own domain

Do not run the checklist on a free wixsite.com address if you plan to use your own domain. Connect the domain first, so Google learns the correct address from day one. Changing later means redirects and lost time.

2. Decide your main services and location

Write down the three to five services or products that bring you money, and the town, city or region you serve. These become your keywords and the backbone of your pages.

3. Plan one page per main service

A single “Services” page listing everything rarely ranks for anything. Plan a dedicated page for each main service before you begin. The checklist works much better on a site with a clear structure.

Step 1: Enter your business details and keywords

The checklist asks for your business name, whether you have a physical location and up to a few keywords. This is where most people go wrong, choosing broad phrases like “photography” or “cleaning”.

Instead, choose specific phrases a customer would type: “wedding photographer Manchester”, “end of tenancy cleaning Leeds”, “dog daycare Bristol”. Use our guide to keyword research for small businesses if you are unsure. One keyword should match your homepage; the others should match individual service pages.

Step 2: Connect to Google Search Console

The checklist offers to connect your site to Google. This verifies the site in Google Search Console and submits your sitemap automatically. Do it. Then sign in to Search Console directly and make sure:

• The property shows your real domain, not the wixsite address.
• The sitemap at /sitemap.xml shows “Success”.
• The homepage is indexed (use URL Inspection).

Our guide to submitting a sitemap covers what to check if something fails.

Step 3: Optimise your homepage title and description

The checklist will ask you to edit the homepage SEO title and meta description. A strong homepage title includes your main keyword, location and brand, within roughly 60 characters:

Wedding Photographer in Manchester | Natural, Relaxed Photos | Studio Name

The meta description should explain what you offer and why someone should click, in about 150 characters. It does not directly improve rankings, but it affects clicks. See how to write meta descriptions.

Step 4: Make your homepage text match your keyword

The checklist suggests adding your keyword to the homepage text. Do it naturally. Your main heading (H1) should say clearly what you do and where, for example “Relaxed wedding photography in Manchester”. Add at least 300–500 words that describe your service, who it is for, your process, and where you work. Many Wix templates have beautiful layouts with almost no text; Google needs words to understand the page.

Step 5: Make the site mobile-friendly

Wix has a separate mobile editor. Elements you move or hide on mobile do not change desktop, and vice versa. Check every page on a real phone: text size, buttons, menus and images. Google indexes the mobile version first.

Step 6: Connect Google Business Profile (local businesses)

If you serve customers locally, the checklist may suggest Google Business Profile. Create or claim it, use the same business name, address and phone number as on your site, and link to your website. Our Google Business Profile guide covers the details.

What the checklist does not do for you

Completing the checklist is the beginning. These tasks are not covered, or are only touched on:

• SEO titles and descriptions for every page, not just the homepage. Do this in each page’s SEO settings, or set patterns in SEO Settings.
• Clean URLs. Change slugs like /copy-of-services-2 to /wedding-photography before publishing.
• Image alt text and file names. See Wix image SEO.
• Internal links between related pages and blog posts.
• Redirects when you rename pages, using the URL Redirect Manager.
• Structured data for local business, products or events where relevant.
• Hidden or duplicate pages. Delete or hide test pages and template leftovers.
• Content. Rankings come from useful pages and helpful blog posts, not settings alone.

Common mistakes we see

• Choosing one-word keywords that are impossible to rank for.
• Leaving default page titles such as “Home | My Site”.
• Publishing pages with almost no text.
• Using text inside images instead of real text.
• Hiding pages from search engines by mistake in page settings.
• Copying page content between similar pages, creating duplicates.
• Forgetting to check the mobile version.

After the checklist: your first 30 days

1. Week 1: complete every page’s title, description and URL. Check indexing in Search Console.
2. Week 2: improve service pages with real detail, photos, FAQs and calls to action.
3. Week 3: publish your first two helpful blog posts answering common customer questions, and link them to services.
4. Week 4: list the business in two or three relevant directories, ask happy customers for Google reviews, and review Search Console’s Performance report.

Is Wix good enough for SEO?

Yes, for most small businesses. Wix handles the technical basics well, including sitemaps, canonicals, mobile and HTTPS. What decides rankings is structure, content and local signals, which are the same on every platform. We compare platforms in detail in Wix vs WordPress for SEO.

How we help Wix site owners

Our Wix and Squarespace SEO service takes your site from “checklist complete” to properly optimised: keyword mapping, page-by-page on-page SEO, indexing checks and content plans. It is the same structured approach we use on our WordPress projects, such as Heather Elizabeth Photography.

Related guides and services

• Wix SEO checklist: every Wix setting that affects rankings, in order.
• Wix site not showing on Google: the reasons a Wix site is missing and how to fix each.
• Website not showing on Google: the full diagnosis for sites that are missing from search.
• On-page SEO audit checklist: a page-by-page checklist for titles, headings, content and links.
• Wix & Squarespace SEO service: hands-on SEO for sites built on Wix and Squarespace.

Get expert help

Prefer to have an expert set it up? We complete the Wix SEO setup properly, map keywords to pages, fix titles, descriptions and URLs, and confirm everything is indexed in Search Console. Start with our Wix & Squarespace SEO service, browse real client results in our case studies, or contact us for a free, no-pressure review of your website.

Frequently asked questions

Does completing the Wix SEO Setup Checklist guarantee rankings?

No. It covers the basics. Rankings depend on content quality, structure, competition and local signals.

How many keywords should I enter?

Enter your most important few: one for the homepage and one for each main service.

Can I redo the checklist later?

Yes. You can update your business details and keywords, and the tasks will update.

How long until my Wix site appears on Google?

Often within a few days to two weeks for the homepage after connecting Search Console, longer for deeper pages.