You can move a Wix site to WordPress, but there is no one-click button that carries everything across. Your text, images and blog posts can come with you, though mostly by hand rather than by export. Your design, layout and any Wix-specific apps (stores, bookings and the like) get rebuilt. The part that decides whether you keep your Google traffic is the last bit: matching your old URLs, setting up 301 redirects and testing before you point the domain.
This guide walks through the whole job in the order we’d do it. It suits a small business owner who wants to try it themselves, and it will also help you judge a quote if you’d rather hand it over.
TL;DR
-
Wix content moves, but Wix designs don’t. Plan on choosing a WordPress theme and rebuilding the look of each page.
-
The RSS importer brings across your 20 most recent post titles and excerpts, not full articles. Post bodies, pages, forms, stores and bookings are all rebuilt by hand.
-
Keep your URLs the same where you can. Where they change, every old address needs a 301 redirect to its new home.
-
Build and test on a staging copy, then switch the domain. Don’t cancel Wix until the new site has been checked.
-
Budget time for a post-launch check of redirects, forms, speed and Search Console for the first few weeks.
Table of Contents
Why people leave Wix for WordPress
Most of the businesses we speak to aren’t unhappy with Wix as a builder. They’ve simply outgrown it. Common reasons:
-
They want more control over SEO. Plugins, server settings and custom code give you more room to move than a closed platform.
-
They need features Wix doesn’t offer. Memberships, complex booking logic, custom integrations or a larger content library.
-
They want to own the hosting. On WordPress, you choose where the site lives, who looks after it and how fast it runs.
-
Costs have crept up. If you’re paying for several add-ons, it’s worth running the numbers. Our itemised quote checklist for Wix sites shows what to look for.
There are also good reasons to stay. If your Wix site is simple, ranking well and easy for you to update, a migration is risky with little reward. We are a Wix Partner as well as a WordPress team, so we’ll tell you honestly which suits you. If you’re not sure what you’ve got, start with our plain guide to what a Wix website is.
What moves across and what gets rebuilt
This is where most DIY migrations go wrong, because people expect the site to look the same on the other side. It won’t. WordPress needs a theme, and a Wix design can’t be exported into one.
| Item | Does it transfer? | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Page text | Yes, by copying | Paste into the WordPress block editor |
| Images | Yes, by downloading | Upload the original files to the Media Library |
| Blog posts | Titles and excerpts only, via RSS | Import the feed for the skeleton, then paste the post bodies in by hand |
| Design, fonts, colours | No | Pick a theme and set these up again |
| Menus and page structure | Rebuilt | Recreate in WordPress menus |
| Contact forms | No | Rebuild with a form plugin |
| Wix Stores, Bookings, Members | No | Replace with WordPress equivalents |
| Old URLs | No | Match them or redirect them |
| SEO titles and descriptions | Not automatically | Copy them out before you start |
That last row catches people out. Your page titles and meta descriptions live inside Wix’s SEO panel. While Wix still lacks a native, one-click export button for this data, the restriction is no longer absolute. You can now extract your tags programmatically using Wix’s Item SEO Tags API, or bypass the manual work entirely by using a bulk SEO export app from the Wix App Market. However, if you are migrating away from Wix and don’t want to use a developer or a third-party app, you must record your metadata manually before you start—otherwise, you’ll be rewriting it from scratch after launch.
Before you touch anything: The prep list
Good prep saves hours. Spend an afternoon on it.
1. Make a full inventory of your site
Open a spreadsheet and list every page, post and key file. For each, record:
-
The full current URL
-
The page title and meta description
-
The main heading
-
Whether it gets traffic or links (check Google Search Console and Google Analytics)
-
Where it will live on the new site
This spreadsheet becomes your redirect map later, so don’t skip it. The quickest start is to export your pages from Google Search Console, which gives you the URLs Google actually has indexed with clicks attached, so you can see straight away which ones matter most. A crawler tool will fill in anything Search Console misses.
2. Save your content
Copy the text of each page into a document. Download your images at their original size, not the compressed versions you see in the browser. Original files give you a cleaner Media Library and better image quality.
For blog posts, Wix publishes a feed. Add /blog-feed.xml to the end of your domain, save the page as an XML file, and keep it safe. You’ll use it shortly.
3. Take screenshots
Screenshot every page on desktop and mobile. You’ll use these as a reference when you rebuild, and as a before-and-after comparison.
4. Choose hosting
WordPress needs somewhere to live. For an Australian business, look for a host with local or nearby servers, automatic backups, security monitoring and staging tools. Managed WordPress hosting is worth the extra over the cheapest shared plan, because updates and backups are handled for you. We run WordPress hosting from Wollongong if you’d like someone local to look after it.
5. Don’t cancel Wix, and don’t move the domain yet
Keep your Wix plan active until the new site is live and tested. Leave the domain where it is for now. You’ll build the new site on a temporary address, then switch.
Step-by-step: The migration itself
Step 1: Install WordPress on a staging site
Set up WordPress on your new hosting, ideally on a temporary subdomain or a staging copy that search engines can’t see. In WordPress, tick the setting that discourages search engines from indexing while you build. Just remember to untick it at launch. We’ve seen live sites stay invisible for weeks because someone forgot.
Step 2: Choose and set up a theme
Pick a theme that suits how you want the site to work, not just how it looks in the demo. Lightweight themes usually load faster. Then set your fonts, colours, logo and header layout. This is the design rebuild, and it is the biggest time sink in the project.
If you want the new site to resemble your Wix one, work from your screenshots. If you’d like to use the migration as a chance to tidy up the design, do that now rather than later. Our list of common website redesign mistakes is worth a skim first.
Step 3: Import your blog posts
In WordPress, go to Tools, then Import, and install the RSS importer. Upload the XML file you saved from your Wix blog feed.
Note that the RSS import no longer does what it used to. Since early 2025, the feed returns titles, links and short excerpts rather than full post bodies, and it caps at your 20 most recent posts. Images stay on Wix’s servers rather than coming into your Media Library.
What that means in practice: the import gives you a skeleton — post titles, dates and URLs — and you copy the body text across by hand, then download and re-upload the images. For a blog with more than a handful of posts, budget real time for this, and prioritise the posts that actually earn traffic.
Step 4: Rebuild your main pages
Create each page in the block editor and paste in your text. When copying from Wix, paste as plain text so you don’t drag in unwanted code and styling. Then upload your original images and add them where they belong.
Work through the pages in priority order: home, services, contact, then the pages that earn you the most traffic and enquiries. Leave low-value pages until last.
Step 5: Set up forms, menus and extras
Rebuild your contact form, quote request form and any newsletter signup. Test each one by submitting it and confirming the email arrives. Then set up menus so your navigation matches the structure you planned in the inventory.
If you ran a Wix store or booking system, plan this as a separate mini project. It’s usually the most work, and it deserves its own testing.
Step 6: Copy your SEO settings
Install an SEO plugin and enter the titles and meta descriptions from your spreadsheet. Check each page has a single H1, sensible headings and image alt text. This is also a good time to improve anything weak. If you want a refresher on what matters, our SEO guide for Wix sites covers the fundamentals, and they carry over to WordPress.
Protecting your rankings: URLs and 301 redirects
This is the step that separates a smooth migration from a traffic crash.
Google has your old URLs stored. If someone clicks one after the move and lands on a 404 error, you lose the visit, and over time you lose the ranking too. A 301 redirect tells browsers and search engines that a page has moved permanently and where it went.
Keep URLs the same where possible
The easiest redirect is the one you don’t need. If your Wix page was at /services and you create /services in WordPress, nothing changes. Set your WordPress permalinks to match your old structure as closely as you can.
Redirect the rest
Wix uses its own URL patterns for blog posts and products, so many addresses will change. For each one, add a row to your redirect map: old URL on the left, new URL on the right. Then create the redirects in WordPress, using a redirect plugin or your host’s tools.
A few rules we stick to:
-
Redirect to the closest match, not blindly to the home page. A redirect from an old blog post should land on the new version of that post.
-
Avoid chains. Old URL to new URL in one hop, not three.
-
Redirect pages with backlinks first. These carry the most value.
-
Keep redirects in place long term. Don’t remove them after a few weeks.
Because the redirects need to live on your new hosting once the domain points there, this is best set up and tested on staging first. We’ve written a dedicated walkthrough: Wix 301 redirects in 4 steps, and how to test your migration.
Make a list of your top pages
Before launch, export your top 20 to 50 pages by clicks from Google Search Console. After launch, these are the first ones you check. If one of them isn’t redirecting properly, fix it that day.
Perspective: What we see in real migrations
We’ve been building and optimising websites for 12 years from Wollongong, and migrations teach the same lessons over and over.
The design is rarely the problem. Businesses expect the rebuild to be the hard part, and it’s the most visible part, but the damage almost always comes from the invisible bits: missing redirects, lost meta descriptions, a forgotten “discourage search engines” tick box, or a contact form that quietly stopped sending emails.
We also think a migration is a decent moment to be honest about what the site needs. If a page has no traffic, no links and no purpose, don’t carry it across out of habit. If your slowest pages are bloated with big images, fix them while you’re rebuilding. A clean, fast site on WordPress will beat a straight copy of a cluttered one.
Finally, we’d rather you didn’t move if you don’t need to. A Wix site that’s doing its job is a perfectly good asset. Move when WordPress will give you something real: flexibility, ownership, features or scale.
Going live: The switch
Once the staging site is complete and tested, here is the launch sequence.
-
Take a final backup of the new site, and export a final copy of anything new on Wix.
-
Freeze changes on the Wix site so nothing new is published during the switch.
-
Lower your DNS TTL a day beforehand if your domain provider lets you. This makes the change spread faster.
-
Move the site to the live domain using your host’s tools, then set the WordPress address to your real domain.
-
Update your DNS records so the domain points to your new host. Your domain registrar or host will give you the exact records.
-
Install an SSL certificate and check the site loads on https without warnings.
-
Untick the search engine discouragement setting in WordPress.
-
Switch your redirects on and test them.
DNS changes can take a few hours to settle, sometimes longer. During that time some visitors will see the old site and some the new one. That’s normal, which is why you keep Wix running until everything has settled.
If the domain was bought through Wix, you can usually leave it registered there and just change the DNS records, which is less risky than transferring it mid-migration.
What to test after launch
Work through this checklist on launch day, then again a week later.
Functionality
-
Submit every form and confirm the emails land in the right inbox, including your spam folder.
-
Click every menu item and button.
-
Test the site on a phone, a tablet and at least two browsers.
-
If you sell online, run a test order from start to finish.
Redirects and links
-
Visit your top 20 old URLs and confirm each lands on the right new page in a single hop.
-
Run a crawl to find broken internal links and 404s.
-
Check your old Wix URLs for images and files that other sites might link to.
SEO
-
Confirm titles, meta descriptions and canonical tags are in place.
-
Submit your new sitemap in Google Search Console.
-
Check the site is indexable: no stray noindex tags, and robots.txt isn’t blocking it.
-
Make sure Google Analytics and any tracking tags are firing.
Speed and security
-
Run a page speed test and fix large images, heavy plugins and missing caching. Our page speed and Core Web Vitals service covers this if you want help.
-
Install a security plugin, enable two-factor login and keep everything updated. Our WordPress security guide explains the essentials.
Watch Search Console for a month
For the first four to six weeks, check Search Console every few days. Look at coverage errors, crawl errors and clicks for your top pages. A small dip right after a migration is common while Google re-crawls everything. A steep and continuing drop usually points to a redirect or indexing problem, and it’s easier to fix early.
Doing it yourself or getting help
The DIY route is realistic if your site is small, say a handful of pages and a simple blog, you’re comfortable with WordPress, and you have a weekend or two. The cost is mostly your time plus hosting and a theme.
Help is worth it when:
-
You have a large blog or many ranking pages.
-
You run a Wix store or booking system.
-
Organic search is a major source of your enquiries, and you can’t afford a dip.
-
You’d simply rather spend those hours running your business.
We handle this through our website migration service, which covers the rebuild, the redirect map and the post-launch checks. If you’d like a fresh design as part of the move, see our website design service. Our Wix web design starts at $590 one-off, and we’ll tell you plainly if staying on Wix is the better call for your situation.
Once you’re settled on WordPress, ongoing SEO keeps the gains coming. Our SEO Essentials plans start at $170 per month, with no lock-in contract, so you can see how it goes before committing further.
Common questions
Will I lose my Google rankings if I migrate from Wix to WordPress?
Not necessarily, but you can if the move is done carelessly. Keep your URLs the same where you can, set up 301 redirects for any that change, and carry over your titles and meta descriptions. Expect a small wobble while Google re-crawls the site.
Can I move my Wix design to WordPress?
No. Wix designs and templates don’t transfer, so you choose a WordPress theme and rebuild the look using your screenshots as a guide. Your content comes across, but the layout, fonts and colours are set up again.
How long does a Wix to WordPress migration take?
A simple site of five to ten pages can be done in a few days of focused work. A larger site with a big blog, a store or custom features can take several weeks, mostly for the rebuild and testing. Allow extra time for the post-launch checks either way.
Do I need to keep paying for Wix after I move?
Keep your plan until the new site is live and fully checked, so you have a fallback. After that, you can cancel, but export anything you still need first. If your domain is registered with Wix, make sure it stays renewed or is transferred properly, or your site will go offline.
Can I migrate a Wix store to WordPress?
Yes, but it’s a rebuild rather than a transfer. Products, payments, shipping and order emails need to be set up again in a WordPress shop plugin, and you should test a full order before launch. Plan it as its own project.
Sources
This guide draws on our own migration experience and the Canty Digital resources below.