Use Wix’s URL Redirect Manager to create a permanent 301 redirect from the old URL to the new page. This keeps visitors landing where they expect and transfers most of the SEO value tied to the original page. You’ll want a 301 whenever a page moves, a slug changes, or you’re consolidating content, while whole-domain moves need domain forwarding set up separately.
TL;DR:
- Wix may create slug redirects automatically, but verify them in Redirect Manager; deleted or merged pages need manual rules, while domain moves require forwarding.
- For external destinations, paste the full URL rather than a partial path, then publish and test the redirect in a fresh or incognito browser window.
- Some guides cite 500 rows as a practical batch ceiling, so check Wix’s current upload limit and test a small CSV sample before importing everything.
- Map each valuable old page to its closest equivalent, avoid redirect chains, and check Search Console after launch for new 404 errors or ranking drops.
- Configure domain forwarding only after page redirects are confirmed, allow DNS propagation, and test both www and bare domain versions over HTTP and HTTPS.
Table of Contents
- What a 301 redirect does and how Wix handles it
- Step-by-step: create a single 301 redirect in Wix
- Bulk imports and group redirects (CSV)
- Redirecting an old domain to a new Wix site
- Viewing, editing and deleting redirect rules
- Troubleshooting: why a Wix redirect might not work
- SEO-first best practices when mapping redirects
- Impact of 301 redirects on loading speed and SEO performance
- Using Wix Velo for advanced redirect rules
- How we treat redirects during a site migration
- Get help with your Wix migration and SEO
- FAQ
- Sources
What a 301 redirect does and how Wix handles it
A 301 redirect tells browsers and search engines that a page has moved permanently, and when the old and new URLs are mapped correctly, most of the ranking signal carries across to the new address. Wix sometimes creates a redirect automatically when you change a page’s slug, but the URL Redirect Manager remains the single place to check, and it’s worth treating it as the source of truth rather than assuming an automatic redirect has fired correctly.
You’ll need to add a manual redirect when:
- A page gets deleted rather than renamed
- Two or more pages get merged into one piece of content
- You move content to a new domain entirely
Step-by-step: create a single 301 redirect in Wix
Setting up one redirect takes a few minutes once you know where to look.
- Open your site dashboard, then head to the SEO tools or Tools & Settings area and find URL Redirect Manager.
- Click + New Redirect, choose a single redirect, then enter the old URL path in the source field.
- Enter the destination URL, either an internal page or a full external address.
- Save the redirect, publish your site, then test it in a fresh browser tab or with a redirect checker tool.
Wix’s own documentation notes that pasting a same-site URL can get trimmed to a relative path automatically, so always paste the full external URL when redirecting to a destination outside your Wix site. Leaving it as a partial path is one of the more common reasons a redirect quietly fails to point where you meant it to.
Pro Tip: Save a test redirect to a page you control, check it works in an incognito window, then roll out the rest of your mapping with confidence.
Bulk imports and group redirects (CSV)
When you’re moving dozens or hundreds of URLs at once, a one-by-one approach wastes time. Prepare a CSV with a source path column and a destination column, exporting your existing redirect list first if you need a starting point.
- Import the file through the URL Redirect Manager or the relevant Wix app
- Check upload limits before you start. Some guides reference a 500-row batch size as a practical ceiling for a single import
- Run a small sample batch first, confirm each redirect fires correctly, then import the remainder
- Keep the original CSV as your migration record for later audits
This staged approach catches formatting errors in a handful of rows rather than across an entire site’s worth of URLs.
Redirecting an old domain to a new Wix site
Domain forwarding works at a different level to page redirects: it points an entire old domain at a new site rather than mapping individual URLs. Set page-level redirects first so your most important content has a clear destination, then configure domain forwarding once those mappings are confirmed. Doing it in the wrong order tends to create redirect chains that slow things down and dilute the SEO benefit you’re trying to protect.
- Connect or point the old domain to your Wix site through your domain settings
- Verify DNS records have propagated before assuming forwarding is broken
- Test both the www and no-win versions of the domain
- Check both HTTP and HTTPS versions resolve to the correct secure destination
Propagation can take time depending on your domain provider, so a forwarding rule that looks broken an hour after setup might just need longer to take effect.
Viewing, editing and deleting redirect rules
The Redirect Manager also doubles as your audit tool. You can locate any existing rule, edit its destination if content moves again, or delete it if it’s no longer needed.
- Export or screenshot your redirect list before making bulk changes, so you’ve got a record to fall back on
- Edit a rule’s destination directly rather than deleting and recreating it, which avoids a brief gap where the old URL serves an error
- When Wix reports that a source path is already in use, check for an existing redirect, a live page, or a conflicting rule at that same path and resolve the clash before saving
Keeping a simple spreadsheet alongside the dashboard record makes it far easier to explain what changed if rankings shift later.
Troubleshooting: why a Wix redirect might not work
Most redirect failures come down to a handful of repeat offenders.
- Check the actual HTTP status in your browser’s Network tab or a redirect checker to confirm you’re seeing a 301 and not a 302, and to catch any redirect loop.
- Clear your Wix cache and test in an incognito window, since a cached version of the old page can make a working redirect look broken.
- Check trailing-slash, uppercase and lowercase, and query-string variants of the old URL, since Wix matches at the path level and a mismatched variant won’t trigger the rule.
- Look for a second rule capturing the same path further up the chain, since a conflicting redirect or stale rule can quietly override the one you just created.
These same checks work whether you’re troubleshooting inside Wix’s dashboard tools or reasoning through server-level redirect logic on other platforms, since loops, chains and caching cause the same symptoms everywhere.
Pro Tip: If a redirect still looks broken after clearing cache, try the destination URL directly. If that also fails to load properly, the problem is the destination page, not the redirect.
SEO-first best practices when mapping redirects
Getting the technical steps right doesn’t guarantee a clean migration if the mapping itself is sloppy. A few habits make the difference between a redirect project that preserves rankings and one that quietly bleeds them.
- Map your highest-value pages first and send each one to its closest equivalent, rather than defaulting everything to the homepage
- Avoid chains: redirect A directly to C instead of A to B to C
- Switch a redirect from 302 to 301 only once you’ve confirmed the new page is final and tested
- Keep a migration spreadsheet listing old URL, new URL, and redirect type, so you’ve got an audit trail if something needs revisiting
One-to-one mapping to the closest equivalent page preserves more of the original page’s SEO value than a blanket homepage redirect, which is the core principle behind Wix’s own redirect guidance. After publishing, check Google Search Console for a spike in 404 errors or unexpected ranking drops on pages you’ve touched, since that’s usually the first place a missed redirect shows up. For a broader checklist of what to monitor on a Wix site beyond redirects, our guide to SEO for Wix websites covers the adjacent settings worth reviewing at the same time.
Impact of 301 redirects on loading speed and SEO performance
A well-configured 301 redirect adds a small amount of latency because the browser has to make a second request to reach the final destination, but on a Wix site this is rarely noticeable to visitors when redirects are set up directly rather than chained. The real performance risk isn’t the redirect itself, it’s stacking several redirects in sequence, where each hop adds measurable delay and makes crawlers work harder to reach your actual content.
From an SEO standpoint, a clean 301 is one of the more reliable ways to carry historical ranking signal onto a new URL, provided the destination is genuinely equivalent to what was there before. Redirecting a detailed product page to a generic category page, for instance, keeps visitors from hitting a dead end, but it rarely preserves the same ranking position because the content itself no longer matches what search engines indexed. Even small structural changes like these can move rankings more than site owners expect, which is why we’ve written separately about how small website changes cause outsized ranking shifts.
The practical takeaway is to treat redirect mapping as a content decision as much as a technical one. Audit what’s changing on each page you redirect, not just whether the URL resolves, and you’ll avoid the slow rankings leak that shows up weeks after a migration rather than immediately.
Using Wix Velo for advanced redirect rules
Wix’s built-in Redirect Manager handles the vast majority of cases, but it works on fixed, one-to-one mappings. When you need conditional logic, such as redirecting visitors based on location, device type, or a URL pattern rather than an exact match, Wix Velo gives developers a way to write that logic directly into the site.
Velo lets you hook into routing events and run custom code before a page loads, which opens up redirect behaviour that the standard dashboard tool doesn’t support, like redirecting an entire pattern of old blog URLs to a new structure without creating hundreds of individual rules. This suits larger sites or ecommerce catalogues where URL patterns repeat predictably and a rule-based approach saves the manual CSV work described earlier.
For most small business sites, the dashboard-based Redirect Manager and CSV import cover what’s needed, and Velo is worth reaching for only once you’ve outgrown rule-by-rule management or need logic the standard tool can’t express. If you’re assessing whether your site’s technical setup needs this level of customisation, a broader technical SEO checklist for growing sites is a useful reference point for deciding where custom code earns its complexity.
How we treat redirects during a site migration
Redirects are one piece of a bigger checklist, never the whole job. A proper migration maps content first, builds redirects second, then watches analytics and Search Console for weeks afterward, because a backlink pointing at an old URL that was missed in the mapping is lost value nobody notices until traffic dips. Sites with large catalogues, ecommerce checkouts, or heavy existing search traffic carry more risk, and that’s usually when bringing in outside help earns its cost.
— Matthew
Get help with your Wix migration and SEO
Redirect mapping is easy to get mostly right and expensive to get slightly wrong, especially on a site with years of accumulated backlinks and ranking history. We handle migration audits that check your full URL list against the new site structure before anything goes live, catching the gaps a manual pass tends to miss.
When we audit a redirect setup, we check for one-to-one mapping coverage, chain detection, orphaned old URLs with no rule at all, and post-migration tracking in Search Console. If you’d rather have that checked properly than hope it holds, our website design and migration services cover the build and the redirect work together, so nothing falls through the gap between the two.
FAQ
How do you do a 301 redirect on Wix?
Open your Wix dashboard, go to the SEO tools area, find URL Redirect Manager, then add a new single redirect with the old URL path and the destination page. Save and publish, then test the live link to confirm it resolves correctly.
Why is my Wix redirect not working?
The most common causes are a cached version of the old page, a mismatched URL variant like a trailing slash or different case, or a conflicting rule capturing the same path. Clear your cache, test in incognito, and check the Redirect Manager for an existing rule on that same source path.
Is a 301 redirect permanent?
Yes, a 301 status code specifically signals a permanent move, which is why search engines treat it as a reason to update their index to the new URL rather than keep checking the old one. If a move is temporary, a 302 redirect is the correct choice instead.
How do I redirect a whole domain on Wix?
Domain forwarding is set separately from page redirects, by pointing your old domain at your Wix site and configuring forwarding rules through your domain settings. Set your page-level redirects first, then configure domain forwarding, and test both www and non-www as well as HTTP and HTTPS versions once DNS has propagated.
Sources
- Setting Up a 301 Redirect for a Page on Your Site
- How to set up a 301 permanent redirect via .htaccess & cPanel