Wix To WordPress: How To Migrate A Website

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Claude

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Wix is great for beginners, but it has limitations. You can’t fully customize your site, switch hosting providers, or use advanced features. That’s why many website owners move to WordPress. It gives you complete control, more design options, and better SEO tools. With WordPress, it’s easy to expand your blog, improve site speed, or create an online store. This tutorial explains how to set up WordPress and choose hosting. We also show you how to move your content from Wix to WordPress and how to design your new site. We then explore how to keep your SEO rankings even after migration.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• WordPress is self-hosted, so pick a reliable hosting provider before getting started.
• Blog posts can be transferred using the RSS feed method, but you must move pages and images manually.
• Recreate your Wix pages in WordPress by copying the content and setting up the layout.
• Images won’t transfer automatically, so download them from Wix and upload them to WordPress.
• Set up redirects to keep visitors and search engines from landing on broken pages.
• Install an SEO plugin to optimize your new WordPress site.
• Submitting your website’s sitemap to Google Search Console helps search engines find and index your content.
• Before launching, test everything – links, images, and mobile responsiveness – to ensure your site looks and works great.

Pre-requisites of Wix to WordPress Migration

Before moving your website from Wix to WordPress, you must set up your new site. This means choosing a web hosting provider and installing WordPress. Let’s go through this step by step. 

Choose a Web Hosting Provider 

Unlike Wix, which includes hosting, WordPress.org requires you to choose your hosting service. This means you need a web host to store your WordPress website’s files and make them accessible online. The good news is that once you have your self-hosted WordPress site, you have full control over customization, performance, and security. 

When selecting a web hosting company, compare the features and pricing, then pick one that offers: 

• Uptime Guarantee: The host should keep your site online 99.9% of the time. 
• Fast Performance: A good host helps your site load quickly. 
• WordPress Support: Look for hosts that offer WordPress-specific features like one-click installation, automatic updates, and security tools. 
• Great Customer Support: Choose a host with 24/7 support to help you fix issues anytime. 

Once you pick one, choose a WordPress Hosting plan according to your website requirements. If you decide on our WordPress Innovator plan, you’ll also get a free domain registration. In addition to that, you’ll also get the following features:

• Free SSL Certificate
• cPanel Control Panel
• Imunify 360 Protection
• Monarx Malware Support
• DDoS Protection
• Unlimited Subdomains and FTP Accounts
• Unlimited Email Accounts
• Multiple WordPress Sites and MySQL Databases
• Daily Website Backups
• and more.

If you already own a domain purchased through Wix, you can transfer it to Hosted® and continue using it with your new WordPress site. To simplify this for you, we’ve already covered this in detail. Follow these links to find out:

– How To Transfer a Domain

– What is Needed For a Domain to be Transferred?

– How Long Does a Domain Transfer Take?

– Domain Not Eligible For Transfer

Set Up Your New WordPress Site 

After signing up with a hosting provider, you need to install WordPress. Most hosts, including Hosted®, offer a one-click WordPress Install, which makes the process easy. 

Hosted® users may refer to the following guide to install WordPress: 

– Use Hosted®’s Auto Installer to Install WordPress

Once done, you can log into your new WordPress site by visiting yourdomain.com/wp-admin. 

Now, before you migrate Wix to WordPress and add content, adjust some important settings, such as Your Site Title & Tagline, Permalinks Structure, Time Zone, etc. We’ve already written about this in detail in the following link:

– How To Configure WordPress Settings After Installation

Choose a WordPress Theme 

Make your new WordPress site look like your Wix site by choosing a theme. You can use free or premium themes. To find a free WordPress theme, go to WordPress Dashboard → Appearance → Themes → Add New Theme.

However, if you want to use premium themes with more design options, you can buy these from sites like ThemeForest, WordPress Premium Theme Directory, or Elegant Themes. 

Pick a theme that closely matches your Wix design. You can customize it later using WordPress Customizer or page builder plugins like Elementor. For detailed instructions on how to install and customize a WordPress theme, refer to the following tutorial:

– How to Install WordPress Themes: A Beginner’s Guide

Understand Wix to WordPress Migration Limitations

Now that your WordPress site is set up, it’s time to convert Wix to WordPress; this means moving your content from Wix. However, before you start, it’s important to understand the limitations of the migration process. 

Wix and WordPress are built differently, so you can’t automatically transfer everything with a single click. Some content will move easily, while several elements may need to be recreated manually. Here’s what you need to know: 

What Can Be Transferred?

• Blog posts (via RSS feed) 
• Text content from pages (copied manually) 
• Images (uploaded manually to WordPress).

What Won’t Transfer Automatically? 

•  Page layouts and design 
•  Wix templates and styles 
•  Apps and custom features.

Since Wix uses a closed system, its themes and design settings won’t work on WordPress, so you should pick a new WordPress theme and adjust the layout to match your old site. 

Even though some things require manual work, WordPress hosting gives you more control and flexibility once everything is set up. Let’s show you how to transfer your content from Wix to WordPress.

Use RSS Feed to Export Content from Wix

An easy way to move blog posts from Wix to WordPress is by using RSS feed. This allows you to export all your blog posts together instead of copying them manually. However, this method only works for blog posts, not for pages or images. 

To find your Wix blog posts, you need your RSS feed URL. Here’s how to find it:  Open your Wix site in a web browser. In the address bar, add /blog-feed.xml (or /feed.xml) at the end of your site’s URL. For example, if your website is https://example.wixsite.com, enter https://example.wixsite.com/blog-feed.xml. Then, click Enter, and your browser will display an XML file with your blog posts.

IMPORTANT:

If your Wix site is on a free plan or doesn’t have an RSS feed enabled, this method may not work. In that case, you’ll need to copy posts manually. 

Now that you’ve found your RSS feed, you must save it. To do that:

Right-click anywhere on the page. Click Save As or Save Page As (depending on your browser). Then, choose a folder on your computer and save the file as blog-feed.xml.

This file contains all your Wix blog posts, which you can now import into WordPress. In the next step, we’ll show you how to upload this file to your new site.

Import Content into WordPress 

Now that you have downloaded the RSS feed file from Wix, it’s time to import your blog posts into your WordPress website. This process is simple, and you can do it using a built-in WordPress tool. 

WordPress has an RSS Importer tool that allows you to upload the file and automatically add your Wix blog posts. Here’s how to do it: 

Log in to the WordPress admin dashboard by going to yourdomain.com/wp-admin. In the left menu, go to Tools → Import. Scroll down to find RSS and click Install Now under the RSS Importer tool. 

Once installed, click Run Importer.

Click Choose File, then select the blog-feed.xml file you downloaded from Wix. Click Upload file and import to start the process. 

WordPress will now process your RSS file and add your Wix blog posts to your site. 

After the import, check if all posts were transferred correctly. To do this:

Go to Posts → All Posts in your WordPress dashboard. Look for your old blog posts – titles, content, and publication dates should match your Wix blog. Click on a few posts to check if they display properly. 

IMPORTANT:

The RSS feed method does not transfer images. If your posts have images, you may need to upload them manually to WordPress and insert them into your posts. 

Once you’ve verified your posts, you can organize your content, adjust layouts, and make your new WordPress blog look great.

Transfer Wix Pages Manually

Unlike blog posts, Wix pages cannot be automatically imported into WordPress. This means you need to manually recreate each page by copying content from Wix and pasting it into new pages on WordPress. To do that:

Go to WordPress Admin Panel → Pages → Add New Page. This will open the WordPress editor, where you can build a new page.

Now, open your Wix website in a new tab. Visit each page on your site. Select the text and copy it (Ctrl + C). Then, switch to the WordPress editor and paste the copied text (Ctrl + V).

Adjust the font, headings, spacing, and layout using the WordPress Block Editor. Enter the same page title as on your Wix site. Once everything looks good, click Publish to make the page live.

Tips for a Smooth Transfer

Below are three tried-and-tested tips for smooth content transfer:

• Use the Same URLs: If your Wix page URL was example.com/about, set the same slug in WordPress under Permalink Settings.
• Add Images Manually: Download images from Wix and upload them to the WordPress Media Library before inserting them into pages.
• Check Mobile Responsiveness: Use the Preview option in WordPress to see how the page looks on different devices.

Since WordPress gives you more flexibility, this is also a good time to improve your page layout using WordPress widgets, themes, and plugins. Once all pages are recreated, your WordPress site will look like your Wix site.

Migrate Images from Wix to WordPress

As we mentioned, images won’t transfer automatically when moving from Wix to WordPress, so you must upload them manually to ensure they are properly stored and displayed on your new site. Here’s how:

Upload Images to WordPress 

Since Wix hosts your images on its servers, WordPress cannot access them once you move your site. To fix this, re-upload all the images to your WordPress Media Library. Follow these steps: 

Open your Wix website. Right-click on every image and select Save Image As. Next, choose a folder on your computer to store these images.

After that, go to WordPress Dashboard → Media → Add New Media File.

Then, drag and drop the downloaded images into the media uploader or click Select File to choose and upload them.

Once uploaded, WordPress will host your images on your server, ensuring they are always accessible. 

Update Image URLs 

If you used RSS Importer to move your blog posts, your images may still link to Wix’s servers. Over time, Wix may delete those images, causing broken links. To fix this, you need to update all image URLs to point to WordPress. Here’s how to do this:

Go to Posts → All Posts (or Pages → All Pages if you’re editing pages). Hover over your required post or page and click Edit to open it in the WordPress editor.

Select images and click Replace to replace them with the newly uploaded ones from the Media Library.

Feel free to add an image title and alt text for improved website SEO. Then, click Select.

Lastly, click Save in the top-right corner to save changes.

Once you’ve uploaded and updated all images, test your site to ensure everything displays correctly. Once the images are stored on WordPress, your site is fully independent of Wix and ready to grow.

Post-Migration Steps 

Now that you have moved your content from Wix to WordPress, you can organize your site. Below are a few important things to set up after the Wix to WordPress migration:

Set up WordPress Menus 

One of the most important steps is setting up your navigation menus so visitors can easily find their way around. In WordPress, menus help users navigate through your site like on Wix. You can create a menu that looks like your old site or make improvements for better organization. 

Follow these steps to create a navigation menu in WordPress: 

Go to WordPress Dashboard → Appearance → Menus. Enter your menu name in Menu Name (e.g., Main Menu), choose Primary Menu to make it your main navigation, and click Create Menu.

Next, on the left side, check the pages you wish to add, then click Add to Menu.

If your Wix site has links to external pages, you can add these under Custom Links in the menu editor.   You can also drag a menu item slightly to the right under another item to create a submenu (great for organizing categories). Don’t forget to click Save Menu to save your recent changes.

TIP: If you need advanced menu designs, plugins like Max Mega Menu can help customize the look.  Once your menu is set up, visit your website and test the links.

If everything looks good, your WordPress site is now easier to navigate, just like your old Wix site, but with more flexibility.

Redirect Traffic 

Next, you’ll need to redirect your old Wix site to your new WordPress site. This way, when someone lands on your old website, they will be immediately taken to the new one. It is an effective way to ensure you don’t lose your existing audience due to the migration.

Remember, redirecting visitors to your new WordPress site is only possible if your Wix website has a custom domain. And if your site was built on a Wix subdomain (e.g., yoursite.wixsite.com), direct redirection is not an option. Instead, you can update your Wix homepage with a link to your new WordPress website, guiding visitors to the correct location.

To apply the redirect, first write the following code into your text editor of choice:

var hashesarr = { 
"#!about/ghit7":'/about-us/',
"#!contact-us/fe37":'/contact/',
"#!food-article/c6hg":'/food-article/'
};
for (var hash in hashesarr) {
    var patt = new RegExp(hash);
    if (window.location.hash.match(patt) !== null) {
        window.location.href = hashesarr[hash];
    }
}

Our above example included 3 URLs in the same format. Here, the first part of the string, #!about/ghit7, should be replaced with your old Wix URL, and the second part, /about-us/, with the URL of the new WordPress page.

Likewise, to direct all Wix pages to their corresponding WordPress pages, you must manually enter each URL into the file, following the same format.

Next, save your text file as redirect.js. Then, upload it to the /public_html/wp-admin/js directory on your website’s server. To upload a file, use your Hosted® File Manager or an FTP client like FileZilla.

Finally, you need to edit functions.php so that the file you’ve just created will execute (we recommend using a child theme to edit theme files). To do this, go to WordPress Dashboard → Appearance → Theme Editor → Theme Functions. Click on your functions.php file to open it. Scroll down to the bottom and add the following code snippets:

Use the following code if you’re editing the functions.php file of your child theme:

// Function to enqueue a JavaScript file for handling Wix to WordPress redirects
function wpb_wixjs() { 
    // Load the redirects.js script from the child theme's "js" folder
    wp_enqueue_script('wixredirect', get_stylesheet_directory_uri() . '/js/redirects.js', array(), '1.0.0', true);
} 
// Hook the function into WordPress to ensure the script loads properly on the front end
add_action('wp_enqueue_scripts', 'wpb_wixjs');

Use the following code if you’re editing the functions.php file of your parent theme:

// Function to enqueue a JavaScript file for handling Wix to WordPress redirects
function wpb_wixjs() { 
    // Load the redirects.js script from the parent theme's "js" folder
    wp_enqueue_script('wixredirect', get_template_directory_uri() . '/js/redirects.js', array(), '1.0.0', true);
} 

// Hook the function into WordPress to ensure the script loads properly on the front end
add_action('wp_enqueue_scripts', 'wpb_wixjs');

Then, click Update File to save the modifications, and your redirects should now be in place.

Now, the redirects are successfully set up. However, these redirects only work for human visitors and do not apply to search engines, making them less effective for SEO. To help improve your search rankings and regain visibility, consider using an SEO plugin to optimize your new WordPress site and enhance its authority. 

IMPORTANT:

Be sure to notify your audience about the transition. Share the update on social media, write a blog post, and send an email newsletter to inform subscribers about your new website location. This will help maintain your traffic and ensure a smooth transition for your visitors.

Enhance SEO 

After moving your site from Wix to WordPress, optimizing it for search engines is important. Good SEO helps your site appear in Google searches, bringing in more visitors. An excellent way to improve SEO is with a WordPress SEO plugin.

SEO plugins help you manage your site’s titles, descriptions, and keywords, making it easier for all search engines to understand your website content. Two popular SEO plugins are Yoast SEO and Rank Math.

These plugins help optimize blog posts, improve readability, and create SEO-friendly URLs. To install an SEO plugin, go to Plugins → Add New Plugin, search for your plugin (perhaps Yoast SEO), click Install Now, and then Activate. Once it’s installed, follow the setup wizard to configure your site’s SEO settings. 

Submit Sitemaps 

A sitemap is a file that helps search engines find and index all your website pages. WordPress does not generate a sitemap automatically, but SEO plugins like Yoast SEO do.

To enable a sitemap in Yoast SEO, go to Yoast SEO → Settings → General → Site features.

Now, scroll down to the APIs section and turn on XML sitemaps.

After that, copy the sitemap URL and submit it to Google Search Console under Sitemaps. We’ve covered this in detail in the following tutorial:

– How to Submit a WordPress Website to Search Engines

This step ensures Google can discover and rank your new WordPress site quickly.

Install Essential Plugins 

WordPress is powerful because it allows you to add extra features using plugins. After migration, installing a few essential plugins will improve your site’s security, speed, and functionality.

One of the first plugins you should install is a security plugin like Wordfence to protect your site from hackers and malware.

Next, set up a backup plugin like UpdraftPlus, which automatically saves copies of your website in case something goes wrong.

A WordPress caching plugin such as WP Super Cache will help speed up your website by reducing loading times. Then, if your site has a comment section, install Akismet Anti-Spam to block spam comments.

Adding these plugins ensures your new WordPress site runs smoothly, securely, and efficiently.

Test New WordPress Website 

Before making your WordPress site fully live, test everything to ensure it works correctly. A few small issues, such as broken links or slow loading times, can frustrate visitors and hurt your rankings on Google.

Start by checking all links on your site, including menu links, buttons, and internal links within blog posts. Ensure they point to the correct pages and do not lead to errors. Next, review your site’s formatting to ensure images, text, and layouts display properly. Since most visitors use mobile devices, test your website on desktop, tablet, and mobile to confirm it looks good on all screen sizes.

If you have a contact form, submit a test message to see if it works. Lastly, check your site’s loading speed using tools like GTmetrix or Google PageSpeed Insights. If your site loads slowly, consider optimizing images, enabling caching, or upgrading your hosting plan.

Once everything is tested and working, your WordPress site is fully ready to go.

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