Moving from Wix to WordPress without losing your rankings

Wix offers no full-site export: there is no single file to import into WordPress. A migration is prepared page by page, and the part that protects your rankings, 301 redirects, can only go live when the domain leaves Wix. Here is what you can recover, what you lose, and the order of operations.

What exports from Wix, and what doesn’t

Wix lets you export some data as CSV, but not pages, design or blog posts in a format WordPress can import. Content is therefore recovered from the public site: its sitemap lists every address Google knows, and each page is read to extract text, images, titles and descriptions.

The blog RSS feed only carries the most recent posts, which is not enough for a blog with history. The posts sitemap lists them all.

Wix → WordPress, item by item
Item	Wix export	On WordPress
Pages and copy	No	Rebuilt from the public site
Blog posts	No (partial RSS)	Extracted via the sitemap, categories kept
Images	One by one	Downloaded and re-uploaded to the media library
SEO titles and descriptions	No	Collected page by page and carried over
Wix Stores products	CSV	Imported into WooCommerce, variants to check
Orders, contacts, form submissions	CSV	Archived; forms rebuilt
Customer accounts and passwords	No	Customers create a new account
Design, animations, Wix apps	No	Theme and equivalent plugins

301 redirects: the Wix limitation

On Wix, a post lives at an address like /post/my-article and a product at /product-page/my-candle. WordPress will use different addresses: without redirects, every link from Google and your partners leads to a 404 error, and the rankings those pages earned are lost.

The surprising part: these 301s cannot be set up server-side in advance. Wix gives access neither to the server nor to an .htaccess file, and its redirect manager is meant for redirects inside the Wix site. As long as the domain points to Wix, Wix answers. Redirects must therefore be prepared on WordPress (with the Redirection or Rank Math plugin, or in .htaccess) so they apply the moment DNS switches.

Hence the redirect plan: one line per old URL with its destination, tested on staging before the big day.

Checklist before the switch

The switch means changing the domain’s DNS records so they point to the WordPress host. Everything below happens before, while the Wix site stays online.

List every URL: Wix sitemap, pages indexed in Search Console and pages that receive links
Record the full DNS zone: MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC and verification TXT records (Google, Microsoft…)
If the domain or mailbox was bought through Wix, check where DNS will be managed after leaving
Review staging and test every form with a real submission
Import the 301 plan into WordPress and test it on a sample of URLs
Lower the DNS records’ cache time (TTL) the day before, for a faster switch
Keep the Wix subscription active until all checks are done

Checklist after the switch

DNS propagation usually takes a few hours. Checks are run on the live site, not on staging.

HTTPS certificate active on the domain, with and without www
Email: one message sent and one received on each address, MX identical to the record
Old URLs: each answers with a 301 to its new address, in a single hop
Indexing allowed in Settings → Reading (staging was closed to search engines)
Search Console: property still verified, new WordPress sitemap submitted
404 errors: Redirection plugin log reviewed at D+7 and D+30, redirects added where needed

What a Wix to WordPress migration costs

Price depends less on the starting platform than on volume: number of pages, blog history, catalog size, and how faithfully the current design must be reproduced. A few-page brochure site and a store with hundreds of products are not the same job.

On top of the migration come WordPress running costs: hosting, domain name and any paid plugins, to compare with the Wix subscription you stop.

What drives the price, by option
Option	What you pay	What makes it vary
Do it yourself	Hosting and your time	Volume to copy, store, comfort with 301s and DNS
Freelancer or agency	Quote	Custom design, store, number of URLs, specific features
WP Agent package	Fixed price excl. VAT per package	Number of URLs, blog, store; quote above 120 URLs

FAQ

Can a Wix site be exported to WordPress automatically?

Not entirely. Wix exports neither pages nor the blog in a format WordPress can import. Content is recovered from the public site using its sitemap, then rebuilt. Products, contacts, orders and form submissions export as CSV.

Why not set up the 301s right now?

Because as long as the domain points to Wix, Wix answers, and it gives access neither to the server nor to .htaccess. Redirects are ready on WordPress and apply at the DNS switch.

Will my email addresses stop working?

Not if the MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records are carried over exactly. That is the first thing to check, especially if the mailbox was purchased through Wix.

Will I lose my rankings?

A complete 301 plan, carried-over titles and descriptions, and a submitted sitemap greatly reduce the risk. Nobody can guarantee rankings, and temporary fluctuations are common after a platform change.