Search Engine Optimization is a field that tends to make most people shake in their boots. It is arguably the most crucial part of getting your business’s website found on Google. This is exactly why, when deciding to create your site, you ideally want to choose a free website builder that you can rely on in terms of its SEO capabilities.
Now, you might be asking yourself: Does Wix SEO actually work? Well, the folks at Google seem to think so. During Google I/O 2018 they talked about their Wix integration, mentioning Wix SEO Wiz as a groundbreaking tool that gets your website indexed within seconds. But Google is not the first to notice that you can achieve professional level SEO with Wix. We’ve identified professional, reputable SEO agencies that work with Wix and have achieved amazing results. By taking advantage of the Wix platform and SEO tools, these digital marketing experts have successfully increased both traffic and earnings for their clients.
We caught up with two professional agencies that embarked on a journey to optimize Wix websites and we’re excited to share their story with you. So get ready with a pen and notepad, and take a note from the pros as we discover how these SEO experts have taken their clients to the top of Google’s SERPs and – better yet – learn how you can do the same on your own.
01. Going pedal to the metal and SEO with SEO Smooth
When SEO Smooth starts working with a client, they like to evaluate all aspects of a business. They see the process as a cross-promotional effort which ultimately impacts a website’s ranking. As marketing specialists, the experts at SEO Smooth believe that everything from keeping your social media channels active to providing a better user experience, can positively impact a business’s SEO. This is exactly why they consider Wix to be a great fit for anyone trying to grow their business. They were especially impressed that Wix offers a great UX (user experience) and loads really fast - learn more about Wix Performance here. In addition, they’ve started offering Wix users full optimization for their websites, at various price ranges.
“The page speed was impressive. The hosting and how the caching is run, it’s pretty darn good.” – Vincent Tobiaz, CEO & Digital Marketing Director
Some business owners may think they need to switch to a different CMS when they start to grow, but Vincent from SEO Smooth assures clients that there is absolutely no need for that. To rank well on Google, ”All you need to do is clean up your website and provide users with the best experience possible”. This is exactly what they did when building a custom-crafted SEO plan for Morrell Metalsmiths, one of their clients. Let’s have a look at their story:
The background
Morrell Metalsmiths is a family run blacksmithing business in Massachusetts, which has been around since 1983. In addition to boasting the coolest hand craftsmanship metal has ever seen, people throughout New England go to Morrell Metalsmith to learn the art of blacksmithing at their classes and workshops.
But many things have changed since their early days in the 80’s, especially the way businesses are promoted and marketed. Since most things happen online, the founder’s son, Evan Morrell has stepped in to head up their marketing efforts. The challenge for Morrell Metalsmith was two-fold. First, they had to make sure their online store was visible on search results and on the flip side they also needed to boost their local foot traffic. Team SEO Smooth was happy to take the challenges head on.
“Design and cleanliness-wise, Wix is great for user experience – which is a big deal for SEO.” – Vincent Tobiaz, CEO & Digital Marketing Director
The SEO Smooth team found that the optimization tools Wix offers made their job much easier. Wix SEO and the Site Booster app in particular played a big role in their optimization process. “It was a breeze to optimize the SEO 101 basics”, said Vincent Tobiaz referring to Wix SEO , an SEO solution that is fully integrated in the Wix platform. With the help of to the tool, the team created a personalized SEO plan for Morrell, which included a comprehensive checklist of action items such as getting rid of duplicate metadata. As the Wiz is fully integrated with Google Search Console, it allows your site pages to be indexed instantly. Plus you receive some helpful notifications that can give you insights about search traffic without having to use a different software. Judging from the increase of popup notifications they were receiving, the team could tell that the adjustments that were done, really made a big improvement in terms of search engine traffic. They believe that having an administrative console for your SEO is very beneficial for end users, as it shows them that they’re on the right track.
Key SEO actions
Here’s a look at some of the ways that SEO Smooth boosted traffic to Morrell Metalsmith’s website:
eCommerce SEO: Focused on creating content for inner product pages including new product descriptions for their online store, which were easily implemented using Wix Stores.
Full citation clean up: Fixed any inconsistencies in NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) using the Site Booster app.Local SEO: Fully set up Google My Business as a part of local SEO efforts.
On page SEO: Improved titles, descriptions and URLs based on vast keyword research targeting new keywords for Morrell that would bring them more relevant traffic.
Outreach marketing: Used outreach tactics to successfully create inbound links.
Key successes
The targeted keyword research and implementation was extremely effective. Morrell quickly started ranking for relevant, high intent keywords in their location, resulting in a 20% increase in traffic. The local SEO campaign was particularly successful, as they were able to snag a sweet spot in the local pack on Google. “Our classes and private lessons are doing better than ever” said Evan Morrell, son of founder, Leigh Morrell. The staff at Morrell was extremely happy with the extremely professional work that was done by SEO Smooth. Not only did they benefit from the boost in online visibility, but also increased their sales and received an influx of phone calls, enquiry emails and traffic to their physical shop. Now that’s GREAT SEO!
02. A local business gone loco with Thrive Internet Marketing
The SEO pros over at Thrive know that dealing with SEO can be challenging since you don’t see results immediately. That’s exactly why their process focuses on long term results and really adding value to their clients. They begin every marketing project by getting to know their client, their goals, competitors and the story behind their business. This information helps shape their overall marketing strategy, including their SEO approach.
“Some people believe that it’s hard to rank with Wix, but it’s actually really not,” said Carlos from Thrive. “It’s all about having a set plan in place and knowing what targets you want to hit.” The team at Thrive was thrilled with the new developments that have been made to the platform over the two years, especially in terms of SEO capabilities. They trust that when you work with a Wix website, the approach is the same regardless of the CMS or website builder that is used. They offer competitively priced packages for Wix users, such as Exquisite Cleaning & Organizing, a local business that recently benefited from their services. Let’s take a look at the SEO plan that Thrive built for Exquisite:
The background
Danielle Alfano is the proud owner of Exquisite Cleaning & Organizing, a business she founded in 2013. She offers house cleaning, organizing services, vacation cleaning and more to families and businesses in the Mount Snow area of Vermont. As a local small business owner, the amount of enquiries Danielle gets through her website has a huge impact on her business. That’s why improving her SEO was a key factor in getting more eyes on her site with the help of some needed organic local traffic.
When taking a first look at Exquisite Cleaning and Organizing, Carlos and his team quickly noticed the shortage of content on the website. According to Thrive, merely having your branding ‘out there’ is not enough in most cases, especially if you’re not a household name. It’s crucial to provide detailed descriptions of what you actually do and make sure that people are able to find your services online. Working with the Wix platform made it easy to limit any technical issues, which helped the team shorten the auditing process. The bigger challenge was to create content that targets the most relevant and high-intent keywords. This was the core focus of their optimization efforts, in which they saw a great deal of room for improvement.
“We didn’t need to worry about the structuring and coding. We trusted the platform enough.” – Carlos Rosado, SEO Manager at Thrive
Key SEO actions
Here’s a look at some of the ways that Thrive boosted traffic to Danielle’s website:
New targeted landing pages for services: These landing pages were filled with rich descriptions and more direct links to the contact form which served as a huge conversion booster. They focused on adding long-tail keywords to attract a better targeted traffic.
Blog calendar curation: Suggested blog post topics based on comprehensive keyword research. Their blog suggestions helped Exquisite create informative, insightful content. The blog also made it easy for Thrive to build more internal links.
Online directories for citations: Added site’s name, address and phone number (NAP) to geo-focused directories to build the overall brand and get the ‘Exquisite Cleaning’ name out there.
Dedicated local SEO efforts: Focused on optimizing Bing and Google My Business to build up the brand on local searches.
On-page SEO: Added SEO titles and descriptions based on extensive keyword research.
Added client reviews: This was done by emailing Danielle’s past clients to request for reviews, a service offered through with Thrive’s unique and effective partnership with uReview.me.
Switched to HTTPS: This feature is automatically provided by the Wix platform to all users, so it was a cinch for Thrive to make this change on Danielle’s behalf.
Added a contact form: Easily added a contact form using the Wix Editor.
Key successes
Thrive’s SEO strategy definitely paid off. After just a few weeks, the website’s pages started ranking locally for their targeted keywords. By the end of the project (December 2017) the traffic increased by a full blown 60%. “We didn’t expect it to grow as fast as it did.” – Carlos Rosado, SEO Manager at Thrive. The amount of inquiries grew so dramatically that it was getting to be too much, even for Danielle. In comparison to the year before, she tripled the amount of people contacting her to set up routine cleanings through her website.