In this report:
Building a website used to take days. Now, it takes minutes. What comes next is more significant: AI is changing the way websites are built, yes, but it’s also changing the way people find these websites, how they interact with these websites, and the distinct ways websites are serving businesses and brands.
Websites aren't static pages anymore: they communicate with AI agents, they inform LLM outputs, and they generate revenue the moment they go live.
No one has a clearer view of the web than Wix, with 310 million users across the globe.
For Wix's first State of Websites report, we dug into our data to understand exactly how websites are created, found, and used to grow businesses in the age of AI. Consider this your grounded guide to staying ahead.
How is AI changing website creation?
Prompting a website into existence, vibe coding a layout, connecting AI tools directly through MCP—the technical barrier to site building is gone. But as creation gets faster and easier, a distinct design isn't just an aesthetic choice anymore. It's how brands stand out.
People are publishing websites faster with AI
Between 2025 and 2026, the average time to publish a website dropped 50%, from 8 days to 4. Before that, it dropped 43%, from 14 days in 2022 to 8 days in 2025.
Different businesses have different demands for their websites, yet every industry is building faster.
In the last three years, restaurants reduced their publish time by 46%, from 13 days to 7 days. eCommerce sites build 50% faster, from 14 days to 7 days. Beauty and wellness sites have seen a 55% reduction in time to publish, from 20 days to 9 days.
Site owners still want control of the website design process
AI site creation isn’t new. Wix launched its first AI builder, ADI, in 2016—years before AI became an acronym you heard a billion times a day. With ADI, you could generate a site from a handful of simple preferences. Wix’s AI website builder has gone further with each iteration, giving users more intelligence, more flexibility, and more control.
Wix Harmony is the latest step in that evolution. Wix Harmony is an AI website builder that pairs vibe coding with full drag-and-drop customization, so you can move fast without handing over creative control.
“I like using AI as a starting point. But I need the creative freedom to show my personality. I want site visitors to feel like they’re stepping into my studio.” - Tessa J. McNaboe, Pilates instructor and Wix Harmony user
Self-expression and personality matter more than ever. In 2026, 90% of Wix Harmony users still choose to edit the most brand-sensitive details by hand.
91%
of Wix Harmony users change the text on their site. People still want the final say on their brand story.
69%
of Wix Harmony users swap images, often to use their own assets, like product photos.
Did you know? You can prompt Aria, or just click on any site element and tell her what to change.
MCP connects external AI tools directly to your site
32K
Nearly 32K people used Wix MCP to connect AI directly to their sites, allowing them to manage their sites through natural conversations with external LLMs like Claude.
102M
total Wix MCP sessions in 2025. People used Wix MCP to create and update content, search documentation, and debug issues using an LLM.
Real prompts people are using for more efficient website building
Are websites still relevant in the age of AI?
AI means speed—but it also means skepticism. Customers need to know a business is real, not hallucinated or a scam. That's why a professional web presence, built on a reliable website, isn't just nice to have. It's proof of legitimacy.
Websites build trust in brands through custom domains
Building trust starts with a domain. Creators aren't treating their domains as an afterthought anymore. They're a commitment made from the start.
2.5x
Custom domain rates among published sites have 2.5×'d in 3 years from 26% (2022) to 66% (2025).
69%
In 2025, 69% of sites with a custom domain connect it before or on launch day, up from 47% in 2022.
"My business is very versatile—just like Wix. I can schedule workshops, use the blog feature to present my projects, or sell products through the online store." - Nina Egli, founder of Jakob & Tatze
Robust website infrastructure is non-negotiable
Many AI tools can get websites live fast, but sites that load slowly or feel unsafe won't hold up in an age of mistrust. Speed, reliability, and security are the foundation businesses run on, even more so today.
Wix is built on enterprise-grade website infrastructure that handles all of this behind the scenes: reliable hosting that keeps your site up, advanced security that protects your business and your customers, and peak performance from day one. The ratio of Wix sites with good scores for all three Core Web Vitals, a measure of overall site health, increased by 25% in the last year.
Did you know? Wix is an ICANN-accredited domain registrar for .com and .net domain extensions.
Websites are still generating revenue for businesses online
The rise of agentic commerce may change how people shop. But even if AI agents handle more of the buying process, they still need somewhere to go: websites.
Between 2022 and 2025, there was a 48% increase in the number of professional sites that generated revenue in their first year.
Business owners are using their websites to support in-person offerings:
Events
Revenue earned from selling tickets and charging for RSVPs is up 40% between 2022 and 2025.
Services
Over half (54%) of new businesses in 2026 start with bookings, and they convert relatively fast (10.6 days average).
“My business had potential, but it needed a solid structure to take off. One of the things that helped me grow the most was creating my own website. I chose a platform that is intuitive yet offers professional results, allowing me to manage my site, bookings, and invoices from anywhere without complications.” - Elana Blanco, founder of Psique y Meraki
How is AI search impacting websites?
AI isn’t just changing the way business owners and creators build their websites; it’s changing the way customers (and bots) interact with them, too.
Website traffic is from more diverse segments
“Search” used to be synonymous with Google. The landscape is more complex in the era of ChatGPT. AI search platforms receive over 8 billion visits a month in 2026, according to SimilarWeb.
As a result, AI platforms now ping nearly 700,000 Wix sites every month, totalling 2.2 million sessions in March 2026 alone, up 35% from November. Many of these pings are AI bots searching sites in response to a question someone has asked an LLM.
LLMs like ChatGPT send less traffic to websites than traditional search. LLMs account for less than 1% of site traffic. Still, site traffic from LLMs grew 4x between 2024 and 2025.
Even though traffic from LLMs is low, potential customers may be learning about brands through AI search, then visiting websites directly to (a) confirm they’re legit and (b) do more research before making a purchase.
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In 2025, direct traffic to Wix sites reached 1.74 billion unique visitors in the US alone, up 71% since 2020.
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Nearly 8% of direct visitors to eCommerce sites make a purchase, 4x the industry average.
But the decline in search isn’t as dramatic as LinkedIn thought leadership would lead you to believe. Search is still the primary traffic engine for sites, accounting for 42% of traffic, followed by direct at 40% and social at 13%.
Traffic sources vary by industry. For example:
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Sites that support consumer stores, events, blogs, portfolios, and photography have the most traffic from social media (18%, compared to the average of 13%).
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Sites that support healthcare providers receive 53.8% of traffic from search, indicating that this audience is actively looking for specific medical or wellness solutions rather than browsing.
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Business professionals, like consultants and lawyers, receive 2x the average share of LLM traffic.
Blogs still convey authority for businesses and brands online
5x
Sites with blog content are 5x more likely to generate eCommerce sales and 5x more likely to secure bookings.
7x
More posts = more traffic. Sites with 50+ blog posts get 7x more monthly sessions than sites without a blog, with organic search as the primary traffic source.
Online reviews signal trust
40x
Sites with 50+ reviews earn 40x more in median revenue and get 24x more traffic than those with fewer than 50.
54%
eCommerce success rate jumps from 1.7% to 54.1% for sites with just 1 to 5 reviews.
Structured website data sets sites up for visibility in LLMs
Websites are no longer just for humans—they're for bots too. As more people turn to LLMs and AI agents to find products and services, your site needs to be legible to machines.
Protocols like NLWeb are making this possible, turning websites into conversational interfaces that AI agents can query directly. Structured data is how you get there.
The sites most committed to structured data are already pulling ahead.
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eCommerce sites with LLMs.txt earn 2x more revenue and get 4x more traffic than sites without.
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Sites with structured data markup that passes Google’s rich-results inspection earn 2x more revenue and get 9x more traffic than sites without.