Move from Wix or WordPress without losing SEO

To move from Wix or WordPress without losing your Google rankings, keep the same page addresses, titles and descriptions, and use a 301 redirect only for an address that cannot stay. Before the move, list every address, form and tracking code; after it, check that every old address still opens. Switch the domain last, and leave your email records alone.

Why rankings drop after a site move

Google does not rank a "site". It ranks addresses. Each page shows up in search because of its address, its title, its content and the links that point to it. When several of these change at once, Google has to learn the site again, and sometimes it cannot find what used to be there.

These are the usual causes:

• Changed addresses. The page /about-us became /about, with no redirect. Anyone who arrives from Google or an old link gets a 404 error, and the page's ranking is lost.
• Lost titles and descriptions. In Wix or WordPress you once filled in a title and description for each page. On a new site they often fall back to the business name alone.
• Missing pages. An old blog post, a small service page, a landing page from a past campaign. They are not in the menu, so they get forgotten, but they brought visitors.
• A slower site. Speed is part of what Google measures. A new site that is heavier than the old one can slip.
• Lost tracking. A Google Analytics tag, a Meta pixel or a Google Ads conversion that did not come along. Your rankings may hold, but you stop seeing what happens, and your ad campaigns lose their data.

A small, short dip after a move can happen even when everything is done right. A sharp drop that lasts almost always comes from one of the causes above, and it can be fixed.

What to list before you move

This list is your insurance. Whatever you do not write down before the move is hard to check after it.

1. Every address on the site. Open the sitemap, usually at /sitemap.xml. On WordPress it may be at /wp-sitemap.xml or /sitemap_index.xml. Add the pages from Google Search Console, in the Pages and Performance reports, because old addresses that still bring visitors show up there even when they are missing from the sitemap.
2. The title and description of each page. The title shown in the browser tab, and the description Google shows under the link.
3. Forms. Every contact, signup or booking form, and where it sends today: email, WhatsApp or another system.
4. Tracking codes and conversions. Analytics, Tag Manager, pixels, Google Ads and Meta conversions, and any embedded chat or map. The tracking check shows what can be seen on the site from outside.
5. DNS and email records. Where the domain's DNS is managed and which records it holds. Above all the MX records for email, and the TXT records for domain verification and SPF. The domain and email check shows where each of them lives.

Keep it all in one file. For a small site a simple spreadsheet is enough: address, title, description, notes.

Keep addresses, redirect only what cannot stay

The most important rule of a move: an address you can keep, you keep. If the page was /about-us, it stays /about-us on the new site. Do not tidy up addresses just because they look untidy. Every such change is a risk with no gain.

Some addresses cannot stay as they are. For example /services.html from an old HTML site, or /?p=123, a WordPress post address with no name. Each of these gets a 301 redirect. A 301 tells Google and the browser that the page has moved for good to a new address, and Google passes what the old page had earned to the new one.

A small redirects table looks like this:

A few rules for redirects:

• Each address points to the closest page by content, not to the home page. Google treats a redirect of everything to the home page like a deleted page.
• One direct step. Not an address that redirects to an address that redirects again.
• 301, not 302. A 302 says "temporary", and Google keeps waiting for the old address.
• A page that is really gone, with no replacement, can return a 404. That is fine, as long as it is one page and not half the site.

What needs rebuilding from Wix or WordPress

A move changes what the site is built on, and not everything comes over as is. It helps to know in advance what to check.

From Wix

Wix is a closed system. What visitors see can move: text, images, pages, titles. Whatever runs on Wix apps needs rebuilding or an outside service:

• A store with many products and apps. Shipping, stock, coupons and payment links work inside Wix. Check how much of it you really need.
• Bookings and appointments. If the site runs on Wix Bookings, you will need another booking system or one built for you.
• Members areas and forums. Registered users and passwords do not move.
• Forms. The form itself is rebuilt, and its destination has to be connected again.

If most of the site is a large store or a booking system, staying may be the better choice. It depends on the case, and it is worth checking before you start.

From WordPress

WordPress is more open, so content, posts and images are easy to take out. What does not move is the inside: the wp-admin back office, its users, the theme and the plugins. Every plugin that did something visible, like a slider, a form or a gallery, needs a replacement. A large WooCommerce store or a paid members area can be a good reason to stay on WordPress, with a good host.

Checking after the move

Checking starts before the domain moves, on the preview address of the new site.

1. Every old address opens. Go through your list. Each address should open the right page, or 301 redirect to the right page. None returns a 404 by mistake.
2. Titles and descriptions. Compare them with your list. Same title, same description.
3. Forms. Send each form once and check the message arrived.
4. Tracking. Open the site and check in Analytics that the visit is counted and that conversions are recorded.
5. Speed. Check the new site is not slower than the old one.

Once the domain has moved:

• In Google Search Console, submit the new sitemap in the Sitemaps report.
• Check a few important pages with the URL Inspection tool.
• Watch the Pages report over the next weeks. New 404 errors point to addresses you missed.
• Keep the redirects for good, or at least for a year.

The domain moves last, and email stays put

The costliest mistake in a site move is losing email. Email does not live on the website. It depends on the domain's DNS records, mainly the MX records. A site move should change only the record that points to the site, and never touch the email records.

The right order:

1. The new site is built and checked on a temporary address.
2. The old site keeps working the whole time.
3. Only when everything checks out, connect the domain to the new site.
4. Check that email still sends and receives.
5. Only after a few quiet days, cancel the old hosting.

Watch for two cases. If your mailbox lives with the old web host, cancelling that hosting stops it. And if you move DNS management to another company, every record has to be copied, not only the site record. The guide how to connect a domain explains both ways.

How a move to DeployAI works

At DeployAI the move is built on the rules above. On the move page you paste the old site's address: WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, HTML or code. The kind of site is detected for you. You get one line for an AI coding agent that runs commands in a folder, such as Claude Code, Cursor or Codex. The agent scans the old site and builds it again as clean, light code, with your logo, colors, photos and words. If you do not work with an agent, you can ask for a managed move by our team from the same page.

These are the commands the agent runs:

npx deployai@latest migrate scan https://your-old-site.com
npx deployai@latest migrate media
npx deployai@latest migrate redirects
npx deployai@latest migrate verify <preview address>

• migrate scan records every address, title and description, and on WordPress the content too. It downloads the files at their old paths.
• migrate redirects writes 301 redirects only for addresses that cannot stay.
• migrate verify checks on the preview that every old address opens with its title and description. The agent runs it again after each deploy, until it lists nothing.

The scan also lists the tracking codes, pixels, conversions and DNS records, and the check flags any that went missing. The result opens in a private move report. What is checked, and what only you can tell, is explained in the guide tracking and conversions in a move.

What is kept: addresses, titles, descriptions and posts. The old site stays up until you approve. What does not move: the WordPress or Wix back office, its users, the theme and the plugins. WordPress owners have their own page, moving from WordPress, with the details.

The domain is a separate, later step, after the new site is live and checked. Connecting your own domain needs a paid plan, from 39 ILS a month before VAT, and is explained in connecting a domain. Before DNS moves, every record is copied and the email records are checked first.

If you are still weighing whether a move is worth it, the guide what a small business website costs compares the options fairly.