Why Tradesmen Who Build Their Own Wix Site Don't Rank on Google
Wix is genuinely easy to use. You can have something that looks like a website online in a few hours without any technical knowledge. For a tradesperson thinking about their first web presence, it seems like the obvious choice.
But there's a gap between "looks like a website" and "gets found on Google" — and for trade businesses, that gap is significant.
This is an honest look at what Wix gives you, why it consistently underperforms for local trades SEO, and what 200+ targeted pages actually does for a business like yours.
What Wix Gives You
Wix's genuine strengths:
- Easy to set up — drag-and-drop editor, templates for trades businesses, no coding required
- Looks professional — Wix templates are well-designed and functional at a surface level
- Low upfront cost — Wix's paid plans start at a modest monthly cost and don't require a web design agency
- Built-in tools — contact forms, galleries, and social media integration come included
- SEO basics — Wix allows you to set meta titles, descriptions, and alt text on images
These are real benefits. Wix is not a bad product — it's simply the wrong product for trade businesses that want to rank locally on Google.
Why Wix Struggles for Local Trades SEO
The Core Problem: Too Few Pages
A typical Wix site for a tradesperson has five to ten pages: Home, About, Services, Gallery, Contact, and maybe a couple more. This is fundamentally insufficient for local SEO.
Google ranks pages, not websites. If you want to appear when someone searches "plumber in Guildford," you need a page specifically about plumbing in Guildford. If you want to appear for "boiler repair in Woking," you need a page about that too. A generic Services page covering everything is not specific enough to rank for any of these searches with authority.
No Local Targeting at Scale
Local SEO for trades businesses requires a page structure that systematically targets every service in every location you cover. A tradesperson covering 20 towns with 8 services has 160 potential service-location combinations — each one a separate search query someone might type. That's 160 opportunities to appear in Google. A Wix site with 8 pages misses all of them.
You Do All the SEO Yourself
Wix gives you the tools to do SEO, but you have to use them. Writing optimised content for 200+ pages, researching keywords, building internal links, monitoring rankings, and keeping the site updated over time is a significant ongoing commitment. Most tradespeople who build a Wix site update it once and never touch it again — and rankings reflect this.
Technical Limitations
Wix has historically had technical SEO constraints — slower page load speeds on some plans, and limitations on how the site can be structured for large-scale local targeting. While Wix has improved in recent years, it remains structurally less suited to building the kind of large, fast, technically well-optimised site that ranks well for competitive local trades searches.
What 200+ Targeted Pages Actually Does
A properly built trade website with 200+ pages is not 200 copies of the same page with a different town name inserted. Each page is written for a specific service in a specific location, addressing what customers in that area actually search for.
What this structure achieves:
- Google has content to rank for every service-location combination — instead of one generic page, you have a dedicated page that signals "this business is relevant to someone in [town] searching for [service]"
- You capture the long tail — searches like "tiler for wet room installation in Basingstoke" are lower competition and higher intent. A page targeting that phrase exactly is far easier to rank than "tiler near me"
- Internal linking builds site authority — a large, well-structured site with proper internal linking tells Google that the site is comprehensive and authoritative in its niche
- Coverage compounds over time — as each page gains impressions and clicks, the site's overall authority rises, lifting rankings across all pages
Comparison Table
| Feature | Wix (Self-Built) | Dean Keating £59/mo |
|---|---|---|
| Typical page count | 5–10 | 200+ |
| Local SEO targeting | Generic only | Every service × every location |
| SEO done for you | No — you do it yourself | Yes — ongoing, included |
| Weekly ranking reports | No | Yes |
| Built and launched for you | No — you build it | Yes |
| Ongoing maintenance | Yours to manage | Included |
| Contract | Monthly rolling | None — cancel anytime |
The Real Cost of a Wix Site
Wix's plan cost is modest. But the real cost of a self-built site is time: the hours to build it, the hours to learn SEO well enough to actually rank, and the ongoing hours to maintain and update it. For a tradesperson whose time is better spent on jobs, this is a significant hidden cost — especially when the result is a site that doesn't generate enquiries anyway.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I move from Wix to a properly built site?
Yes. Your existing domain can be pointed to the new site. If your Wix site has any existing Google ranking, the new site is structured to preserve it while building significantly on top of it. The switch is handled as part of the build.
What if I've already put a lot of time into my Wix site?
That's a sunk cost — the question is what will serve you best going forward. If your Wix site is generating consistent enquiries, that's a reason to stay. If you're finding it doesn't rank and you're not getting calls from it, that's the answer.
Does Wix work for any trade businesses?
In very low-competition markets — niche services, very rural areas with almost no competitors online — even a basic Wix site may rank by default. In any competitive urban or suburban market, a thin Wix site typically won't rank above established competitors with proper SEO.
Is there a middle ground between Wix and a full 200-page site?
In principle, a smaller professionally built site with proper SEO could outperform a Wix site. In practice, the page count matters significantly for local trade SEO. The service-location combination structure is what drives the rankings, and you need the volume of pages to cover a realistic geographic footprint. £59/month for 200+ pages and ongoing SEO is already at the accessible end of the market.