How Wix generated value for their users by integrating stats and functionality via Google APIs directly into the Wix UI
Published on February 5, 2024
Challenge
Wix provides a platform to over 250 million users worldwide looking to create a professional website and build their online presence. Wix wanted to generate greater value for their users by integrating Google tools throughout the Wix SEO ecosystem (including Wix Studio) to make the whole user journey from indexing to analytics reports easier and richer.
What was done
Over the course of 2022 and 2023, Wix collaborated with Google to define which Google stats and functionality would match the needs of Wix site owners, then built several reports in consultation with the Google team, using publicly available data from Google's APIs (for example, Search Console API and Site Verification API). Wix chose these reports because they curate stats and functionality from Google's products and combine them with Wix information, in the places Wix users find most intuitive within the Wix UI.
To make these integrations as accessible as possible by the majority of its users, Wix decided to implement a series of tools targeting their user's different levels of expertise:
Sitemap submission with Search Console integration
Using the Site Verification API and the Search Console API, Wix built functionality to automatically verify ownership of a site and then submit that site's sitemap to Search Console right from the Wix dashboard. Verifying ownership of the domain is a fundamental step with any CMS integration.
Wix Site Inspection tool
Using Google's URL Inspection API, Wix helped users track their site's indexing issues and inspect their pages directly from the Wix Dashboard by sending site pages to Google's API. This integration checks the indexing status of a particular page, including any indexing errors, and performs aggregation, among other tasks. In this way, Wix users can get an overview of their site's health and get the information they need to fix whatever is needed to make sure their content can be indexed by Google.
Wix Analytics Reports
Leveraging the reporting functionality of the Search Console API, Wix built 4 new reports to help their users get detailed insights on how visitors interact with their site, using integrated SEO reports. Wix users can track clicks, impressions, changes in traffic and main queries, right from the Wix Dashboard.
Results
Integrating Google tools into the Wix ecosystem has proven to be a game-changer for their users.
So far, over 2 million Wix sites connected their Search Console account and submitted a sitemap to Google through the new integration. They also regularly used the new features, such as Site Inspection and Analytics Reports to troubleshoot indexing errors, fix them and get insights on resulting changes in performance. For those users, Wix saw an average traffic increase of 15% over the course of one year after the user connected to their Search Console account via Wix (July 2022 – July 2023), compared to their traffic before connecting. Additionally, these users experienced a 15% increase in GPV (Gross Product Value, which is the amount of money earned by a Wix user from their website in a specific period) in comparison to similar users who did not connect their site to Search Console and therefore had no access to the new features or to direct information about their site's performance on search.
15%
Increase in average traffic for
Wix sites using the new features
24%
Increase in monthly GPV for
ecommerce Wix sites that used the new features
Ecommerce Wix sites which used the new features over the course of a year (July 2022 – July 2023) saw a higher monthly GPV increase of 24%. Wix noticed that these users are stepping forward into their SEO journey by using other tools (provided by Google and Wix) to help inform and refine their strategy.
The Wix Site Inspection tool also made a positive impact. Wix reported an increase in average traffic of 5% for sites that used the tool for the first time over the course of a year (July 2022 – July 2023), along with a 16% increase in GPV on average. These results suggest that a simplified site monitoring process for users can help them more effectively track and fix issues that are affecting their search engine rankings.
Nati Elimelech, Wix's Head of SEO, said: "Integrating Google's APIs into Wix has been a game-changer for our users. It's more than just about analytics; it's about simplifying the entire web creation and optimization process. Seeing our users, regardless of their expertise level, achieve online success, truly reflects the power of these integrations. It's not just a technical upgrade; it's about making advanced SEO tools accessible and useful for everyone."
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