In This Article
What Changed (and What Didn't)
The Real Problem: What Gets Built on These Platforms
Where Builders Still Fall Short
What Actually Moves the Needle
If you've ever Googled your own business and found yourself three pages deep while your competitor — who you know has a worse product — sits at the top, you've probably blamed the algorithm. Maybe you've blamed your website platform. On the platform question, you might be partially right. But probably not for the reason you've heard. The "Wix is bad for SEO" and "Squarespace can't rank" takes you'll find on most marketing blogs are outdated or oversimplified. Both platforms have closed the technical gap significantly over the past few years. If your Wix site isn't ranking, Wix's code is probably not the main problem. Something else is.
What Changed (and What Didn't)
Five years ago, the case against Wix was legitimate. Slow page loads, messy code structure, poor URL handling, limited meta tag control — these were real SEO liabilities. Squarespace had its own issues: rigid URL structures, limited technical control, JavaScript-heavy pages that crawlers struggled with.
Both platforms have improved. Wix now offers structured data, custom meta tags, sitemaps, server-side rendering, and Core Web Vitals improvements baked in. Squarespace has done similar work. A basic SEO audit of a modern Wix site versus a basic WordPress site reveals far fewer technical gaps than it would have in 2019.
So why do so many Wix and Squarespace sites still sit on page three?
The Real Problem: What Gets Built on These Platforms
The issue isn't the platform. It's what most business owners build — or let someone build — on it.
Website builders made it easy to launch a site in a weekend. What they didn't do is make it easy to understand SEO. So most small business sites built on Wix or Squarespace share the same structural problems:
Generic, thin content. A services page that says "We provide professional HVAC services in the Tampa Bay area" is not a page Google has any reason to rank. It tells a search engine nothing specific. It answers no real question a buyer is asking.
No location-specific strategy. Builders make it easy to create pages, but they don't tell you that a home services company serving five Tampa Bay counties probably needs a content strategy built around each of those markets. A roofing company in Hillsborough County that only has one service page for "roofing Tampa" is leaving Riverview, Brandon, and Land O' Lakes search volume completely uncovered.
Keyword targeting that doesn't match real searches. Most small business owners optimize for what they'd type, not what their customers type. "Interior decorating services Tampa" might be how an interior designer describes her business. "Home decorator Tampa" or "interior designer cost Tampa" might be what buyers actually search.
Missing or unclaimed Google Business Profile. The local search presence — the map pack result that captures nearly half of all local clicks — is separate from the website entirely. A beautiful Squarespace site with good content can still be invisible on Google Maps if the GBP is unclaimed, incomplete, or misconfigured.
“The issue isn't the platform. It's what most business owners build — or let someone build — on it.”
— Client Social Research Team
Where Builders Still Fall Short
None of this means platform choice is irrelevant. There are real tradeoffs.
Page speed can be unpredictable. Core Web Vitals — Google's page speed metrics — affect ranking. A heavily designed Wix page with multiple animations, large images, and embedded video can load slowly on mobile in ways that are hard to control without deep technical access.
URL structure flexibility varies. Some platforms impose URL structures that aren't ideal for SEO (extra subfolders, forced URL formats). This matters less than it used to, but it's still a real constraint for larger sites.
Structured data is limited. Schema markup — the code that tells Google specific information about your business, your reviews, your services — is harder to implement fully on builder platforms without custom code injection. This affects rich results in search (star ratings, FAQ dropdowns, and other enhanced features).
Free Audit
Is your site leaving money on the table?
We'll audit your SEO and show you exactly where to improve.
What Actually Moves the Needle
If your Wix or Squarespace site isn't ranking, the fix isn't usually to rebuild on WordPress. The fix is to address the content and strategy gaps that the platform didn't create — you'd have the same problems on WordPress if you built the same kind of site.
Start here:
- Is each service you offer represented by its own dedicated page — or is everything crammed onto one "Services" page?
- Does each page answer a specific question a real buyer in Tampa or Miami might search?
- Is your Google Business Profile complete, accurate, and actively managed?
- When did you last add new content to the site? Google favors sites that are actively maintained.
These are questions about content and strategy, not platform. Answer them right and most sites — Wix, Squarespace, or custom-built — will rank significantly better.
Key Takeaways
- Modern Wix and Squarespace are not the SEO liabilities they were in 2019 — the platform is rarely the real problem
- Generic, thin content is the most common reason local business sites don't rank
- Each service needs its own dedicated page — not a single catch-all 'Services' page
- Location-specific content dramatically outperforms a single generic service area page
- Your Google Business Profile is separate from your website and equally important for local search
If you want to know specifically what's holding your site back in Tampa or Miami local search, we'll run a free audit and give you a straight answer. We don't sell platform migrations. We tell you what's actually broken.
Client Social Team
Digital Marketing Strategists · Tampa Bay & Miami, FL
Digital marketing strategists helping Tampa Bay and South Florida businesses grow online.