Website platforms: fixing one, or leaving it

A website platform makes a site easy to start and sets limits on how far it can go. Wix, Squarespace, Shopify and WordPress each document what they do for speed and for search, and these guides work from that documentation: what to switch on, what to measure, and where the platform's own limits begin.

Most sites get faster and easier to find with the fixes in the first guides for each platform. The later guides are for an owner who has made those fixes and wants to know what moving would involve: the content, the redirects and the domain.

• Why your Wix site is so slow, and what to do about it

  How to measure a Wix site, the causes Wix itself names, the fixes in order, and what no setting can change.

• How to speed up a Wix website

  Nine steps from Wix's own guidance, in order, with a measurement before and after.

• How to read the Wix Site Speed dashboard

  The two halves of the dashboard, which one is the verdict, and how to compare with a competitor.

• Wix site still slow after the fixes? How to find the limit

  How to measure the floor of the platform with a test page, and what the result tells you to do.

• Is Wix bad for SEO?

  What Wix does for search, what it leaves to you, its two real limits, and a test you can run today.

• How to connect a Wix site to Google Search Console

  What Wix requires, the two ways to verify, the usual causes of failure and the first things to do afterwards.

• Is Wix slower than WordPress or Squarespace?

  Why the platform's name is the wrong question, what really differs, and how to compare fairly.

• Is Wix worth it for a small business?

  What Wix does well, where it holds a business back, five signs you have outgrown it, and what leaving takes.

• Why your Squarespace site is so slow, and what to do about it

  How to measure a Squarespace page, the limits Squarespace recommends, and the fixes in order.

• How to speed up a Squarespace website

  Eight steps built on Squarespace's own published limits, with a measurement before and after.

• Is Squarespace bad for SEO?

  What Squarespace does, what its checklist leaves to you, where sites most often go wrong, and how to test yours.

• Why your Shopify store is so slow, and how to speed it up

  The three causes Shopify names, how to read its performance reports, and the fixes in order.

• How to speed up a Shopify store

  Seven steps built on the three factors Shopify names, with a measurement before and after.

• Is Shopify bad for SEO?

  What Shopify does for search, what it fixes in place, where stores lose, and a test.

• How to speed up a WordPress website

  Measure, then caching, images, plugins, theme and hosting, in the order that usually pays most.

• Is WordPress bad for SEO?

  What WordPress lets you control, what the control costs, where sites most often go wrong, and a test.

• Can you move a Wix site to another host?

  What Wix lets you take, what has to be rebuilt, and the order that protects your rankings.

• Can you move a Squarespace site to another platform?

  What the export file contains, what it leaves out, how the domain leaves, and the order that keeps rankings.

• How to move from Wix to WordPress

  What can be taken from Wix, what is rebuilt in WordPress, and the order that keeps rankings.

• How to move a store from Wix to Shopify

  The product file, the rebuilt pages, the redirects and the domain, in order.

• How to move from Squarespace to WordPress

  What the export file carries into WordPress, what is rebuilt, and the redirects to set.

• How to move a store from Squarespace to Shopify

  The product file, the rebuilt pages and the redirects, with what each platform's help centre says.

• How to transfer a domain away from Wix

  The conditions, the steps Wix gives, the separate route for .co.uk names, and what happens to the site and the email.

• How to transfer a domain away from Squarespace

  The locks that can delay it, the steps Squarespace gives, and what happens to the site, the DNS records and the email.

No guide here calls a platform good or bad. Each shows how to measure your own site on it, because the answer that matters is the one for your site.

• Redesigns and rebuilds: what the service includes
• On-site SEO: what the service includes
• How the guides are written

• AI search and answer engines
• When a website is not doing its job
• Local search, Maps and reviews
• When Google Ads is not working
• When a site is not showing on Google
• All guides