Wix vs Squarespace vs WordPress SEO: We Audited 80 Sites

Data from 80 small business websites audited with Crawlmouse, 12 to 15 October 2026.

The pages that rank for "Wix vs Squarespace vs WordPress SEO" were mostly written between 2020 and 2024, by agencies or affiliate sites, and none of them measures real websites. The newer pages about website builders and AI search are written by vendors selling a tool. We have measured data. While auditing 80 small New Zealand business websites for our AI search readiness study, we recorded which platform each site ran on, and the platform turned out to predict the gaps better than anything else.

The short answer: which website builder is best for SEO and AI search in 2026?

Squarespace had the best defaults in our sample: schema markup on every page and a business entity on every homepage, without the owner doing anything. Wix declared the business on every homepage and added an llms.txt file, but left schema off about half of pages. WordPress had schema on most pages through SEO plugins, but the most missing meta descriptions and the most pages nothing links to. Custom built sites were the least ready: no schema on 88 percent of pages. No platform blocked AI crawlers, and every platform left meta descriptions missing on a third or more of pages. The platform sets your defaults; you still have to fill the gaps.

How we audited 80 small business sites

Crawlmouse crawled 80 websites of small New Zealand tour, activity and hospitality businesses, read 2,703 pages, and scored 2,550 of them for search and AI readiness: whether AI crawlers are allowed, whether content shows without JavaScript, and whether each page has schema markup, a meta description, a clear H1 heading, and, on the homepage, a declared business entity. It also mapped every internal link to find orphan pages. This is one industry in one country, not a random sample of the web, and Webflow has only two sites, shown for completeness.

Wix vs Squarespace vs WordPress: SEO and AI readiness scorecard

The overall scores are close. The platforms differ in which problems they leave behind, not in how many.

Squarespace: structured data on every page by default

Every Squarespace site we audited had schema markup on every page analysed, and every homepage declared the business. That matches Squarespace's own documentation, which says it "automatically generates structured data" for websites, organisations, local businesses, products, events and blog posts, and that owners can't edit or remove it.

Where it falls short: meta descriptions. 53 percent of Squarespace pages had none. Squarespace has an SEO description field on every page; it is empty until someone writes one.

Fix: write SEO descriptions for the homepage and booking or product pages first, in plain words with the key fact or price in them.

Wix: business schema on every homepage, and llms.txt on every site we checked

Every Wix homepage in the sample declared the business as an entity, which matches Wix's help centre: it "automatically creates Local Business structured data markup" for the homepage once business information is entered. Every Wix site also had an llms.txt file; Wix says it "automatically generates and maintains" one for paid sites on a custom domain. No AI search engine is known to read llms.txt as of 2026, so this is harmless rather than helpful.

Where it falls short: schema on inner pages (missing on 52 percent) and meta descriptions (missing on 57 percent). Wix sites also had the most pages without an H1, usually because the big title text is styled to look like a heading without being marked as one.

Fix: set each page's main title to Heading 1 in the editor, and add SEO descriptions to the pages that sell.

WordPress: most missing meta descriptions and orphan pages

Most WordPress sites had schema on most pages, typically from an SEO plugin such as Yoast or Rank Math. But WordPress had the worst meta description gap (64 percent of pages) and the most orphan pages: 19 of 26 sites had pages nothing else on the site links to. WordPress makes it easy to add pages and posts, and easy to forget to describe and link them.

Fix: check that your SEO plugin is actually filling in descriptions, and find old pages no menu or page links to. Link the ones that matter; remove or redirect the rest.

Custom built sites: no structured data on 88 percent of pages

Custom sites had the fewest missing meta descriptions (36 percent of pages), probably because a developer wrote them. But 88 percent of their pages had no schema, and only 4 of 31 homepages declared the business. A custom site has only the labels its developer remembered to add, and many small business sites were built before AI search mattered.

So is WordPress or a custom website better for SEO? Not by default, on this evidence. A custom site can be excellent, but only if someone specifies the markup; WordPress gets much of it from a plugin.

Fix: ask whoever maintains the site to add Organization or LocalBusiness structured data to the homepage and matching markup to the pages that sell.

Webflow: where it lands

Only two sites, so no conclusions. Both had meta descriptions on nearly every page and schema on almost none, which suggests Webflow leaves structured data to the designer.

Wix vs Squarespace for SEO: head to head

On the things search engines and AI tools read, Squarespace's defaults were stronger: schema on every page against about half for Wix. Both declared the business on the homepage. Both left meta descriptions empty on more than half of pages. Wix added llms.txt; Squarespace did not, which made no measurable difference. If you are choosing between the two for a small business site, either is fine; on Squarespace there is less to fix afterwards.

What to fix on any platform

1. Give the homepage and each page that sells one clear H1.
2. Write a meta description for each of those pages.
3. Make sure the homepage declares your business in structured data (automatic on Squarespace and Wix; check WordPress and custom sites).
4. Find pages nothing links to and decide what to do with each.
5. Keep AI crawlers allowed. None of the 80 sites blocked them; keep it that way.

You can check all five on your own site with the Crawlmouse AI readiness checker, which runs the same tests we used here, free and without an account.

If you run a tour or activity business, our homepage checklist for New Zealand operators covers what else the page needs, and our guide to what AI assistants look for in an NZ operator covers the listings beyond your website. We also publish a fixed price rebuild for New Zealand operators.

Frequently asked questions

Is Wix or Squarespace better for SEO?

In our audit of 80 sites, Squarespace had stronger defaults: schema markup on every page, against about half of pages on Wix. Both declared the business on the homepage, and both left meta descriptions missing on more than half of pages.

Does Squarespace add schema markup automatically?

Yes. Squarespace's documentation says it automatically generates structured data for websites, organisations, local businesses, products, events and blog posts. Every Squarespace site in our sample had schema on every page.

Does Wix create an llms.txt file automatically?

Wix says it automatically generates and maintains llms.txt for paid sites on a custom domain, and every Wix site in our sample had one. No AI search engine is known to read llms.txt as of 2026.

Is WordPress better than Squarespace for SEO?

Not by default in our sample. WordPress sites had schema on most pages through plugins, but the most missing meta descriptions and the most orphan pages. WordPress gives more control; Squarespace gives better defaults.

Which website builder is best for AI search?

No builder blocked AI crawlers in our sample. Squarespace labelled pages for machines most completely by default. Whatever the platform, the gaps that matter most are schema on the pages that sell, meta descriptions, and a declared business entity.

Sources

• Crawlmouse production audits of 80 New Zealand small business websites, 12 to 15 October 2026.
• Nahl Technologies, 80 New Zealand Tourism Websites and AI Search: 2026 Readiness Study, October 2026.
• Squarespace Help Center, How does Squarespace optimize my site for search results.
• Wix Help Center, Adding your site's business information; Understanding your site's llms.txt file.