Wix Turbo Launch: Making Wix Sites Faster Than Ever Before
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Wix is a website builder that gives you all the tools you need to create a professional website. You don’t need coding skills, fancy tech, or hours of spare time – just an internet connection!
Over 142 million people have used Wix to create their very own website – and as its happy customer count keeps growing, Wix is constantly pushing on with its own advances and updates.
Enter Wix Turbo, an exciting new release designed to supercharge your websites and speed up loading times – meaning sites will load faster than ever before.
In this launch review, we’ll cover what Wix Turbo will do, what it means for Wix websites, and what Wix is already doing to make sure its websites are performing at their very best.
Further Information
Wix Review – Thinking of getting started with Wix? Read our in-depth review to find out if it’s the right website builder for you.
Wix vs Squarespace – See how these two famous website builders compare.
Best Website Builder – compare not just Wix and Squarespace, but a whole host of website builders that will help get your site off the ground.
1 What is Wix Turbo?
The main thing to know about Wix Turbo is that it will make websites load faster than ever before. But how will it achieve that, and why is that such a big deal?
We spoke to Amit Kaufman, Vice President of the Wix Editor Group:
“In Wix Turbo, we re-wrote major parts of the sites’ code, enabling huge performance improvements … In addition, we’ve added new options to make your mobile site more stunning – like a customizable menu, special animations, and great gallery support – resulting in high performing, slick sites.”
Let’s take a closer look at just what he means by those “huge performance improvements”, and how your website will benefit!
Why Speed is of the Essence
For anyone thinking a few seconds doesn’t make much difference, stop right there!
Speed is everything for a successful website.
Site speed can impact how well your website ranks in search results, but it also massively affects how your visitors view your website. In fact, 40% of consumers won’t wait more than three seconds before abandoning a site!
We talked to our in-house expert technical SEO manager, Josh Frisby, about just how important site speed can be. Is it really that big of a deal? Here’s what he had to say:
“Good site speed dramatically improves user experience, which fundamentally has a direct result on conversion rates, while additionally being a huge ranking factor on Google.”
According to the experts, site speed plays a major role in the overall success of your website. So just what is Wix doing to maximize your loading times, and put you precious seconds ahead of your competitors?
Wix Turbo Performance Features
Here’s a quick overview of the key Wix Turbo features that will power your website to warp speed:
- Instantly Visible Images: Forget the frustration of watching a page load images a fraction at a time – images and media will load almost immediately as previews, before loading the full media data.
- Server-Side CSS Layout Optimization: It’s a bit of a mouthful, but this just means your page layout is rendered in the server, automatically applying the latest CSS standards.
- Global Data Centers: Wix has data centers all over the world, and has added more to reach full global coverage. Your Wix site will always be served by the closest data center to each visitor, meaning the fastest possible load times.
- Reduced IFrames: The Wix team has rewritten its site viewer and reduced IFrame applications.
- Faster Animations: Animations are faster on both desktop and mobile, ensuring the full (and fast) package for all your visitors, no matter where they are.
2 Wix Speed Test Tool
Wix is giving your website the tools it needs for an epic boost in loading speed. But how do know it’s actually making a difference? Do you just have to sit back and take our word for it? The answer is, not at all!
They say that seeing is believing, and Wix knows this better than anyone. That’s why it’s releasing the Wix Speed Test Tool alongside Wix Turbo. This test checks your website as though it’s a regular visitor, giving you valuable insight into how people are actually experiencing your site.
You can find out how long your site takes to load, when it becomes visible in the browser, when animations and videos are ready to play, and when buttons, menus, and other interactive elements are clickable and ready to be used.
You might be wondering why you need this tool when there are others out there, such as the Google PageSpeed Insights tool.
Well, the Wix Speed Test Tool is specially designed to measure Wix websites, meaning you get much more accurate, insightful, and tailored results. It doesn’t just tell you when your site becomes visible, as Google PageSpeed Insights does, but when it actually becomes interactive.
These are the new and shiny upgrades Wix Turbo will be bringing to your website. But Wix has been optimizing your websites for high speed loading for a long time. These existing features will all combine with the new Turbo tools for supersonic site speeds.
3 What's Wix Already Doing to Maximize Performance?
Wix understands the importance of site speeds and top performance, and has done for some time In fact, it’s been doing an awful lot to make sure your visitors aren’t left tapping their toes waiting for your pages to load.
Uptime
Uptime is the percentage of time your website is up, online, and available to visitors.
Wix has stellar uptime, thanks to its range of features designed to keep your site running and connected to its users. This is where those global data centers really come into play. Other features include:
- Global Redundancy: Wix backs up your site data in multiple locations across the world, so in the unlikely event one server fails, your site won’t go down.
- Multi-cloud approach: By using more than one cloud service, Wix can avoid interruptions by automatically switching between them to keep your site running smoothly.
Security
Wix takes measures to give your site the highest level of security, protecting you and your visitors from being hacked. You don’t need to take up a virtual sword to protect your website – Wix will do it all for you.
These measures include:
- Multi-layer security against different types of attacks: Wix has got you covered from all angles, so you don’t need to worry about any being caught unawares.
- Automatic Wix updates: Wix carries out automatic security updates for all of its inhouse services and apps, meaning you don’t have to spend time updating, well, anything.
- SSL certificates for all Wix sites: Wix automatically includes SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) security for all its websites. That means your website will have “HTTPS” and the padlock symbol next to it when viewed in a browser, which shows visitors and search engines your site is secure and trustworthy.
SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is what helps your website rank higher up in Google search results.
- Index any site with Google: Wix has formed a partnership with Google, so you can connect to the Google Search Console and send a customized sitemap for Google to index – all in under 30 seconds! This makes it easier for Google to rank your website.
- Wix SEO Wiz: Wix’s SEO tool gives you a personalized action plan to follow! It’s super easy, and designed to push your website up through those search engine results.
- Easily customize your metadata: It only takes a few clicks to add headings, meta tags, alt-text, and more. This tells search engines like Google more about your page – again, making it easier to find and rank!
Further Information
Wix SEO Review: How to Rank with Wix – Want to know what we think of Wix SEO? Check out our in-depth guide to discover how your Wix website can climb to the top of search engine results.
Serverless Coding
For the technically gifted among you, Wix Code allows users to develop websites and web applications on a serverless platform, using free built-in databases.
You can write front-end or back-end code and build your own features, without worrying about security, managing updates, or buying a server yourself. It’s easy, smooth, and doesn’t cost you the world, giving you more time to focus on the things that matter!
4 Does Wix Turbo Need Installing?
No! If you’re using a recent version of Wix then these updates will apply automatically to your website, so you get all the benefits without any of the work!
However, if you’re using an older Wix element – including Old Online Store, Old Blog, or Old List Builder – then you’ll need to follow some simple steps to update to the latest versions and reap the rewards.
5 Wix Turbo: Our Verdict
As you’ve seen, Wix has been working hard for some time to maximize the performance of your website, with great uptime, top notch security, advanced SEO tools, and even coding options.
Wix Turbo will go that extra step to boost your website’s performance, and take loading speeds to the next level.
These existing features, combined the new Wix Turbo launch, will combine to create a powerful platform for your website. If you’re after lightning fast load speeds and long-term success, Wix is definitely proving it’s got the toolkit to make that happen. It’s a new way for Wix to house its key features in one place, helping to keep things clear and simple while improving performance. Not only that, it also shows Wix has the tools to evolve with the latest developments in the industry.
Wix Turbo was released on February 26th 2019, so make sure you say hello – and get ready to have your virtual socks blown off!
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