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    5. Wix Stores: Migrating to the New Category Page Experience

Wix Stores: Migrating to the New Category Page Experience

12 min read
Important info for merchants with active stores:
  • To migrate without negatively impacting current SEO ranking, make sure you read and follow the steps below, especially Step 7 | Redirect old store pages and Step 8 | Delete old store pages.
  • Once you migrate to the new category page, you cannot switch back.
The new category page experience makes it easier to add new categories, while improving your site’s SEO. 
This article will walk you step-by-step through the process of updating your site to the new category page experience. Before you migrate, you can learn more about the new Category Page and the new version of categories in your site's dashboard.
Screenshot of the Wix category page in a sample site
Test before you migrate:
To test the new Category Page before you make a permanent switch, you can duplicate your site and make changes to the unpublished copy. Note that once you migrate your actual site, you cannot revert to the old version.

Step 1 | Add the new Category Page to your site

If you haven't yet started the process, the first step is to actually migrate over to the new version of categories, which comes with the new Category Page. 

To add the new Category Page

  1. Click Pages and Menu  on the left side of your editor.
  2. Click Store Pages.
  3. Click the Settings icon .
  4. Select Migrate to Category Page.
Screenshot of the Pages section of the Wix Editor, with the option to migrate to the new Category Page outlined
  1. Click Migrate to Category Page.
  2. Click I Understand, Install Now.

Step 2 | Hide "internal" categories from your site

When you migrate to the new experience, all your existing store categories become active. This means they'll become visible to customers who visit the Category Page (after you publish). 
Make sure to deactivate the categories you want to hide from your site. 
Tip:
You can also hide an active category from the Category Page settings (See step 3 below).

To deactivate (hide) categories:

  1. Go to Categories in your site's dashboard.
  2. Select a category you want to deactivate.
  3. Disable the Active on your site toggle.
  4. Repeat steps 2-3 for any other categories you want to deactivate.
Screenshot of Active on your Site toggle that appears on for each category in the dashboard
Tip:
To learn more about what happens to category when you deactivate it, check out the FAQ below.

Step 3 | Customize the category list in the Category Page

Now that you've deactivated categories you don't want to display anywhere, all your active categories appear in the Category Page sidebar.
Go to your editor to select the categories you want customers to see. You can also reorganize the categories into an order that makes sense for your store.
Screenshot of the Wix category page in a sample site with the sidebar outlined

To select and reorder categories:

  1. Click Pages and Menu on the left side of your editor.
  2. Click Store Pages.
  3. Click Category Page.
  4. Select the Category Page in your editor.
  5. Click Settings.
  6. Select the List tab.
  7. Select what you want to hide:
    • Hide the entire category list: Disable the Show category list toggle.
    • Hide individual categories: 
      1. Select Customize & reorder the list manually.
      2. Deselect the checkbox next to the category you want to hide.
  8. (Optional) Reorder categories by dragging and dropping them.
Screenshot of the List tab in the Category Page settings

Step 4 | Edit active categories

Make sure your active categories are all set to go live. The new version of product categories allows you to display a category image and a category description in the header. Additionally, category pages now have advanced SEO settings. 
Screenshot of the a sample header for a category in the Wix category page

To edit categories:

  1. Go to Categories in your site's dashboard.
  2. Select the first category you want to edit.
  3. Enter a category description.
  4. Add a category image. 
  5. Update any of the SEO category settings. 
  6. Repeat steps 2-5 for any other categories that will be active.
Notes:
  • Descriptions: Besides (optionally) appearing in the header, the first 160 characters of the category description are by default displayed in search engine results. You can override this by entering a separate description in the SEO settings.
  • Images: If you plan to display a header image on your site's category pages, make sure to upload good quality photos. The recommended aspect ratio is 16:9.

Step 5 | Customize the Category Page

Now you can head over to your editor to customize the look and function of your category page. This includes customizing or hiding the header, choosing colors and fonts, and much more.
Screenshot of the category page in a sample site

Step 6 | Update the site menu

It's important to update your site menu, so that you're directing customers to the new categories in the Category Page, and not to pages that you'll soon hide or delete. 
Note that the menu may look unchanged to site visitors, but it will connect differently behind the scenes.

To update the site menu:

  1. (Optional) Add individual categories to the site menu:
    1. Click Pages and Menuon the left side of your editor.
    2. Click Add Menu Item.
    3. Select Link.
Screenshot of Pages & Menu in the Wix Editor with the Add Menu Item button outlined
  1. Click Page on the left.
  2. Select Category Page from the Which Page? drop-down.
Screenshot of the screen where you can add a link to the site menu
  1. Select the category you want to display from the Which item? drop-down.
  2. Enter a name for the menu item.
  3. Click Done.
  4. (Optional) Create submenus.
  5. (Optional) Create sub-sub-menus.

Step 7 | Redirect old shop pages

Why it's important to do 301 redirects:
  • If you have an active site and customers are finding your store through Google and other search engines, 301 redirects help reduce potential negative impact to your SEO ranking.
  • With 301 redirects, existing links to your store pages will still work after you migrate. 
The new Category Page gives your store a professional appearance, but you want to make sure you don't lose the ranking that your store's existing pages already have when you migrate. 301 redirects prevent your links from breaking.
For search engines to understand that the new category pages replace the old ones, and for the old links and bookmarks to redirect visitors to the new ones, you need to do a 301 redirect for each relevant shop page. 
Before you start:

To redirect existing store pages to new category links:

  1. Publish your site.
    Note: You can only redirect to published pages.  
  2. Go to your SEO dashboard.
  3. Select URL Redirect Manager.
  4. Click + New Redirect. 
  5. Select Single redirect.
  6. Enter the URL of the first page.
  7. Enter the category URL for the same page (e.g. mystunningwebsite/category/nutrition).
    Note: To locate the URL, go to the category page on your live site, click the category from the category list, and copy the URL. 
  8. Repeat steps 4 - 7 for each relevant category.
Important:
Once you complete the 301 redirects, make sure you delete unnecessary pages, so your site won't have duplicate content.

Step 8 | Delete old store pages

In your original shop, before you added the Category Page, Product Galleries could be displayed in 2 ways:
  • Shop pages: Shop pages are pages with a built-in Product Gallery. They have a Shopping Cart icon beside their name. You should delete or hide these pages.
    Screenshot of site menu with icon next to shop page outlined
  • Regular site pages: Store products may be displayed on any regular page to which you added a gallery. You may want to leave these live if the page contains other content along with a gallery. Alternatively, you can remove the Product Gallery from the page.

To delete site pages:

  1. Delete all but one of your shop pages to remove them from the site menu.
Important:
Do not delete the last shop page as this will delete Wix Stores. You can hide the last old shop page instead of deleting it.
  1. Hide the last shop page (so it won't be visible, but Wix Stores won't be deleted).
  2. (Optional) Remove Product Galleries from other site pages:
    • Remove Product Galleries from pages you want to keep:
      1. Click the Product Gallery to select it.
      2. Press Delete on your keyboard.
    • Delete pages that have Product Galleries on them.

FAQs

Click a question below to learn more about the new category page experience.

Did this help?

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In this article
  • Step 1 | Add the new Category Page to your site
  • Step 2 | Hide "internal" categories from your site
  • Step 3 | Customize the category list in the Category Page
  • Step 4 | Edit active categories
  • Step 5 | Customize the Category Page
  • Step 6 | Update the site menu
  • Step 7 | Redirect old shop pages
  • Step 8 | Delete old store pages
  • FAQs

Related content

Wix Stores: SEO for Category Pages
Wix Stores: About the Category Page
Wix Stores: About Product Categories

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