No-code website builder Wix is boosting its bundle. Specifically, it’s going deeper into paid search, with the help of Google. Its recently-launched ‘Google Ads with Wix’ lets its website customers create Google search ad campaigns right within the Wix platform. This carries a certain one-stop-shop appeal.
This notably isn’t Wix’s first jump into search marketing. As we covered back in February, Wix launched an SEO dashboard, meant to connect the dots between SMBs’ website management and their search rankings performance. With the addition of integrated search ads, it has more bases covered.
The thought behind both moves is that websites and search marketing go hand-in-hand. So offering search marketing directly to its website customers gives them an easy onramp to SEM and SEO. This can be especially appealing to SMBs that are otherwise intimidated to initiate search marketing on their own.
“The integration eliminates barriers,” Wix head of user marketing, Kobi Gamliel told Localogy Insider this week. “[It] simplifies access to creating and managing targeted paid campaigns to effectively reach potential customers who are actively seeking their services and products.”
Timely Pairing
So how does this look from a UX perspective? Wix users can launch and manage Google Ads campaigns from a new module within the Wix dashboard. This involves a Wix-stylized and modified version of Google’s own ads management dashboard, meant to align with Wix no-code design language.
As for functionality, users can do things like customize their ad settings, create ad content, and set budgets – all fairly standard stuff in terms of Google Ads features. Naturally, there are also analytics and ROI metrics that users can view – before or during campaigns – within the same dashboard.
Aligned with Wix’s no-code design philosophies noted above, Google continues to naturally move in a similar direction – making this a timely pairing. This includes content and keyword suggestions, now powered by generative AI as we examined yesterday. And all the above is already having and impact.
“We are thrilled with the results Wix users have achieved since the introduction of our native integration with Google Ads,” said Gamliel. “Businesses can greatly enhance brand visibility and drive meaningful conversions.”
Presence and Promotion
Backing up, this move represents a key trend we’re tracking in the world of website builders. Expanding the bundle of offerings accomplishes a few strategic goals for competitors in this sector. For one, it can be a retention hook. Serving SMBs on deeper and broader levels can reinforce ROI and lower churn.
This is especially true with functions that are complementary to websites, such as social media, CRM, and search marketing. In fact, websites can be the tip of the spear for adjacent services that SMBs grow into. After step 1 – establishing web presence – many needs follow as presence evolves into promotion.
In that sense, expanding the bundle is also classic ARPU play. One sequence seen in the website world over the past decade is that competitive forces led to “race to the bottom” pricing for a core revenue stream: hosting. Now hosting is more of an onramp to the higher-margin offerings noted above.
For that reason, we expect to continue seeing Wix and others make moves to beef up the bundle. This sits alongside Wix’s ongoing product roadmap to make website creation more frictionless and SMB-friendly. The latter has been one of its strengths from the beginning, and an ongoing North Star.
