You can't change the template of a Wix site you've already created. Wix says so in its own help center. You have two real options: restyle the current site (Site Design in the Wix Editor, or the Brand panel in Wix Harmony), or create a new site from the template you want, copy your pages across, then reassign your Premium plan and domain to it. The plan and domain move takes a couple of minutes; rebuilding the pages is where the time goes.
This guide covers both routes with the exact menus, what moves to the new site and what doesn't, and the SEO steps that stop a redesign from wiping out your Google traffic.
Key takeaways
- Wix has no button to swap templates on an existing site. The official workaround is a new site plus reassigning your Premium plan and domain.
- If you only want a new look, change the theme instead: Site Design → Change Theme in the Wix Editor, or Brand in Wix Harmony. Your content and URLs stay put.
- Pages and elements copy across between Wix Editor sites, but headers, footers, Wix Stores, Bookings, third-party apps and code don't.
- SEO settings, analytics and tracking tools don't transfer with the plan. Write down every URL, SEO title and description before you switch.
- Keep the old URL slugs on the new site. For any URL that changes, add a 301 in SEO & GEO → Tools and settings → URL Redirect Manager.
Can you change your Wix template?
Not on the same site. Once a site exists, its template is fixed, and Wix has an open feature request for switching templates with content that it hasn't built. What you can do is create as many sites as you like in one Wix account, so "changing the template" really means building a second site and moving your plan and domain to it. Your old site stays in your account, untouched, until you delete it.
The same rule applies between editors. The Wix Editor, the Studio Editor (Wix Studio) and the newer Wix Harmony editor are separate platforms, and a site built in one can't be moved into another.
Before you rebuild anything, decide which of these you actually need:
| What you want | Best route | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| New colors, fonts, backgrounds | Restyle the current site (Site Design or Brand panel) | Minutes |
| New layout on a few pages | Add new sections and rearrange in the current site | Hours |
| A completely different template | New site, copy content, move plan and domain | A day to a week, depending on page count |
| More design or CMS power | Rebuild in Wix Studio, or another platform | Days to weeks |
Option 1: Change the look without changing the template
Most "I want a new template" requests are really "I want my site to look different". Wix can do a lot of that on the existing site, with zero risk to your URLs or rankings.
In the Wix Editor: click Site Design on the left of the editor, then Change Theme. Click through the suggested themes, then fine-tune Colors and Text. Elements that use the theme update everywhere at once. The same panel sets page backgrounds and page transitions (Wix's guide).
In Wix Harmony: click Brand at the top of the editor to change the color palette (Change Palette), text styles, and the styles for boxes, buttons and lines across the site (Wix's guide). Harmony's AI assistant, Aria, can also generate new designs for a section if you ask it to.
To change the layout of a page (the "how to change Wix layout" question): add new sections from the Add Elements panel or from other templates, then delete the old ones. In the Wix Editor you can save any section you like to My Designs and reuse it on any of your sites, including sections you copy out of a template you're previewing.
If the restyle gets you 80% of the way, stop there. You keep every URL, every backlink and all your Wix settings.
Option 2: Switch to a new Wix template, step by step
When you really need a different template, this is the order that keeps your site live the whole time. These menus are from Wix's help center as of October 2026.
- 1
Record what you have now
List every URL on the current site (your sitemap at yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml lists them), plus each page's SEO title and meta description. Export your top pages from Google Search Console too. Wix says SEO settings, analytics and tracking tools don't transfer to the new site, so this list is your only record. - 2
Create a site from the new template
Sign in, open the Wix templates page, pick a category, hover over a template and click Edit. Pick the same editor type you want to stay on: Wix Editor, Studio or Harmony sites can't be moved between editors later. - 3
Copy pages and elements across
In the old site's Wix Editor, open Menus & Pages, right-click a page and click Copy. In the new site's editor, right-click and choose Paste, or Paste & Apply Site Theme (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + V) to adopt the new template's colors and fonts. Single elements copy the same way. Studio Editor sites can't copy whole pages; save sections as design assets instead. - 4
Bring over media, blog posts and products
Media: every site in your account can reach the old site's files under Site Files in the Media Manager. Blog: in the new site go to Blog → More Actions → Import posts → Wix and pick the old site (published posts only, up to 5,000; comments and members don't come across). Store: products can't be transferred, so export your product list as CSV and import it into the new store. - 5
Rebuild what doesn't copy
Headers and footers, third-party apps, Wix Stores, Bookings and Restaurants, datasets and CMS collections, page code and the Pro Gallery all need to be set up again on the new site. - 6
Match URLs and SEO settings
Give each page the same URL slug it had before, and paste back its SEO title and description from step 1. Re-add your Google Search Console verification and tracking codes. - 7
Move your Premium plan, then your domain
Publish the new site. Then go to Premium Subscriptions in your Wix account, click More Actions next to the plan, choose Assign to a Different Site, select the new site and confirm. Then go to Domains, click Domain Actions → Assign to a different site. Premium features leave the old site the moment the plan moves. - 8
Redirect anything that changed
For any URL you couldn't keep, open SEO & GEO → Tools and settings → URL Redirect Manager in the new site's dashboard and add a 301 from the old path to the new one. Redirects only work on a custom domain.
Two notes on the plan move. A Wix Premium plan can't go straight onto a Wix Studio site: Wix requires an upgrade to a Studio plan. And Wix only lets you upgrade to plans with more features, not swap sideways, so price the Studio plan before you start building on Studio.
What transfers to the new site and what doesn't
From Wix's own switching guide, its copy-and-paste rules and its plan reassignment notes:
| Item | Transfers? | How |
|---|---|---|
| Premium plan and domain | Yes | Reassign in your Wix account (a couple of minutes) |
| Pages and most elements (Wix Editor) | Yes | Copy and paste between editors |
| Media files | Yes | Media Manager → Site Files |
| Blog posts | Yes | Blog → Import posts (published posts only) |
| Business email | Yes | Follow Wix's business email transfer steps |
| Uploaded fonts | Yes | Appear in the new site's font list |
| Headers and footers | No | Rebuild |
| Wix Stores products | Not directly | Export the product CSV, then import it |
| Bookings, Restaurants, Video, Invoices | No | Rebuild |
| Contacts, site members, Inbox messages | No | Rebuild or re-import where possible |
| Premium and third-party apps, marketing integrations | No | Reinstall and reconnect |
| SEO settings, analytics and tracking tools | No | Re-enter from your notes |
A shortcut for online stores: Wix's suggested workaround is to duplicate the site (Dashboard → Home → Site Actions → Duplicate Site), which copies your product list and categories, and then redesign the copy. It doesn't give you a different template, but it's the fastest way to redesign a store without re-importing products. Payment methods, shipping rules and tax settings still need setting up again.
How to change your Wix template without losing SEO
Google doesn't care which template you use. It cares whether the same URLs still return the same (or better) content. A template switch hurts rankings when URLs change without redirects, when SEO titles reset to defaults, or when pages that earned traffic quietly disappear in the rebuild. Wix's own advice is to publish the new site, update your SEO settings, and set up 301 redirects from the old URLs.
Tick through this before and after you move the domain:
Interactive checklist
Wix template switch: SEO checklist
0/14
Before you build
0/4Before you move the domain
0/5After you move the domain
0/5Your progress is saved in this browser, so you can come back to it later.
If rankings drop after the switch, check Search Console's Pages report first: the usual cause is a set of old URLs now returning 404. Our guides to fixing broken links and Wix SEO settings cover the clean-up, and if you used custom structured data on the old site, re-add it with our Wix schema markup guide.
Wix Editor, Wix Studio or Wix Harmony: which editor should the new template use?
If you're rebuilding anyway, this is the one moment you can change editors, because sites can't be moved between them later.
| Wix Editor | Wix Studio | Wix Harmony | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built for | Small business owners | Designers and agencies | New sites, with built-in AI help |
| Copy whole pages from another site | Yes (Editor to Editor) | No, save sections as design assets | Not documented |
| Responsive layout | Separate mobile editor | Breakpoints you control | Automatic, with a mobile view to fine-tune |
| Move the site to another editor later | No | No | No |
Wix Studio is the bigger jump; our Wix Studio vs Webflow comparison explains what it adds for designers. If a redesign has you questioning Wix itself, read Webflow vs Wix and our best CMS for SEO comparison before you commit to another rebuild.
Is a new template worth it?
A new template rarely moves rankings on its own. What moves them is the content on the pages and how often you add more. In Outrank's study of 2,119 sites, 92% of the 48 Wix sites grew their Google clicks after they started publishing with Outrank, the highest share of any CMS in the study, with no redesign involved.
So if your site looks dated, restyle it or rebuild it. If it's invisible on Google, a new template won't fix that, but a steady flow of articles will. Outrank's Wix integration publishes a researched, internally linked article to your Wix blog every day. If you do switch sites, reconnect any publishing integration to the new site before you move the domain: app connections don't carry over.
FAQ
Can I change my Wix template after publishing my site?
No. Wix doesn't let you switch templates on a site you've already created, published or not. Create a new site with the template you want, copy your pages across, then reassign your Premium plan and domain to the new site.
How do I change my Wix template without losing content?
Keep the old site until the new one is finished. Copy pages and elements from the old Wix Editor site, import blog posts with Blog → Import posts, and reuse media from the Media Manager's Site Files. Your old site stays in your account until you delete it, so nothing is lost while you rebuild.
Will changing my Wix template affect SEO?
It can if URLs, SEO titles or pages change. Wix's SEO settings don't transfer to the new site, so re-enter titles and descriptions, keep the same URL slugs, and add 301 redirects in the URL Redirect Manager for any URL that changes. Done that way, a template switch is neutral for rankings.
How do I change the layout of my Wix site without a new template?
Use Site Design → Change Theme in the Wix Editor (or the Brand panel in Wix Harmony) for colors and fonts, and replace sections from the Add Elements panel to change page layouts. Your URLs and SEO settings stay untouched.
Can I move my Wix site from the Wix Editor to Wix Studio?
No. The Wix Editor, Wix Studio and Wix Harmony are separate platforms, and sites can't be transferred between them. To switch, build a new site in Wix Studio and reassign your domain; moving a Premium plan to a Studio site requires upgrading to a Studio plan.
Does my domain transfer to the new Wix site?
Yes. Publish the new site, then go to Domains in your Wix account, click Domain Actions and choose Assign to a different site. Move your Premium plan first, because a custom domain only connects to a site with a plan.
