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Site Search for Wix – First-Time Sync, “Site sync in progress”, and Common Setup Fixes

Ed Mellone
  • Updated

TL;DR – Quick Checklist

If you see the yellow “Site sync in progress…” banner (screenshot recommended here):

  1. Publish your site in Wix (Editor → Publish).
  2. Unhide from search engines (Dashboard → Settings → SEO → uncheck Hide this site from search engines).
  3. Remove site password (Dashboard → Settings → Privacy → turn off password protection).
  4. Open the Site Search app → click Sync (or Re-Sync) and keep the tab open.
  5. Wait for indexing to complete (see timelines below).
  6. (Optional) Configure Out-of-Stock handling to hide or demote OOS products.
  7. Still stuck? Grab logs & details and contact our support (how-to below).

What the yellow banner means

When you install or reconfigure Site Search on Wix, a first-time catalog sync and index runs. During this period, your search page may show a yellow banner:

Site sync is in progress… If you continue to have issues after a few minutes, please verify:
• Site is Published
• Site is not Hidden from Search Engines
• Site is not Password Protected

(Add the screenshot with those three bullets here.)

Expected timelines

  • Small catalogs: a few minutes
  • Medium/Large catalogs (many variants/images): up to ~60 minutes
  • Very large or image-heavy catalogs can take longer

If the banner persists over 2 hours for <10k products, or over 6 hours for large catalogs, follow the troubleshooting below.

Step-by-step: complete the first sync

  1. Confirm Wix prerequisites
    • Publish: Wix Editor → Publish
    • SEO visibility: Dashboard → Settings → SEO → uncheck Hide this site from search engines
    • Privacy: Dashboard → Settings → Privacy → turn off Password protection
      (You can re-enable password protection after the initial index—contact us for best practices.)
  2. Permissions
    • In Wix → Apps → Site Search, make sure you accepted all requested permissions.
  3. Run/Re-run the sync
    • Open the Site Search app in Wix → click Sync or Re-Sync.
    • Keep the browser tab open until you see Sync completed.
  4. Verify results
    • Test search in a private/incognito window.
    • If you changed inventory or visibility recently, allow a few minutes to propagate.

Search shows Out-of-Stock (OOS) products—how to hide or demote

You can choose to hide OOS items entirely or demote them below in-stock items:

  1. Site Search → Settings → Merchandising / Inventory
  2. Select Hide OOS
  3. Save, then Re-Sync if prompted
  4. Test again in a private/incognito window

Tip: If you use variants (sizes/colors), ensure inventory is accurate at the variant level in Wix.

Common reasons the sync appears “stuck”

  • Site isn’t Published in Wix
  • Hidden from search engines is enabled
  • Password protection is still on
  • Catalog sync interrupted / tab closed / permissions not granted
  • Extremely large catalogs still indexing (give it more time)

Fix: Re-check the Quick Checklist, re-run Sync, keep the tab open, then test in a private window.

What to send Support if issues remain

Please include all of the following so we can help fast:

  • Store URL and Wix Site ID (if known)
  • Catalog size (approx. number of products/variants)
  • Time window you attempted the sync (with timezone)
  • Screenshots of the yellow banner and any error you see
  • Whether the site is Published, Not hidden from search engines, and Not password protected
  • Whether you changed OOS settings (Hide/Demote)

Official support & documentation

 

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