How to fix meta refresh on Wix
Remove or disable any `<meta http-equiv="refresh">` tag that automatically redirects or reloads the page in under 20 hours.
Steps for Wix
- Wix does not expose direct access to the HTML `<head>` of standard pages, but custom code can be injected via Settings → Custom Code (Wix Business & eCommerce plans) or via Wix Velo.
- Go to Settings → Custom Code and review all code snippets placed in the 'Head' section on any page or site-wide — delete any snippet containing 'http-equiv="refresh"'.
- If you use Wix Velo (Dev Mode), open the code panel and check masterPage.js and any page-specific .js files for programmatic meta-injection; remove or replace any `document.head` manipulation that adds a refresh tag.
- For URL redirects, use Settings → SEO → 301 Redirects (Wix native feature) instead.
- Note: Wix itself does not insert meta-refresh tags; if found, it was added through Custom Code or a third-party Wix App — check Wix App Market installs and review their settings.
<!-- REMOVE this tag entirely: -->
<!-- <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="10"> -->
<!-- <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=https://example.com/new-page"> -->
<!-- For URL redirects, use a server-side HTTP redirect instead.
In Apache (.htaccess): -->
<!-- Redirect 301 /old-page https://example.com/new-page -->
<!-- In Nginx: -->
<!-- return 301 https://example.com/new-page; -->What is meta refresh?
A `<meta http-equiv="refresh">` tag is a snippet of HTML code that can be placed in the `<head>` of a web page to automatically reload the current page — or send visitors to a different URL — after a set number of seconds. For example, `<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="10">` reloads the page every 10 seconds without the visitor doing anything. WCAG Success Criterion 2.2.1 (Timing Adjustable) requires that any such automatic time limit can be turned off, adjusted, or extended by the user — and a silent, instantaneous meta-refresh gives users no such control.
Automatic page refreshes are disorienting and actively harmful for users with cognitive disabilities, motor impairments, screen-reader users, and anyone who reads slowly or uses assistive technology — a sudden reload can interrupt a screen reader mid-sentence, lose a user's place on the page, or clear a partially filled form. This violates WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 2.2.1 at Level A — the most basic conformance tier — creating legal accessibility risk under laws like the ADA (US), EN 301 549 (EU), and the Equality Act (UK). Beyond accessibility, Google's crawlers and ranking signals also penalise pages that redirect or refresh unexpectedly, which can suppress your organic search rankings. Removing the tag costs nothing and immediately eliminates all of these risks.
See the complete Meta refresh guide for every platform and the full background.
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