Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which is a complex process, is influenced by many factors. From content quality and SEO keyword analysis to backlinks, readability, and more, it can be difficult to determine what changes had the greatest impact on your ranking.
Even the smallest update can affect the ranking of your website. While a visually appealing theme may sound appealing, business owners should be aware that their choice of WordPress theme can affect SEO and orders negatively or positively.
WordPress Themes and SEO
You can choose between two versions: a hosted version, WordPress.com, and a “content management system,” WordPress.org. You can either download or install the latter through your web host.
The advice is the same for both small business owners and website publishers.
It is used to build a website consisting of articles and web pages (blog posts). This is the most popular and easiest website content management (CMS) system in the world, powering almost half the web.
WordPress is the content management system of choice for 63.1% of websites. This is 43.2%.
WordPress is a versatile platform that offers many features to your business. You can use it as a blog, an e-commerce site, a music streaming website, a portfolio, a social network, or a news platform.
Themes are responsible for the visual side of WordPress. You can download or purchase templates to use on your site.
A large number of themes are available due to the success of WordPress and its community. Due to negligence or malicious intent, you cannot trust all vendors with your money and your website.
How themes impact SEO (search engine optimization) and rankings
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of influencing how search engines rate and rank websites and content.
Rankings are the positions of your pages on search engine results pages (SERPs) when someone searches for certain phrases or keywords. Each website publisher creates a list with keywords they want to rank well for. They then track their ranking and report.
If you want people to click through and buy your “red widgets,” you need to have a high-ranking page in the search results.
Search engine algorithms will reward SEO experts and writers who create high-quality content.
It will increase the number of people who interact with your brand and visit their website. They can generate more subscribers and a larger following if they master search engine optimization.
You should know that SEO terms and regulations are constantly changing, and professionals must always be on their toes.
Keywords were once the primary concern for SEO. They determined what kind of content was produced by writers to attract more readers and customers. Today, other factors influence SEO rankings. These include content length, backlinks, and catchy titles.
Search engines began to pay attention to templates and themes when user experience became a priority.
Firstly, themes that were designed to be mobile-friendly did not adapt well. Google has taken a stance that every website must provide an excellent experience regardless of what device is being used to view your content.
Here are some more features of your WordPress theme that may affect your ranking in search engines.
Theme Readability
Text and high-resolution (“retina”) graphics that look great on desktops may appear cluttered and disorganized when viewed via mobile devices. This can negatively impact readability and load speed.
Google tracks how many times users leave a site and choose an alternative with a better experience.
Select SEO-optimized WordPress Themes that are also “responsive” designed, meaning they will respond to whatever device or browser the visitor is using. They will optimize the layouts of the pages accordingly.
Translation readiness is another factor that many WordPress developers overlook when it comes to readability. There are many more writers and users than English speakers, so the ability to translate your copy into other languages and formats (e.g., Right to Left (RTL) format is an important tool for reaching a worldwide audience.
Learn how to get more traffic, leads, and sales from Google. This WordPress SEO course will teach you how to create optimized content that Google appreciates so you can rank higher and convert more visitors into sales.
Themes and page loading speed
Page speed is more than just your web server’s performance. While some themes look great, they take longer to load. Google will choose the page that loads faster if it has to choose between two pages of equal content.
A website that loads quickly is important for the user’s experience. Studies show that even a delay of 100ms can result in a loss of 1%.
The “parallax style” homepages, which were popular among startups, may have a wow factor, but they are only used to gain digital marketing awards. They slow down your website or stop Google from selecting the most relevant content in search results.
In order to avoid this, you need to optimize your pages from top to bottom. This includes the styling (CSS), typography, and the way that changes made to the customizer appear in the browser. Your choice of WordPress theme will have a significant impact on your performance.
The Impact of Theme on Search Engine Crawling & Indexing
When search engines visit your website, they may be confused by the WordPress theme you have chosen.
Search engines are still looking for a clean, efficient, and error-free website.
Search engines may not display your content in the search results if they find it difficult to understand. This will, of course, have a serious impact on your rankings in search engines and how many visitors you receive.
If you cannot find a WordPress theme provider with a track record of success in this field, then consult a professional developer or SEO specialist before changing themes.
Does Your theme work well with WordPress plugins?
A large user base has led to a number of popular WordPress plugins which provide extra functionality and customization.
WordPress began as a simple but customizable content-management system mainly used for blogging. However, over time, its ecosystem has evolved to become truly multipurpose, from Woo Commerce for ecommerce stores to drag-and-drop page builders to some of the most powerful SEO tools to optimize your website for search engines.
It is important to consider compatibility when choosing a theme with a large number of customization options. Not all WordPress themes are compatible, not even the most popular premium themes.
You don’t want to have your SEO plugin and your SEO-friendly WordPress themes fighting over who gets to control the technical output of your page templates. Yoast is a popular WordPress SEO plugin that can take care of data formatting or “schema markup” and what you want to put into the “headers” of your website.
Bloggers will also find that popular WordPress themes, such as Genesis Framework child themes, have options for how their WordPress website appears on social media. (For example, you can use your featured image in the thumbnail of social sharing). Social media, while not SEO in itself, can help to increase traffic and links.