There is more to search engine optimization (SEO) than just loading up your content with as many keywords and metadata as possible. The swiftness and effectiveness of a website might have an effect on its position in search engine results. Google will not include a website in its top search results if it has a slow loading speed since users would have a poor experience while visiting the site.
In this post, we’ll go into how the themes you choose might impact the search engine optimization rating of your website. You may be curious about which SEO-friendly WordPress theme is the best. We will provide six premium, search engine optimization (SEO) ready themes in a range of pricing tiers. Last but not least, we will propose two top-tier SEO plugins, one of which is free and the other of which costs money.
Let”s begin!
How Does the Theme You Use for WordPress Affect Your Website’s SEO Performance?
If you utilize a page builder on top of a theme that is already heavy, the negative impacts will be amplified. Your website will run more slowly and will be more prone to breaking if you use a page builder since it will load even more CSS and Javascript.
Accessibility and responsiveness issues are two more aspects of your theme that might work against you in the search results and push you farther down the page.
In 2021, the mobile-first design will be the norm for web development, but you might be using an older theme that isn’t entirely responsive. If this is the case, you should consider switching. Your ranking may suffer as a result of this since search engines place a high value on usability, which sites that are not responsive to users’ devices are unable to provide.
Because there is an interaction between SEO and accessibility, inaccessibility might have a negative impact on the results that you get from your SEO efforts. What’s excellent for accessibility is also good for usability in general and makes the job of robots that crawl the web for search results simpler.
Users who depend on screen readers, for example, will find it difficult to browse a website if it has links that go nowhere and photos that do not include alternate text. Additionally, it prohibits the crawlers used by search engines from comprehending the context of a picture or link.
Now that we’ve discussed how a WordPress theme may have an effect on your SEO, let’s have a look at the considerations you need to make in order to choose the most appropriate WordPress theme for search engine optimization.
How to Choose the Best SEO WordPress Theme for You?
In light of everything we’ve discussed, the SEO WordPress theme you choose ought to be user-friendly, responsive, and lightweight.
The manner in which material is organized within the theme is yet another essential component of accessibility. According to Google’s recommendations, each page should include a few H2 and H3 tags, but only one H1 tag (the page’s primary title). This ensures that the information is readable, well-organized, and straightforward to browse. The H1, H2, and H3 tags each supply the search engine crawlers with information that helps them understand the content of the page they are crawling.
A theme that has a hero section that is an automated slideshow with many titles may have several H1s if the coding for this part is not done properly. As a result, topics of this kind could be harmful to your website’s search engine optimization.
6 SEO-Friendly WordPress Themes
Let’s take a look at six tried-and-true SEO WordPress themes that you really want to test out right now.
A WordPress theme that is both versatile and search engine optimized (SEO) friendly.
- Divi
Elegant Themes’ Divi is a high-performance, versatile theme that may be used in a variety of situations. Users are able to construct nearly any kind of website without having to write any code thanks to the many customization possibilities provided by multipurpose themes. Themes that may be used for a variety of purposes are often referred to as frameworks rather than themes.
Because it already has SEO optimization built-in, Divi is an excellent choice for non-developers who want to guarantee that their websites rank well in search engines.
- Genesis Pro
It is an SEO-friendly design framework developed by StudioPress. Genesis Pro, offered by StudioPress, is not only a WordPress theme but rather more of a framework. It has a striking resemblance to Divi in a number of respects. It enables non-coders to modify their website in a streamlined and visually appealing manner.
It was designed in a way that ensured it adhered to coding best practices and included data that was formatted using the Schema.org notation, which makes it exceptionally simple for search engines to comprehend. In addition to this, it is more lightweight than Divi, and it has the Yoast SEO plugin, which results in superior SEO performance.
- Neve
It is a simple search engine optimization theme that you should not pass over.
Neve, created by Theme Isle, is an easy-to-use theme that comes with AMP capability already built-in. Accelerated Mobile Pages is the architecture that Google uses to provide content that is optimized for mobile devices. If you use Neve for your website, then the pages on your site will automatically be rendered into slimmer and more mobile-friendly versions.
Neve has a default weight of just 28KB right out of the box. The Google Lighthouse score that the demo site receives is a perfect 100 out of 100.
- Generatepress
Is GeneratePress the finest WordPress theme for search engine optimization (SEO)?
When it comes to speed, GeneratePress is unmatched. It weighs just 10KB, adheres to the accessibility guidelines established by WCAG 2.0, and makes no use of any JavaScript dependencies. GeneratePress precisely follows the instructions for the SEO formula.
The fact that both its free and premium versions may be quite limiting for users who are not proficient in coding is the most important disadvantage it has. The theme does not have any drag-and-drop capabilities for the design process. To compensate for this shortcoming, GeneratePress is compatible with almost all of the available page builders. Additionally, it always functions faultlessly with the most recent version of Gutenberg since it receives consistent upgrades.
- Shapely
It is a free SEO theme that is compatible with a wide range of plugins.
Shapely by Colorlib is one of the most powerful free WordPress themes available, and it offers complete support for a large variety of plugins. Some of these plugins include WooCommerce, Yoast SEO, and Google Analytics.
When compared to Genesis or Divi, the customization options for the Shapely theme are not nearly as extensive, and the theme does not support drag-and-drop functionality. However, the fact that it is compatible with a wide variety of platforms makes it a great basis for a site builder. The theme loads quickly enough for mobile networks and gets a Lighthouse SEO score of 83 despite not having any plugins installed.
Because of this, Shapely is an above-average free theme, and it is an excellent choice for online projects that have a limited budget.
- Webify
Webify is a modular WordPress theme that has won several awards. It is included a large number of shortcodes that make it simple for users to develop many types of website features, such as accordions, price tables, and contact forms. In addition, Webify has a drag-and-drop interface for the customizing process.
However, this will not slow down the performance of your website. Pingdom reports that the sample pages for Webify load in only 2.87 seconds, making this theme exceptionally quick to load, especially when one considers the amount of flexibility it provides.
Improving Your SEO With Plugins
An SEO WordPress theme alone won’t make your website rank first on search engines. SEO is a constant process of link building, strategic keyword usage, and website optimization, but choosing the right theme can undoubtedly make it easier to adhere to SEO best practices.
If you’re committed to optimizing your website, you should install an SEO plugin. Let’s take a look at two widely used options:
Yoast is a free plugin that makes it possible to optimize your content from your WordPress dashboard directly. It comes with various tools, such as automated canonical URLs and meta tags, advanced XML sitemaps to simplify your site structure, and more. You can download it for free from WordPress’s plugins directory or purchase a Premium subscription. The premium plan expands the plugin’s functionalities and includes email support.
All-in-One SEO is a paid plugin. It’s straightforward to use and packed with tools that boost your website’s search engine performance. It seamlessly integrates with WooCommerce, generates XML sitemaps, and comes with an efficient title and meta description manager.
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