Artisteer Wordpress template SEO issues

[mmoconnor]

I know that Artisteer is supposed to be "not great" for Wordpress SEO but I am wondering EXACTLY how not great is it. Is it really terrible or just OK or is it pretty good?

I have Artisteer and I like it but I often wonder if I am shooting myself in the foot by using these templates.

Can anyone give a not too technical but solid critique of the SEO (SEO only) aspect of Artisteer for Wordpress templates?

Here's another question: Artisteer 2 is supposed to be better SEO-wise than Artisteer 1. So if you take an artx file that was created with Artisteer 1 and run it through Artisteer 2 does that bring the template up to version 2 standards?

Also, are there some simple fixes for the seo problems in the Artisteer templates? The kind of things that could be done by a non-coder who is comfortable editing templates?

Thanks so much for your help!

[YiKeS]

Originally Posted by mmoconnor

I know that Artisteer is supposed to be "not great" for Wordpress SEO but I am wondering EXACTLY how not great is it. Is it really terrible or just OK or is it pretty good?

I have Artisteer and I like it but I often wonder if I am shooting myself in the foot by using these templates.

Can anyone give a not too technical but solid critique of the SEO (SEO only) aspect of Artisteer for Wordpress templates?

Here's another question: Artisteer 2 is supposed to be better SEO-wise than Artisteer 1. So if you take an artx file that was created with Artisteer 1 and run it through Artisteer 2 does that bring the template up to version 2 standards?

Also, are there some simple fixes for the seo problems in the Artisteer templates? The kind of things that could be done by a non-coder who is comfortable editing templates?

Thanks so much for your help!

G`day,

Artisteer has a forum for this, I suggest you head
over there for the best answers. Can you explain
why Artisteer is "not great for WP SEO"?

The output can be quickly tweaked to achieve
valid xhtml 1.0 and valid css ... you`ll likely need
to learn a bit tho ... Artisteer creates the base
for you to work with.

Saves many hours but it still takes quite some time
to produce something good ... best to take the time
to learn "coding" to take full advantage of the tool.

*EDIT* Open your Artx v1 Project in v2 ... if
the "compatability feature" works it will update
the Theme/Template.


YiKeS

[mmoconnor]

Originally Posted by YiKeS

G`day,

Artisteer has a forum for this, I suggest you head
over there for the best answers. Can you explain
why Artisteer is "not great for WP SEO"?

The output can be quickly tweaked to achieve
valid xhtml 1.0 and valid css ... you`ll likely need
to learn a bit tho ... Artisteer creates the base
for you to work with.

Saves many hours but it still takes quite some time
to produce something good ... best to take the time
to learn "coding" to take full advantage of the tool.

*EDIT* Open your Artx v1 Project in v2 ... if
the "compatability feature" works it will update
the Theme/Template.


YiKeS

Thank you for your quick reply!

The Artisteer forum attracts designers not coders (that's the whole point of Artisteer) so they haven't been very helpful with these kinds of questions.

I cannot explain why Artisteer is not great for SEO. I have read that opinion but I don't understand what is behind it. That is exactly why I am asking here.

I am really trying to get away from attempting to learn everything. It would not be cost effective for me to put that kind of time into this minor part of my business.

[Craig Desorcy]

The themes are not bad for SEO.

Just pop in "the all in one SEO plugin" and you'll be good to go.

After installing the plugin, I'd focus my SEO affects on "off page" factors and get on with working whatever market you're in.

Craig

[YiKeS]

Originally Posted by mmoconnor

Thank you for your quick reply!

The Artisteer forum attracts designers not coders (that's the whole point of Artisteer) so they haven't been very helpful with these kinds of questions.

I cannot explain why Artisteer is not great for SEO. I have read that opinion but I don't understand what is behind it. That is exactly why I am asking here.

I am really trying to get away from attempting to learn everything. It would not be cost effective for me to put that kind of time into this minor part of my business.

I`m sorry ... how do you expect to design (with Artisteer) without
having some level of coding experience? As I said, it`s best to learn
coding to take full advantage of the tool ... would you want to
outsource what needs to be done if it`s not much?

I wouldn`t worry about the SEO concerns ... if you cannot explain
... how can you expect anyone to answer ... there is also a group
trying to discredit Artisteer and the opinion you "read" sounds like
coming from that.

Validate the Theme/Template at W3C and you
will be fine. PM me if you need help with it.


YiKeS

[ehicks727]

Originally Posted by mmoconnor

I know that Artisteer is supposed to be "not great" for Wordpress SEO but I am wondering EXACTLY how not great is it. Is it really terrible or just OK or is it pretty good?

If you give me the website URL, I might take a look at it for you.

[WillDee]

If you use the all in one SEO plugin Craig mentioned, you'll definitely be ok. I have three sites running with artisteer templates and SEO and they're indexed and perform fairly well.

[mmoconnor]

Originally Posted by Craig Desorcy

The themes are not bad for SEO.

Just pop in "the all in one SEO plugin" and you'll be good to go.

After installing the plugin, I'd focus my SEO affects on "off page" factors and get on with working whatever market you're in.

Craig

Thanks! I feel better about it now. I just wasn't sure and didn't know how to check. I hoped that might be the case and wasn't too worried because I could see some of my blogs very high in google. I appreciate your advice.

[Kurt]

SEO is far more dependant on the person (you) than the program (Artisteer).

[Quentin]

The question is where did you hear it as there is so much rubbish going around that unless it can be varified it is still just that rubbish.

Usually you will find these comments coming from web designers as they are loosing work because we can do just as good if not better than them now designing themes and tweaking them the way we want rather than depending on them.

In the end SEO is more about content and other factors rather than a theme so keep that in mind. I have been using it for a while and my sites have not suffered. Still getting lots of traffic and ranking well.

Quentin

[ehicks727]

One of the biggest problem with Wordpress templates is its mis-use of content hierarchy.

For instance, by default, most themes put the blog name in an H1 tag, which is a complete waste of an H1. Further, widget headings, like "Recent Posts" are placed into an H2 tag... another waste.

This is why I have settled on using the Thesis theme for everything now. This is the only theme that I've found that addresses all these issues.

I think I could argue that Thesis is the absolute best theme you can get if you are SEO minded, and care about the little things with your site.

[gareth]

Wordpress SEO is all about the plugins.

[Steve Crooks]

I don't know where you heard that about Artisteer but I have 3 blogs with some rough and ready themes created from artisteer version 1 and they are all ranking for some reasonably competitive keywords in the top 10 of Google.

[GeorgR.]

i am ranking #1 and #2 for some of my sites where i made custom designs with artisteer. The difference is that thesis theme etc. is nice because you dont need a SEo plugin - but with artisteer just use "all-in-one SEO" plugin and you are set.

I love thesis but i feel so limited sometimes...its very nice for informative and "bland" sites like financial and insurance....but if i want something nice and colorful Artisteer is just great for designing.

[Goatboy]

I have 5 sites of my own and 1 of my wife's that are all operating on artisteer v1 templates. Use the All-in-One SEO plugin like the others have said.

I have heard a similar rumor about artisteer, but I can't say that I've found it to be true. The software seems to put out really good themes and the only real problem I have had is in learning where all of the controls for the different elements are. For instance, there are a number of different controls to change the color of links or to set the thickness of borders. Every different section of the page has a separate control and it would be nice for those of use who want simplicity to simply be able to press one button to change them all. (That may be possible, but I haven't found it yet.)

The great advantage that artisteer brings is the ability to rapidly deploy a template that is radically different from any others you may have used on other sites in your network. I doubt you could hand code a template as fast as you can build it with artisteer.

[bgmacaw]

As a professional software developer and web designer I have to say, yes, Artisteer sucks because of the reason mentioned above by Quentin.

But, seriously, this myth comes from people who think that W3C/XHTML compliance and tiny differences in site load time make a huge difference in site ranking. (It doesn't)

The code produced by Artisteer isn't well optimized but it isn't terrible either. This is due to it trying to be "one size fits all" when it comes to making web design easier for those who have little or no background in it.

[Agent007]

To get the best seo out of Artisteer you just need to load and use the All In One SEO plugin and do your own Title and Description for each post. You also need to change the Page & Post titles to H1's. Default is H2 as the blog title is taken up by H1.

So all I do is edit the Single Page & SIngle Post templates and change the H2 opening & closing tags to H1.

Then it would be wise to get rid off the H1 tag on your blog title. According to latest mid-2010 infro from Matt Cutts, haviong too many H1 tags not only confuses Googlebot but also looks spammy. Best to have one H1 per webpage, then make any sub headings etc H2,H3 etc.

Also its important to note each change to the template code in your own changelog text file. That way if you need to save a change to the template you know what needs changing again before uploading.

[jbg00d]

Originally Posted by Kurt

SEO is far more dependant on the person (you) than the program (Artisteer).

I couldn't have siad it better my self... If you breakdown the code of a live artisteer themed blog, you'll see that the code is fairly simple. this a good thing becuase the more code you jam into a page the longer it takes the bots to go through... Even if it's a couple hundredth's of a second (which that is what it will amount too) will be enough to throw your site under the bus as your competitor drives over with less and cleaner code.

I've built a lot of wordpress sites with free and purchased themes and most of theme are just completely loaded down unnecessary code.
Artisteer themes are simple and easy to modify to ones liking... SEO is diffinitely not a problem with Artisteer themes.

Like that Kurt said, SEO is about 85% on the developer and 15% theme and the artisteer themes do a pretty decent job at NOT bogging down SEO.

Brian