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Better rankings by changing WP theme?

by CathrynL
17 replies
I'm using Branford Magazine WordPress theme for one of my sites but rankings are virtually non existent. I know there's been discussions about how a theme can affect SEO. I just hate to change it now after struggling to get it looking how I wanted - but if I need to, then...

Has anyone gotten much better SE rankings after changing their WordPress theme?
#changing #rankings #theme
  • Profile picture of the author Carl Pruitt
    I don't know about that particular theme, but I understand that if the theme code puts your content before the "extras" then it can help with SEO.
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    Thanks!
    Carl Pruitt
    http://LongRunPublishing.com

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    • Profile picture of the author KenJ
      Hi Cathryn

      Don't sweat it

      there are so many other factors that have a greater influence than the theme you choose.

      Stick with it and work on traffic generation

      Kenj
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve Sanchez
      Some of the themes interface with search engines differently. Have you tried using the SEO plugin and Google Map plugin. I know some of the themes don't let you put the pages where you'd like them. Make sure you have a privacy policy, contact etc. Check out Google for how to optimize your site.
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  • Profile picture of the author shibbeymon
    No, I haven't but I have a question for you: have you installed the SEO plugin to better optimize your theme for SEO?
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    • Profile picture of the author CathrynL
      Yes, I am using the SEO plugin - right from the start.
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    I've been reading Rich Jerk's Super Sneaky System and in it they go into this topic. A theme is provided that they swear makes a huge difference in search engine rankings combined with other tactics. Haven't really tried it out yet but I may.
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  • Profile picture of the author CathrynL
    Thanks everyone for your feedback. I may stick it out a little longer and see what happens. Will work on more traffic generation as Kenj suggested. If I still don't see much changing in ranks then I'll change the theme, and I'll be sure to let everyone know if it does make a difference. Thanks again.
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    • Profile picture of the author BizBoost
      Originally Posted by CathrynL View Post

      Thanks everyone for your feedback. I may stick it out a little longer and see what happens. Will work on more traffic generation as Kenj suggested. If I still don't see much changing in ranks then I'll change the theme, and I'll be sure to let everyone know if it does make a difference. Thanks again.
      WORK THE LONG TAIL...

      Go to Hittail.com and install their code on your site. See if you can find any longtail keywords to dominate.

      Eric
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  • Profile picture of the author ehicks727
    I didn't see anyone else suggest this yet, so I will. GET THE THESIS THEME!!!

    You still need the All-in-one-SEO-plugin, but Thesis is the most highly SEOptimized theme going right now. It does EVERYTHING right.

    If you work at it, you can even make the Thesis theme look like the Branford theme. Thesis uses custom functions and CSS, and you can pretty much make your site look like whatever you want.
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  • Profile picture of the author CathrynL
    Thanks to ehicks727 - I checked out the Thesis Theme and some of the customizations that others have done. Looks to be quite flexible and as you said - they're boasting highly SEOptimized. I do know that Branford has been a real bear to work with and for me being a newb, it's a wonder I was able to figure out half of the problems I had with it. A friend told me they'd have dumped it long ago - but I was determined. Anyway, thanks again for the info. - I believe I'll switch to Thesis and see what I can do with it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Pereira
    Some themes are tweaked for better SEO.

    If you don't mind an "ugly" theme try Pilkster's one - gets me ranked pretty quickly

    SEO Adsense Wordpress Theme pilkster.com
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  • Profile picture of the author corsair
    Another upvote for Thesis - I use it myself and its pretty good. Its been been coded to make SEO easy , but the All in 1 SEO plugin is still required .

    Also, maybe worth checking the ping functionality and RSS are working correctly on your blog.
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  • Profile picture of the author InformationEmpire
    There's a new theme that has a lot of similar benefits to the Thesis theme, but in some ways is better, depending on what you need to achieve from your site... Anyways, take a look:

    affiliatetheme. net
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    • Profile picture of the author Wade Watson
      That Thesis theme bears quite a resemblance to a free theme I found and like called Magazine Basic. It's the first theme I've found that puts a layout control page in your Dashboard. It lets you position the sidebars, set the number of sidebars, set width and so on (I'd link to it, but I'm too new on the board).
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  • Profile picture of the author Dean Martin
    If you know your current theme inside and out I'd stick with it.

    You can make some simple changes (move divs around in the source) that will move the content to the top of the source code that the bots see and make your post titles <h1> tags.
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  • Profile picture of the author Franck Silvestre
    To answer to your question, the theme can have an impact on your rankings. As an example, I use to have the cutline theme, and rankings were pretty impressive for my blog.

    however, as said in another post, the theme (on page optimization) is not the main ranking factor.

    Backlinks and how you choose your keyword have a big role in your rankings.

    Franck
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