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Do Themes Help or Hurt?

by MillionHare
7 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
    • |
I currently run a decently known website, but I am converting over to wordpress platform. I was browsing ThemeForest and actually found a few good themes that I liked. I have heard that using a theme actually HURTS your site and none of the "big dogs" use themes,only custom built sites. I have also heard the opposite of that, so I ask, what is your opinion of sites that use prebuilt themes? Does it help or hurt their rankings?
#hurt #themes
  • Profile picture of the author RobinInTexas
    You can totally customize any theme. Once you substitute a header graphic for what's there, or add one if the theme doesn't have one, your site is unique.

    I advocate creating a child theme based on one of the recent WordPress default Twenty xxxxxxx themes.

    The only thing that can hurt a site is a poorly written theme (bad php and/or non-conforming to WordPress coding standards), of lousy content.
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    ...Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just set there.
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  • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
    It is never about the fact of using a ready-made theme or a custom site (which, btw, can also be a custom WP theme).

    In itself both can help or hurt your website: bad code, idiotic SEO, ignoring webmasters' common sense... all can make your site suck, regardless how you achieved the layout.

    Bad themes hurt any website. Bad custom design/html hurt any website.

    As for the 'transition' - any major change (to handcoded html to WP or vice-versa) can affect temporarily your site's ranking... if that's what you meant by "hurting".

    "Big dogs" don't give a shit about hurting because they BUY trafiic or rely on JV-partners - so they couldn't care less about SERP position.
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  • Profile picture of the author Pyrros
    A poorly built theme can hurt any website. They can also be confusing and complicated to work with - so just be careful and do some research

    If you are going to be modifying the theme, a child theme is a must.

    Perhaps take a look at WooThemes and StudioPress as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author MillionHare
    So is Themeforest "bad" themes or are most built rather well?

    How would I tell if it's bad or not?
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  • Profile picture of the author badhim
    Try to check your theme with online validator: The W3C Markup Validation Service
    It doesn't guarantee what the theme is good for SEO, but if it passes the check, then at least the author was aware of what he was doing.
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  • Profile picture of the author Andrew H
    There's no replacement for a well done design with good SEO done by a highly qualified web development firm. However, that can get expensive - that's were themes come in. You can find some fairly well done themes for $50, which you might spend upwards of $5000 if you had it done custom.
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    "You shouldn't come here and set yourself up as the resident wizard of oz."
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  • Profile picture of the author Zaiyan
    It doesn't hurt your site, the reason people say that is since you'll use the theme which is listed in the market place, there are many people who are going to use the same theme and if visitors are familiar to both sites they may not be as much impress also quality of your website in terms of design decreases. It is always suggested to either create your own theme or else customize the theme you liked to a great extent, so that it turns out to be looking different to its original look. In this way you can have a premium original and unique design.
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