Let's get this out of the way once and for all.
It's true.
Using the wrong theme for your WordPress website (blog if you prefer) will kill your SEO-
And you'd better believe it.
Yessiree Bob.
The problem with most WordPress themes (the ones that are free anyways) is that most of them are PLAIN UGLY.
Just to be clear, I am not complaining or whining about free WordPress themes here.
In fact, and for the record, I am extremely grateful to those folks for their generosity and genuinely appreciate them for giving the rest of us free stuff that we otherwise would have to pay for.
But let's admit it.
Free WordPress themes aren't exactly Picassos. They're not exactly aesthetically pleasing in the design department.
They're extremely bare and functional.
And UGLY.
And that's where the problem is.
And the great thing about them. (but more on this later...)
The moment you get your blog or website is up and running- the first thing you'll do is to walk your little pinkies to the themes section of your dashboard- and spend (notice I didn't say waste) hours. if not days- hunting down, taking notes & checking out every single free theme at the WordPress repository, hoping against hope that you'll finally find something nice. Something decent. There's got to be something better than the default theme that you're stuck with you think to yourself.
After a couple of hours, you finally settle down on the one that you think is best. "Well, at least that's done," you say softly to yourself.
Satisfied, you finally let yourself smile.
It's time to let your blog fly and let Google bring truckloads of traffic to your website. After all, you know your SEO. And you know that you've found a niche that isn't too crazy with competition and with a little work, you know you can kill it.
Days pass. Weeks even. And your website still isn't showing up on the 1st page of Google for that long tail keyword that you know has absolutely zero competition because you did your "homework".
"What the heck is going on here? This can't be happening! I should already be on page 1 for this stupid keyword phrase! This is nuts! It's already been a month!"
There are only 5 websites competing for this keyword phrase so no way this is happening! Well, it's happening because the theme that you chose is wrecking havoc on your SEO.
"But that can't be...!" You argue. "There's just no way a theme that's included in the WordPress repository is that BAD!"
I feel you buddy. I've been there before.
Ever have that feeling that you know it's bad for you but you've just got to have it?
Well, some WordPress themes are kinda the same.
They're pretty but the search engine crawlers just hate them.
So here's the thing. Stick with well coded ones. They're great for search engine optimization or SEO. And SEO is something you want to pay attention to unless you hate FREE TRAFFIC from the search engines.
Stick to ones that are search engine spiders friendly if you can help it.
Your default WordPress themes like twenty thirteen, twelve and fourteen are well coded themes that's great for SEO.
If you're willing to invest in your theme, simply do a quick search on Yahoo, Bing or Google and go for the ones that get great reviews and 10 stars for being Search engine friendly.
The lesson here?
Forget aesthetics unless the nature of your business absolutely depends on it. I'm not saying your blog should be ugly, I'm saying get themes that are well coded and SEO friendly.
see how crawlers see your website
And that's it, I'm outta here.
P.S- don't forget to check out our website here- if you're a business and you'd like to find out how SEO can help grow your business and take it to the next level.
Want to know more about search engine marketing?
Visit our blog here...
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