No matter what type of website you need, it’s crucial that you choose an optimized WordPress theme. This will make it easier to rank well on search engines, in addition to following website and SEO best practices and regularly updating your site with fresh content. Keep reading to discover TrulyWP’s top tips for finding an SEO friendly WordPress theme.
1. Well-Coded Theme
When choosing a WordPress theme, it’s important to determine the quality of code used to build the theme. A reputable developer company will take the time to produce quality themes that follow coding best practices. This includes using specific types of semantic code that will help increase a website’s visibility on search engines. For example, each web page should include basic elements, such as alt and meta tags.
It’s a good idea to check out the theme’s reviews. This will help you determine whether a site theme is professional, trustworthy, and legitimate. If a lot of online users wrote negative reviews, this may be a warning flag that it’s best to find a different theme.
2. Strong Site Performance
It’s no surprise that today’s online users expect sites to load within a few seconds or less. For sites that take longer than 4 to 5 seconds to fully load, this can lead to an increase in bounce rates and lowering one’s SEO rankings on major search engines.
Since slow themes can harm a site’s success, it’s important to look for a theme that is optimized. There are online tools that can show you how well a specific theme performs in terms of site performance and load times. Ideally, a theme with strong performance should load within 3 seconds or less.
3. Responsive Design
A responsive site theme automatically adjusts its layout to a users’ screen size and resolution. Responsive design provides a more user-friendly site experience for mobile users, which helps boost a site’s SEO ranking. Since today’s users expect websites to be mobile-friendly, it’s crucial that you choose a responsive site theme.
4. Updates On a Regular Basis
Well-rated WordPress themes usually receive regular updates. This is a necessary step to maintain a theme’s features and fix any site issues. By choosing a well-rated theme, this will help prevent security vulnerabilities from impacting your site. Indeed, a healthy and safe site requires regular updates to address bugs and any other technical issues.
5. SEO Plugin Compatibility
Did you know that not all WordPress themes are compatible with SEO plugins? Since you will likely use an SEO plugin on your site, it’s recommended that you choose a plugin that is compatible with major SEO plugins. Major SEO plugins include All In One SEO and Yoast. These plugins help you optimize your site content in a strategic way that helps you rank well on search engines.
As you can see, choosing an optimized theme for your WordPress site is a careful process of researching and trying out different themes. You will likely use different themes, depending on your specific site’s needs and goals. Remember to also verify that the theme you find works on major browsers, including Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera, and Safari. If you are looking for affordable and reliable WordPress hosting, look no further than TrulyWP. We offer high-quality hosting that will help you maintain a secure and optimized WordPress site.