Factors to consider for evaluating the SEO friendliness of WordPress themes

Google’s June 2019 broad core update has created waves in SEO circles as its impact has upset the rankings of numerous websites including some of the big names that wield high authority. Not only there have been noticeable fluctuations in rankings, but the range of websites affected is also quite noticeable. Initially, it appeared that the impact was most on YMYL sites. But as the update kept rolling, it became clear that its effects were evident across many different kinds of websites ranging from pharma and healthcare to Travel and Finance as well as news websites and retail websites. What the update aims at is not at all clear to anybody, and no one knows how to recover from the setback. However, the silver lining is that Google has indicated that continuing with creating high-quality content should help to regain some lost grounds.

While Google updates often target some specific SEO activities to stop clandestine SEO techniques and improve the standards, a broad core update is more for general cleaning. This creates a lot of mystery around the update as it is not possible to know what causes the dip in ranking and what affects it.  However, one can make serious efforts to improve overall website performance by doing the basics right and focusing on WordPress themes that support the SEO cause to the fullest.

WordPress themes impact website performance

If you analyze data about website performance vis-a-vis WordPress themes, it will become very clear that thethemes have some connection to the way websites perform.  Although most WordPress themes are SEO themes in some way or the other, the extent of support varies according to the selection of themes because some themes may be more SEO friendly than others.  This happens because outwardly the themes provide structure to websites and the technicalities that go into the making of themes influence website performance.   Indeed, the themes must be attractive in its looks and completely support the business process, but at the same time, it must help websites to perform at its peak that can boost SEO. Therefore, selecting themes with some good thought will ensure that the theme does not have any negative impact on SEO.

Website design and user engagement

How good a website is for marketing purposes depends on the amount of time users spend on the website, which is what marketers call engagement rate that has a direct impact on search ranking. Higher engagement rate means that users find the website interesting and derives value from it. This sends a positive signal to search engines and helps to improve ranking. The design of the theme creates the initial attraction that draws visitors to the website who can then explore how much worthwhile it would be to spend time on it. Look for simple designs of websites because cramped designs that carry too many advertisements can be a turn off for viewers who consider the design elements too much intrusive. Flat design is often more functional and pleasing provided it has proper design elements embedded in it because too many simplistic designs often lack in intuitiveness that users prefer.

Slow website is a killer

Themes govern website designs, and it can impact the website speed. Some WordPress themes have heavy design elements that slow down the website speed as pages take longer time to open. Select themes carefully to ensure that it supports good website speed because users and search engines both like speedy websites and website speed is a ranking factor too. Image heavy websites take more time to open pages and slows down the website speed. Select themes with fast page opening time, and the most preferred would be those that take no more than 2 seconds to open.  If a website takes more than 3 seconds to open, then it would drive away almost 50% visitors.

Search engine friendly website structure

Although the looks of websites are vital for creating the most compelling first impression, you must give equal importance to the website structure, which must be highly intuitive and user-friendly. The website structure is responsible for the functioning of websites and must have features that make it easy for websites to interact with search engines. The code creation determines the level of interactivity of websites with search engines because any lacunae in code can confuse search engines in understanding what the site is all about. Blending the design elements with the functional features by maintaining proper balance helps to create websites that are attractive to both users and search engines and capable of delivering better SEO performance.

Creating SEO friendly websites

WordPress themes are as much for building aesthetically pleasing websites as it is for incorporating features that give a mileage to SEO even though the aesthetics come first. You should know which elements to consider when judging the SEO friendliness of websites for selecting themes that are good looking and high performing too.

Website speed – Poorly designed themes cause slow loading websites that no one likes but slow speed can also happen due to poor hosting services, and even if the server speed is slow. If you observe that the bottom part of the website starts loading first instead of the fold or upper part, it will take a longer time for the page to open. In such cases, changes in some design components can improve speed.

HTML markup – What search engines can see in websites depend on HTML that helps to create websites that search engines find easy to interact with by understanding the content. Highlighting specific parts of the content according to its importance helps search engines to figure out the content easily, and the best way of doing it is by using HTML5 tags.

Responsive design – Use themes with responsive design so that it displays efficiently of mobile devices too. As mobile friendliness is now a ranking factor, the use of responsive design is no more a choice but a necessity.

Your search for SEO Services India, SEO friendly WordPress themes should now become easier as you know what to look for.