SEO-friendly WordPress Templates

[salvyy]

Hi,

I usually build WordPress sites and I was thinking about buying one of those ready-made Wordpress templates I found on a site that sells them to the public. FYI, the site at issue is: yootheme.com. I'd like to make sure that building sites using ready-made templates is NOT a bad thing. Could you please confirm?

Thank you.

[salvyy]

Thank you, Dan!

All the best to you.

• Sal

[evolvingSEO]

Not bad at all! Unless there is a very similar site in your industry of a competitor and risk being accused of "copying".

-Dan

[salvyy]

Hi Dan

Thank you for your detailed answer. Since you seem very prepared in SEO and SEO related to WordPress, please answer this quick question:

Let's pretend I want to build a new site and I like the WordPress template that you can find on this site:

www.casinoaams.net

Is it bad, as far as SEO is concerned, that I build my site using the same template I find on another site? Of course, the content and all the structure will be different; the only similar thing is the template.

Thank you very much.

[evolvingSEO]

Its not bad at all, I would just recommend using free themes available only within WordPress. Maybe someone else knows of a trusted source of free themes. And yes, you can use the free plugins just the same.

-Dan

[bronxpad]

How bad is it to use a free Wordpress theme and just get the plugins as needed for free as well?

[evolvingSEO]

Thanks for the responses John and 'walrus'

The only two sites I trust to buy themes from are;

• WooThemes
• Themeforest

You're right, pro perks discounts are here - and woothemes are included.

Then be sure you read my post on WordPress, and look under the "Themes" section for the best way to set up themes once installed. I've never seen a perfect one for SEO. They're all a little wonky.

Basically I say;

"DO use themes for design elements;

• Colors
• Fonts,
• Page layout
• Headers
• Footers
• Basic social media button stuff

Do NOT use themes for SEO stuff, such as

• Indexation
• Analytics codes
• Titles and descriptions
• RSS feeds
• Menu structure (ideally this is done with WordPress Custom Menus)

Let the Yost SEO plugin handle this stuff! Shut off / do not use these types of SEO functions within the themes."

Hope this helps!

-Dan

[cfguti]

Agree with John, and you have a WooThemes 40% discount code in PRO Perks section!!!!

[DesignbysoapLtd]

Hi there,

Yep you can find some excellent premium themes that are SEO friendly - WooThemes has some great ones. I'd also recommend installing the WordPress SEO plugin by Yoast to ensure your titles and descriptions (as well as other elements) are properly optimised.

Hope that helps!