I just wanted to write quick post on the topic of SEO and WordPress themes. I see a lot of questions about people asking what are the best WordPress themes for SEO and what are some SEO friendly WordPress themes all the time. You will even see people asking for a WordPress SEO templates and I think this is just funny. Hopefully the people looking for a WordPress SEO template are talking about a guide or how-to and not a design template.. If they are looking for a SEO template for the look and feel of a WordPress blog, they haven't even researched WordPress enough to know that they should be looking for WordPress themes!
I don't want to hurt anyones feelings or start some crazy online fight (why not?), I just want to list my thoughts on this whole question about the best WordPress themes for SEO. To get right to the point, there is not a single WordPress theme that is the 'best' for search engine optimization. If you have found a theme that is up to date with no problems, what you really should be looking for is SEO plugins.
I don't want to get deep into how to do SEO because that is off topic. You can read other blogs like seomoz.org to get your SEO material, but to stay on topic you need some good on-site and off-site SEO for your WordPress blog. WordPress themes don't offer these to-do items to get your WordPress blog ranked in search engines. Good on-site optimization can be accomplished with a good SEO plugin (I recommend yoast SEO), good permalink structure, awesome content and some internal linking.
Now don't get me wrong, you could find some themes that have horrible HTML tag structure that will blow and make your on-site SEO suffer, but if you are buying premium themes or finding some decent free themes you should be just fine. After reading up on your on-site SEO, you should be able to view your source code of your site and make any changes you feel necessary. Again, on-site SEO is only half the battle when it comes to getting your site ranked well in the search engines. Don't get all caught up in finding the best SEO WordPress theme, you are just wasting your time. Instead, spend your time writing awesome content that will serve as link bait for your new WordPress site. Incoming links from other sites is what you really want! As you read more about SEO and best practices, it will all come together.
To sum it up, find a WordPress theme you really like and just read some blog posts and sites about SEO. Don't try to find that perfect SEO WordPress theme, there isnt one! If you have any questions or comments leave them below and I will be happy to answer them.
