Creating a great website for your business is a daunting task considering everything you have to consider. Yet, the theme you choose plays a pivotal role in its success. It is a reflection of your brand but it does more than that. The effect your chosen theme has on SEO cannot be underestimated. Low SEO rankings have an impact on organic traffic, leads, and your bottom line so you need to get it right with your theme. In this blog post, we will look at what you need to consider when selecting an SEO-friendly theme to guarantee success.
Mobile Friendly
Mobile gadgets have surpassed traditional computers as they go to devices for web browsing. Some time back, accessing a webpage through a mobile device resembled the display of a scaled-down desktop page.
Nevertheless, this scenario has undergone a transformation due to the widespread use of portable devices, leading web designers to embrace a mindset prioritizing mobile platforms. An effective website design should take into account the mobile experience, considering that a majority of internet users utilize smartphones for online access.
SEO Plug-In Compatibility
You should consider integrating SEO plugins to improve your SEO rankings even more. You have a wide range of options to choose from and they all have different features and capabilities. A good theme should have maximum compatibility with SEO plugins so you can easily add one that best addresses your needs.
Pick a Theme That Gets Regular Updates
Even the best theme will need regular updates to fix some minor issues and bugs. Go for a theme that gets updates at a regular interval. Your SEO efforts and page ranking will both suffer if you use an outdated theme thus losing potential traffic.
Avoid Homepage Sliders
Homepage sliders depend on multiple H1 headings per page, while SEO best practices insist on a single H1 heading on the homepage. Sliders also increase the loading times which can frustrate website visitors and contribute to low SEO rankings since most search engines consider page speed as a key ranking factor for your website.
Go for Themes Developed for SEO
Customizing a theme to suit your SEO needs is time consuming and offers no guarantees regarding the final product. Instead, you can collaborate with an SEO agency to find a theme created by professionals who understand the latest SEO best practices and have integrated them into the design of them. These themes come with a clean, optimized code and have features that improve usability and mobile friendliness.
Pick a Theme Compatible With Different Browsers
Browser compatibility refers to the appearance of your website in different web browsers. Every browser reads your website code differently so you need to make sure that the selected theme is compatible with the major browsers. Websites that are incompatible with some browsers tend to have a higher bounce rate which affects SEO rankings.
Endnote
Website themes are a great way to make it more appealing but they should not affect your SEO efforts negatively. SEO agencies can help you find a theme suitable for your website and SEO needs.
