Search engine optimization, or SEO is a key part of running an online business. Sure, you can have a website, but if no one knows it is there, it will not do you any good. Having a theme that handles SEO well is vital. So what are the best WordPress themes for SEO?

Though no one knows exactly how the search engines rank websites for their chosen keywords, years of trial and error have led the top marketers and SEO experts to an educated theory behind what needs to be done to get your website ranking well. Content plays a major role, but so does clean website code. Clean website code makes it easier for the bots to read and rank your site. Since many marketers use WordPress to develop their websites, having a theme built with SEO in mind only makes sense.

DIY Themes Thesis

Thesis is also WordPress framework. This framework makes design easy by allowing you to create your own page layouts with boxes. You can also eliminate the need for a Google Analytics plugin or social media plugins like the Facebook Like Box, just by copying the code from Google or Facebook into a box. It speeds up your site, while still giving you all the features you need. Thesis 2.0 is relatively new, so be on the lookout for more tutorials and help developing with the theme. The developer’s license is $197, and allows for unlimited upgrades, and use on unlimited sites, with the appropriate client license. There’s also an option for $164, which gives you 12 months worth of upgrades.

StudioPress Genesis

[Insert StudioPress affiliate link.] is also WordPress framework. This framework makes the use of child themes to make designing your websites easy. There are many child themes available through StudioPress for $25 to $100. Other vendors designing for Genesis offer a variety of free and premium child themes. The framework is very easy to use and includes SEO options for each page and post. You can buy the framework for $59.95, without child themes, and use it for an unlimited number of sites. If you want all the child themes, you can pay $349.95 to get the framework and all current and future child themes StudioPress releases.

Headway

There are a lot of other popular drag-and-drop WordPress themes. Like Pagelines, this makes design and customization very easy, which is why many marketers without design experience opt for something like this. There’s a visual editor, to help people see what they’re building as they build it. There’s an $87 option that allows for unlimited use and future upgrades, as well as a $164 option that also allows for four free extensions, which can be used for themes or boxes to add additional design elements.

While there are SEO plugins, such as: WordPress SEO, All-in-One SEO Pack, Platinum SEO and, using a theme with this functionality built in can help your site. Each plugin you use on your site requires resources and has the potential to negatively impact the code and the website load time, two things that are an important part of SEO. We advise you to limit the plugins to only what’s necessary to enhance your user experience. All of these themes come with a 30-day money back guarantee, so you can try them before you commit to them.

Which WordPress theme do you use? How do you handle SEO on your website? With a theme or a plugin?

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