WordPress SEO - The Ultimate Guide to WordPress Theme Search Engine Optimization

August 8th, 2008 Nathan Rice

The WordPress Codex says that “WordPress, straight out of the box, comes ready to embrace search engines“.  Well, that may be true … to a certain degree, but there is more than enough work that you’ll need to do after you’ve installed WordPress in order to get it playing nicely with Google (and other search engines).

What most people don’t realize is that, while Google does love WordPress, it’s WordPress THEMES that actually interface with search engines … not WordPress itself.

So, that means that a WordPress theme could very well be hurting your rankings in the search engines … not helping!

So over the last several months, I’ve been developing a list of tips for bloggers that will help them embrace the natural flow of good SEO in the form of a well optimized theme.  This guide can’t guarantee you first page rankings, and certainly can’t get you quality links, but it will teach you every step you must take to ensure that you’re site is completely search engine optimized.

Posts in this Series

The following posts give a detailed explanation on how and where to modify your theme in order to optimize its search engine rankings:

  1. Generating a sitemap for Google
  2. Getting your site indexed by Google
  3. Getting Google to index and follow the right stuff
  4. Using Keyword-Rich Permalinks
  5. Optimizing your <title>
  6. Optimizing your header tags
  7. Using META descriptions
  8. Using META keywords
  9. Keyword Density
  10. Deep Linking

For those interested, I’ve already done all the heavy lifting in my newest theme Proximity News.  All the theme mods I’ll be discussing have already been implemented in Proximity News, so if you’re looking for a theme that’s ready to attract search engine traffic right out of the box, then why not go pick yourself up a copy of my latest WordPress news theme!

Ff you haven’t done so already, go ahead and subscribe to my RSS feed so you’ll get these tips like these delivered straight to your RSS reader!

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31 Responses to “WordPress SEO - The Ultimate Guide to WordPress Theme Search Engine Optimization”

seo singapore Said:

Hi Nathan, Great article. You mentioned wp not optimised or using wrong themes could hurt rankings. I couldnt agree more. Especially since they’re many wp plugin and theme developers who make themes for wp that dont have good knowledge of how Seo,rankings and usablility in wp apps tie in.

Comment made on August 9th, 2008 at 9:06 am
SEM Company Pune Said:

Google is known to ignore other features on a page except text. Therefore, it helps to use relevant text/keywords on a page generously. But be sure not to overdo it. Otherwise, it may tag your page as spam and give you low rankings.

Comment made on August 11th, 2008 at 2:14 am
Todd Morris Said:

Hi Nathan,

Love the new theme … I’ve been trying to learn a bit more about SEO here lately. I’m looking forward to reading your series.

Thanks,
Todd

Comment made on August 16th, 2008 at 3:38 am
Brian Lis Said:

Hey Nathan,
Found your corner of the net. Like the feel of this site and your proximity theme. Looks Great!

I’ll check back from time to time. Have a safe flight.
Brian

Comment made on August 17th, 2008 at 10:26 am
David Said:

Sounds great! I’ve just subscribed and look forward to reading!

Comment made on August 28th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Mike Dammann Said:

Darren just tweeted this, so let us know how much traffic you will get on this post!

Comment made on October 5th, 2008 at 7:29 am
Greg S. Said:

Like this site. Good Info. What does your daily traffic look like?

Comment made on October 15th, 2008 at 3:07 am
Nathan Rice Said:

@Greg S.:
You can see my traffic numbers for the past few months on my advertise page. I can say, however, that this month will probably put last month’s numbers to shame.

Comment made on October 15th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
How To Solutions Said:

Nathan,

I’m writing a very similar beginners guide covering how I SEO my own Wordpress installation. I would imagine over time it will cover most, if not all, of the areas you have detailed.

Maybe some of your readers might find it useful.

http://how-to-solutions.com/beginners-guide-seo-wordpress-blog.html

Thanks.

Comment made on October 20th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Yo SEO Said:

Hey Nathan,

This is a great series of posts and anyone using Wordpress really needs to read them all to get the most benefit.

Many webmasters think that just using Wordpress will boost their rankings and increase traffic, but by applying the simple SEO modifications that you have outlined for any Theme that they choose will make a much bigger difference!

Comment made on November 1st, 2008 at 5:53 am
hendri susanto Said:

awesome, this is a blog fully with information for blogger to optimization, thanks so much

Comment made on November 2nd, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Jerry Maurer Said:

Tremendously useful wordpress information.

I applaud you on providing a much needed website for the masses.

Thanks again.

Comment made on November 5th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Trevor Watkinson Said:

Hey Nathan,

Great post! I’ve implemented all the changes you suggested in this series. I never even considered using keywords for the permalink. That’s pretty sharp man. Thanks for the help!

Comment made on November 5th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Free Marketing eBooks Said:

There are some nices wp addons for creating an xml file so there is no reason not to have one.

Comment made on November 9th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
guy Said:

Hey nathan, great info you here. Have a question, as far as keyword density, how much is too much?

Comment made on November 10th, 2008 at 1:21 am
guy Said:

Sorry nathan, didn’t see you had a page specifically for that. Will head over and check that out..thanks again for the really great info.

Comment made on November 10th, 2008 at 1:22 am
Adi Said:

Hi Nathan,
I just make a blog less than a month, just make 3 post. I try to search from Google with words/phrase from my articke title and found it in 1st page of google. Im not an SEO expert and found your blog very useful for me. I want to learn to keep the SERP. Do you think it is because of the theme I use ?

Thanks
Adi

Comment made on November 14th, 2008 at 9:48 am
WordPress SEO Said:

First, this is a great list of resources, and something every WordPress user who cares about search engine traffic should read. What I found particularly interesting is the point that it’s the theme that communicates with search engines, not core WP. Nice point. And if any blogger has ever changed themes and seen a change in search traffic (for better or worse), they know this first hand.

Comment made on November 16th, 2008 at 1:52 pm

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