Search Engine Optimized WordPress Themes
In order to achieve maximum search engine traffic, you should use an SEO friendly WordPress theme. I have taken these themes and overhauled them, making them friendly to Google, Yahoo, and MSN.
Downloads are all free of charge. These themes will work best if you download and install the All-In-One Seo Pack plugin. (All you have to do is download, extract, upload, and activate. These themes are already set up for it.)
Lose My Mind 1.0 with sidebar | Download
Notes: What a mess! This theme didn’t even have an h1 tag in it. It took me a lot of time to remove the image at the top and replace it with the blog title wrapped in an h1. In order to make it work I had to edit the main background picture and insert a new div.
- header.php - I changed the title tag to better work with two popular SEO plugins - All-In-One SEO and SEO Title Tag. I also inserted a div and an h1 with the blog title in it and removed the image that was embedded in the background.
- index.php - Perfect. (no changes)
- single.php - Perfect.
- sidebar.php - The h2 tags were changed to h3s.
- page.php - Perfect.
- search.php - Perfect.
- style.css - I did the h2-h3 switch that keeps the theme looking exactly the same even though the code is different. I also changed the width of the sidebar div because it was pretty messed up and covered the outside shadow of the site.
- footer.php - I added a link to my site for my time and effort.
Naruto Strikes Back | Download - Test
Notes: Naruto Strikes Back is #7 of the top 10 most downloaded themes at the biggest WordPress theme site. (Theme Viewer). It kind of surprises me that the theme has been downloaded so much. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very cool theme. It simply seems to me that it’s one of those themes that can’t be used on most sites.
Overall the theme was in pretty good shape. Here are the changes I made, file by file:
- header.php - I changed the title tag to better work with two popular SEO plugins - All-In-One SEO and SEO Title Tag.
- index.php - Perfect. (no changes)
- single.php - Perfect.
- sidebar.php - The sidebar had some Google Adsense code in it that I took out to avoid confusion. It’s pretty irritating when designers put their Adsense code into themes. They’re obviously hoping that you leave it there. I also changed the h2 headings in the sidebar to h3s.
- page.php - Perfect.
- search.php - Perfect.
- style.css - I did the h2-h3 switch that keeps the theme looking exactly the same even though the code is different.
- footer.php - I added a link to my site for my time and effort.
Networker 1.0 | Download - Test
Notes: Networker 1.0 is one of the top10 most popular blogs from the main WordPress theme site. Like most of the other themes on the top10 list, the theme is very clean and required few changes to pass the ‘Court test’. I really like that the really popular themes are themes that don’t have shady links and text in them. This theme was 100% free of anything shady.
The designer used h2 tags in the sidebar, and I changed those to h3s. I also set the theme up for use with the SEO Title Tag plugin and/or the All-In-One SEO plugin.
Here are the file-by-file changes I made to Networker 1.0:
- header.php - I changed the title tag to better work with two popular SEO plugins - All-In-One SEO and SEO Title Tag.
- index.php - Perfect.
- single.php - Perfect.
- sidebar.php - Both sidebars used h2 tags in places that I wouldn’t recommend. I changed them to h3s.
- page.php - Perfect.
- search.php - Perfect.
- style.css - I did the h2-h3 switcharoo that makes the h3s look like the old h2s.
- footer.php - I added a link to my site for my time and effort.
Yourblog 2.0 | Download - Test
Notes: Yourblog 2.0 is one of the top10 most popular blogs from the main WordPress theme site. I can see why, the theme was well made and is already very search engine friendly out of the box. The h1 tag was set up to wrap the name of the blog, and the h2 was set up for the post titles. This is my preferred method so I didn’t do anything there.
The designer did use h2 tags for the headings in the sidebar, and I made some changes there because I don’t think that’s the best practice. I changed those to h3s and altered the style.css accordingly.
Here are the file-by-file changes I made to Yourblog 2.0:
- header.php - I changed the title tag to better work with two popular SEO plugins - All-In-One SEO and SEO Title Tag.
- index.php - Perfect.
- single.php - Perfect.
- sidebar.php - This file used h2 tags all over the place. In theory, this can discount the proper use of the h2 tags, which is to show the second most important title or heading on the page. Since we want to use this for the post title, I changed these h2s to h3s.
- page.php - Perfect.
- search.php - Perfect.
- style.css - I made some changes to allow the new h3s to look like the old h2s.
- footer.php - I added a link to my site for my time and effort.
Sodelicious Black 1.0 | Download - Test
Notes: Sodelicious was very easy to optimize because the original designer did a fantastic job. There was no hidden text in this theme, and there were no hidden links. That’s quite refreshing because the trend lately is exactly the opposite.
This theme was nearly spic and span - I went line by line through the code and didn’t hardly find anything that needed to be changed. The only major change I made was changing the title tag to make it so it would work with both the SEO Title Tag plugin and the All-In-One SEO plugin. For the first time I feel almost guilty taking my link in the footer, except that I went through the files one by one!
Here are the file-by-file changes I made to Sodelicious Black:
- header.php - I changed the title tag to better work with two popular SEO plugins - All-In-One SEO and SEO Title Tag.
- index.php - Perfect. (no changes)
- single.php - Perfect.
- sidebar.php - Perfect
- page.php - Perfect.
- search.php - Perfect.
- style.css - Perfect
- footer.php - I added a link to my site for my time and effort.
Download Sodelicious Black 1.0
Arabian Sea | Download - Test at TheAnand.com
Notes: Arabian Sea is a very cool WordPress theme that required very little modification. The theme was well designed from the beginning, and didn’t have any shady coding in it. I did make a few minor changes, however.
I think that those that use this theme will do quite well, I wouldn’t make any changes at all now, and would feel very comfortable using it for CourtneyTuttle.com. It would do just as well as my theme at bringing search engine traffic.
Here are the file-by-file changes I made to Arabian Sea:
- header.php - I changed the ‘Blog Title’ so that it was wrapped in h1 tags. It was originally wrapped in h2s. I also changed the tagline so that it was wrapped in a div instead of h3s.
- index.php - Perfect. (no changes)
- single.php - Perfect.
- sidebar.php - I changed all of the h2s in the sidebar to h3s. This gives more weight to the h2s that are used for post and page titles.
- page.php - Perfect.
- style.css - I added a ‘header h1′ section to make the title look the same even though it was modified. I also added a ‘tagline’ div id to make the tagline appear the same. I then added a ’sidebar h3′ section to make the new sidebar h3 to appear the same as they did before I changed them.
- footer.php - I added a link to my site for my time and effort.
Africa Theme 1 | Download - Test
Notes: Africa Theme 1 is one of the most popular WordPress themes of all time. That shouldn’t surprise anyone, what a beautiful theme! This theme can definitey make your site stand out, but obviously can’t be used by every type of site.
You wouldn’t want to use this theme if you blogged about cell phones or gadgets, you get the idea.
Here are the file-by-file changes I made to Africa Theme 1:
- header.php - I inserted the piece of code that makes the All-In-One SEO Pack plugin work properly.
- sidebar.php - The h2 tags were changed to h3 tags.
- index.php - Perfect
- archive.php - Perfect.
- author.php - Perfect.
- comments.php - Perfect.
- contact.php - Perfect.
- footer.php - Perfect. I added a link in the footer that gives me credit for the work I did.
- functions.php - I altered this file to preserve the SEO benefit for those that use widgets.
- page.php - Perfect.
- single.php - Perfect.
- style.css - I had to make some changes to preserve the visual look of the theme.
Mistylook | Download - Test at Johncow.com
Notes: Mistylook is a very clean theme, and the original designer did a great job with it. The latest trend I’ve been seeing is that designers will embed hidden, spammy links. This theme didn’t have any of the shady stuff I often find. It was, in fact quite search engine friendly already. It’s now even more search engine friendly. 
Here are the file-by-file changes I made to Mistylook:
- header.php - The site’s description at the top of the theme used h2 tags, which I eliminated.
- sidebar.php - The h2 tags were changed to h3 tags.
- index.php - Perfect
- archive.php - Perfect.
- author.php - Perfect.
- comments.php - Perfect.
- contact.php - Perfect.
- footer.php - Perfect. I added a link in the footer that gives me credit for the work I did.
- functions.php - I altered this file to preserve the SEO benefit for those that use widgets.
- page.php - Perfect.
- single.php - Perfect.
Modern Paper 1.0 | Download - Test
Notes: Modern Paper 1.0 is simple, basic, and very professional. This theme took minimal work to pass my test and I give mad props to the designer for that. This designer actually knew what he/she was doing.
There was no hidden text in this theme, and it was laid out by someone that knew what they were doing. This theme didn’t exactly fit my SEO taste, but I can tell that it was done with SEO in mind.
I did make some changes which I think will make the theme compete better for keywords. I made it so that the name of the site was enclosed in <h1> tags, so as long as you include your main keyword in the name of your blog that will help you to rank for it. In order to make this effective I changed the post titles to <h2> tags and the headings in the sidebars to <h3> tags.
This theme now gets an A+ from me, I can’t think of a single way it could be better.
Pop Blue | Download - Test
Notes: Pop Blue is a great theme and I was really excited when I saw it for the first time. I did have to make some significant changes to the theme, but now it should be an awesomely optimized theme.
In the header of Pop Blue, there was an image that said ‘Pop Blue’. I didn’t like that because I knew that some people would have a hard time editing the image. I cut the text out of the image and replaced it with HTML text that a search engine can read. This theme also used a css technique to hide some text, which is a huge no-no. I fixed this issue to make the theme safer to use long-term.
The sidebar was already placed in a great location in the code. I cleaned up some of the excess H2 tag issues and now the theme is awesome. If you like this theme and decide to use it, you’ll have a great one.
Cutline 3 Column Split 1.1 | Download - Test
Notes: Cutline is a very impressive theme, especially if you have the type of blog that reports news. This theme is amazingly clean and professional. It needed quite a few tweaks, and now that I have worked on it I can give it my stamp of approval.
The HTags were all kinds of crazy on this theme, and I worked that out while making the theme appear exactly the same as it did before I changed anything.
I also switched the location of the sidebar in the code and placed it below all of the content. I’m not sure why it was originally placed above the content since it is a right-sidebar theme. This theme is definitely search engine optimized now and will really do well for those of you that decide to use it.
Download Cutline 3 Column Split 1.1
Tranquility White 1.0 | Download - Test
Notes: I was so excited when I saw this theme, Tranquility White 1.0 is a super clean, uber-professional theme. It did have quite a few errors, including all of the typical Htag issues that almost every WordPress theme has. I had to fix multiple issues there including the designer having used H2 for the site description which will provide no value whatsoever. I switched it up and made it so that H2 was used for the post titles and switched all of the H2s located in the sidebar to H3s.
I also switched the location of the sidebar in the code and placed it below all of the content. I’m not sure why it was originally placed above the content since it is a right-sidebar theme. This theme is definitely search engine optimized now and will really do well for those of you that decide to use it.
Download Tranquility White 1.0
Freedom Green Widgetized | Download - Test
Notes: Freedom Green was a mess of a theme when I got my hands on it. The H tags were all kinds of messed up, they were in the wrong order and all over the place. Now that this theme is fixed, it’s all kinds of awesome.
With this theme, I changed most of the H2 tags to H3s since they were all located in the sidebar. I also changed an improper H1 placement to H2.
I must say that I like the look of this theme as much as any theme I’ve seen, so well done to the original creator.
Prosense Redux | Download - Test
Notes: Prosense Redux was a very clean theme when I got my hands on it. It needed only minimal tweaking which included getting rid of some of the excess H2 tags. The sidebars were positioned properly and the H1 tag was setup perfectly.
If you have the original Prosense Redux you’re probably in pretty good shape. This version is slightly better, however, so it would be worth switching it out.
Black Gloss 1.0 | Download - Test
Notes: I’m not going to sugar coat this one, Black Gloss 1.0 was a freaking disaster before I got my hands on it. Not only was is terrible from an SEO standpoint, it was also broken in any version of WordPress over 2.0. It barely worked in Internet Explorer and everything was showing up in the wrong places.
I went through the code and fixed everything that was broken. Now it functions really well in both Firefox and Internet Explorer.
The SEO fixes were really needed with this theme. Even though it was and is a right-sidebar theme, the sidebar was placed above the content in the code which is a huge mistake. Google ends up showing the sidebar in their index instead of the post and page content. I fixed that problem and floated the sidebar to the right, spic and span.
This theme was really messed up with it’s Htags. The H1 was set on the post title, which wouldn’t have been that bad if it didn’t have H2 for the time and date of the post. I switched all of that up to put H1 on the blog title and H2 on the post title. I made the time and date H3.
The names of people who comment were set to be H2s as if that would ever line up with a keyword someone searched for. I set those to be paragraphs.
With some major over-hauling, Black Gloss 1.0 now gets my stamp of approval - this theme rocks and should be awesome for Adsense. The black, grey, and white will make blue Adsense links really jump out.
Tiga | Download - Test
Notes: Tiga was an 80% search engine friendly theme with only 1 major flaw - the problem is that the flaw is huge. The code is setup so that Google and other search engines will read the text in the sidebar first. This makes all of the pages look the same in Google. When people search they will often see text like ‘Categories, Search, Blogroll, etc.’ instead of the regular content for the page.
I was able to fix this issue by repositioning where the sidebar appears in the code without changing where it appears on the site. End result: The theme looks exactly the same but is a lot more search engine optimized.
Connections | Download - Test
Notes: Connections was in decent shape before I got my hands on it. In general the themes that have the sidebar on the right are better for SEO, unless you know how to tweak the ones with the sidebar on the left.
The main issue with the Connections theme is that it uses the H2 tag everywhere. My version alters the placement of the H2 tag to make it work better. I also removed all of the less-effective spots where the H2 popped up.
I also noticed that the comments section needed to be reworked. You definitely don’t want H2 tags placed in the comments since you don’t control the content in comments. This version should do a lot better in search results than the original. Download Connections
ILoveMusic | Download - Test
Notes: ILoveMusic had a few SEO strengths before I made some changes to it. It unfortunately had some weaknesses that needed to be fixed.
In the header file, I noticed that this theme was set up to use the blog’s description for both meta keywords and meta description, which I wouldn’t recommend. That would create the same meta keywords and description for every page, which would be bad. It would likely cause many of a site’s pages to end up in Google’s supplemental index. I fixed this issue first thing. This theme has the blog’s name wrapped in H1 tags, which is good. I left that alone. The theme also had H2 tags around the post titles, which was perfect.
The comments section was clean and used H3 tags, which is good.
The sidebar was the area that needed the most attention, it used H2s to wrap each section, which is bad because it dilutes the effectiveness of the H2 tag on the post title. I changed the <h2> wraps to <span> tags and altered the style sheet to make everything look identical to the way it did before.
The archive and category pages already showed excerpts, which is important to avoid a duplicate content penalty. I left those alone. Download ILoveMusic
Goth-10 - Download
Notes: Goth-10 was partially a search engine friendly theme even before I got my hands on it. The sidebar was well-positioned in the code - placed below the content. The post titles, however, were set to be H3s, which I immediately changed to be H2s. I also immediately installed the SEO title tag plugin code in the header, which will make it a lot more search engine friendly if the user downloads and installs the SEO title tag plugin. If not, it will be the same.
This theme didn’t use an H1 tag at all, which was a problem. I altered the header file to use H1 for the blog name. If you use keyword in your blog name, you should get a nice, positive effect.
The comments section was spotless in this theme, I didn’t make a single change there. The sidebars were a different story and needed to be altered quite a bit. The designer used H2 tags for everything in there. I changed them to H3s in order to make the post title H2 more effective.
The archive and category pages already showed excerpts, so duplicate content shouldn’t be a problem with this theme - I left those pages as is. Download Goth-10
Nobus - Download
Notes: The original Nobus had some fundamental issues, including excessive use of the H1 tag. It used H1 for almost everything, which means that it would really dilute the real use of the H1 tag, which was created to show the main purpose of the page.
The H2 tag was used for all of the boxes in the sidebar, including: Categories, Recent Post, Pages, Archives, Recent Comments, Social Badges, Meta, etc. I changed these to H3 to better emphasize the H2 which is now used as the post title.
Since Nobus has the sidebars on the right, the theme was already quite search engine friendly. It is now a lot more search engine friendly. Download Nobus
SpotLight 1.3 | Download - Test
Notes: The original Spotlight 1.3 had some fundamental issues, including a poor SEO title tag setup, and bad use of H1 and H2 tags.
I revamped the H tags to better emphasize the purpose of each page to the search engines. I removed quite a few of the H2 tags and changed them to H3s, so that there would be more emphasis on the post titles, which have now been set to H2s. The way the H2 tags were setup previously, they would have had no effect whatsoever. Download Spotlight 1.3
Save to del.icio.us
Digg This!
Post to Facebook
StumbleIt