Does Changing WordPress Themes Impact Blog Traffic?

The very simple answer to the aforementioned question would be a resounding “yes”—Yes! Bloggers working with free WordPress themes are generally found to experiment a lot with their themes. If you are doing that too then do know for a fact that changing a WordPress theme does affect your SEO. In the course of the post today, we will discuss the “How” and “Why” of this phenomenon.

Changing WordPress Themes Affects your SEO Ranking
Our discussion – of course – starts with the two most popular WordPress Themes — i.e. Thesis and Genesis. These themes are backed by built-in SEO options. If you are using their SEO features then you are likely to experience changes in your blog’s SEO. Genesis, for instance, commands a strong presence in the digi-scape quite simply because both beginners and advanced developers can actually create incredible sites with its aid. The efficient Search Engine Optimized framework ensures that these websites are duly mobile responsive as well. Qualified website designers in Bangalore like IndGlobal have consistently endorsed Genesis and Thesis as reliable WordPress themes. It is always prudent on your end to research the themes properly before switching.

Is Using an SEO Plug-In better or an SEO-Optimized Theme?
If you are using an SEO Plugin, it will take care of your blog’s SEO. Your blog will end up retaining its previous SEO framework if you are already using an SEO-optimized theme. Now, experts suggest that if you are someone who is changing your themes often, you should work permanently with an SEO Plug-in. Now, there are bloggers who also opine that it’s better to use an SEO-optimized theme instead of a plugin – because in that case you are using a less plug-in. However, it should not really be forgotten that an SEO Plug-in actually goes on to take care of both your on-page and off-page optimization.

Ways in Which Your Blog Traffic is Affected by Change in WordPress Theme
The question is – why or how is your blog’s traffic impacted by SEO. One of the most common areas of your blog impacted by the change of WordPress theme is your heading tags. If you are shifting to a less-optimized WordPress theme then there is every chance of your Title tags (H2) and hyperlinked titles being affected. Then there are chances of your custom settings being affected as well.

Changing your WordPress theme will affect your Permalinks. In order to avoid the wrath of the Search Engines make sure you that the Permalinks in the new theme are not different from that of the old one.

The reason why Genesis and Thesis are chosen by the most prudent bloggers out there is because both of them employ proper heading tags, have clean codes and are responsive to the often-ignored nuances of SEO as well.

Recreating your Website Isn’t Only about Changing WordPress Themes
Bloggers are often found resorting to website redesigning services primarily because they want to change the WordPress theme. However, changing themes is only a part of the website redesigning process. Other dominant reasons why you may want to change the theme of the website are:

• Re-branding of your site
• Switching to a more mobile responsive theme
• You might as well want to shift the blogging framework itself – for instance – from Joomla to WordPress.

Website Redesigning: How can Professional Web Designers Help you?
The reasons behind website recreation vary – and so are the skills of the website designers who can help you with the recreations process. The best bet in this regard would be to check the credentials of the website designers before hiring. Only a qualified web design agency in Bangalore can guarantee results that comply with the purpose of your endeavors (in this case, the purpose of redesigning the website).

From setting up your website in a temporary URL to coming up with impeccable “redesigned” results – expect your web developer and designer to take care of a host of responsibilities at the same time!

The first step – of course – is to copy your existing site to a temporary URL so that you can make all the changes necessary. The changes include technical, aesthetic and functional fine-tuning (which is the reason why you need professional services). And, once you’re satisfied with the results you can easily switch to the new domain with the final results.

Everything you Should do to Ensure that the Redesigned Website doesn’t Impact Search Engine Rankings
The new website should be tested in order to check out whether there is any broken link or invalid tool. Look up the internet to find reliable free tools that will help you find invalid links. In order to avoid adverse impact on your SEO rankings, you must be careful enough to ensure that the following attributes are checked:

• Get your 301 redirection on track because it tells Google that your page has changed its URL and it also ensures that your old bookmarks are still functional with the new website going live
• Use your sitemap to tell Google that your URL structure has been altered – if you don’t do that your rankings will be seriously affected
• Once you switch to your new website you should get it verified by Google Webmaster Tools
• Make use of the FETCH AS GOOGLE OPTION in order to find out whether Google can actually read your new website or not
• Make sure Robot.txt is in order
• If you find that there are no issues associated with Google being able to read your website correctly, you can finally go on to submit your site to be indexed
• Resubmitting the sitemap to Bing and Google means that the new structure of the XML sitemap will aid the search engines to index your new site thereby alleviating risks of decreased rankings

Lastly..
It is more important than ever for you to check the bounce rate of your new site. If you end up tracking higher bounce rate, lower social media engagement and lower blog traffic, be sure that your redesigned website is not really liked by your audience.

You should not be scared of changing the WordPress theme or re-designing your website just because these practices entail significant impact on blog traffic. Make sure you are keeping the points mentioned here in view to avoid plummeting ranks.