Does Changing the WordPress Theme Affect Search Engine Rankings?

The frequently asked question is, “Does changing WordPress theme affect search engine rankings?” Many people find that when they change their WordPress theme, their rankings change, too. But this change may be due to other reasons that have nothing to do with the theme itself.

A new theme by itself may not make a difference in your ratings, but if that theme presents your data in a different way or in a different order in your HTML, there is a possibility of change in the ranking.

In blogs, there are other things besides visible text that need to be addressed. Here are some ways in which changing your theme can make your ratings drop.

Your HTML order is important

Search engines like Google read your HTML linearly. This order may not be the same as the one displayed on the screen. Boxes and tables of contents can present your content in a way that is different from the way HTML expresses the source code of the page.

If you change a theme with the right sidebar to the one with the left sidebar, spiders will usually see the sidebar content before the original text. That will most likely affect your ranking.

For any theme, it’s important to see the order of the page’s programming in your browser. Separate the page or post, right-click and click on “View Page Source”. Then make sure that the HTML in the Body section shows the original text before the sidebar content.

The algorithm gives a different value to your keywords or words that have semantic relevance depending on where your linear HTML is provided. These algorithms first read the tables outside the text and then the text within the tables in the order in which the tables were presented. Primary text gets higher value than the text you end up with, while keywords in the last paragraph will also get high value.

In short, if your new theme changes the way your HTML is read by search engine spiders, your ranking will also be affected.

Meta Data

Meta Data is very important to your search engine ranking. At least you should use the same SEO plugins that you used on your blog. If you’ve been using Yoast WordPress SEO with your main theme, make sure to use Yoast with your new theme as well. If you also use the plugins and widgets you used in the previous theme for the new theme, you can be sure that changing the theme will not affect your rating.

Make sure that the meta description header tags are the same, and that all the meta data provided in your HTML header section is the same. A change can certainly affect your listing position.

Changing permalinks

Permalinks are the URLs of your blog posts, and like the URLs of web pages, they point to that page on your website. If the permalink also changes with the WordPress theme, it will definitely have a bad effect on your search engine rankings.

It is important to make sure the permalinks in your new theme are exactly the same as in the previous theme. Make sure the URLs are directed to the same posts or pages as the old permalinks.

Other bloggers also use permalinks to link to your page, and you can also use it as a backlink from another web page to your site or the email linking to your post.

Otherwise, Google reduces the rankings of posts and pages that were ranked for keywords / keywords. If you can’t create a permalink with your new theme, then at least make sure you create a redirect to the original permalink URL to avoid error 2.

Maintain all available links

Only permalink doesn’t matter. Google’s algorithm that calculates your search engine rankings counts all links to your blog post. Every link in the new theme for your blog should be exactly the same as the old theme. For example, a tag link should be maintained, and any link to hyperlinks, archives, graphics and images should also be maintained.

It is important that when you make a change to your theme, check the overall structure of the links to make sure all links are still working. This not only includes links to the post or page body but also links to sidebars, widgets, and any ads you have on your page.

Miscellaneous reasons for ranking changes

Adsense Blocks

If it seems that changing your search engine rankings theme has affected you, whether it’s a positive or a negative impact, it may be for some other reason. If you have switched your Adsense Blocks between two themes, or even used more blocks in the new theme (for example you used 2 blocks instead of 2 blocks), this could undercut your rating. Affect.

Google may penalize your page for having too much ad on one page, relative to the amount of text. Even if your AdSense position is intelligently set, your rating may improve. There are more than 5 factors in determining your listing, and only Google knows what all of these factors are.

Page Speed and Bounce Rate

The speed of loading a blog is also important. If your blog loads very slowly in a visitor’s browser, they might as well leave your blog instead of waiting.

Bounce rate is one of the factors contributing to your ranking, so compare the loading speed of the old and new theme. Free tools like GTmetrix and age Speed Insights are available online to help you do this.

W3C validation

If the HTML in the old W3C theme is valid but the new theme HTML is not, then there may be crawling errors for this theme. This in turn may lead to a loss of rank.

Schema.org

If your new theme is created using common punctuation words like Schema.org, your listing will improve. The Genesis WordPress framework is an example of this. If you choose any theme that will positively impact the readability of your website by the search engines, you will find that the ranking improves.

Conclusion

If you have to change your theme, choose a theme that is closer to your previous theme in terms of diversity. For example, choose another WordPress theme, or choose a theme designed by the same company that designed your original theme.

If this is not possible for you, make as little changes as you can. Once you are sure that changing the theme has not changed your rating, you can then start making other changes at other times so you can identify the cause of your rating loss.

So, does changing WordPress theme affect search engine rankings? Yes, it can, but not always.