Layout and structure – WordPress theme design
One of many reasons why wordpress, as a blogging software is loved by bloggers is because it gives us ability to choose any themes you want without paying any dimes.
Right after you install wordpress, you can choose many templates, with many variations of layout and structure, it can have 1 column, 2, or 3 column themes, inside your dashboard or admin page. (related: how to upload wordpress theme.)
You can also then modify the layout and structure of the theme you choose by editing the css file, add logo to your theme, and so much more.
Editing wordpress theme layout and structure depends on the theme you are using. It can be a bit difficult if you have to edit the core file, but it can also be so easy if you use some premium theme like Thesis. (I am using Thesis theme for this blog).
In Thesis, it is so very easy to edit layout and structure because they are available in the theme options.
For instance, if I would want to change my layout and structure, from having one sidebar to two sidebars, I can easily go to column option and choose which layout I want.
Editing the colors are easy too since it only requires some color selection and a mouse click.
Layout and Structure of a WordPress theme – SEO Effect
Content of our websites are indeed the most important element of Search Engine Optimization our blogs or websites, however, there are some points that we must consider before deciding the layout and structure of a theme you want to use:
1. Easy navigation theme.
Layout and structure of a wordpress theme can reduce a site’s bounce rate, because the more user friendly and more easy to navigate, people tend to stay in your site longer.
2. Loading speed.
Having a reliable a webhosting to host your site is important to have a faster loading speed. (related: move to vps server experience, account suspended by host). But even if you have a fast webserver, but your theme layout and structure is not optimized for loading speed, then your site can irritate your visitors first, and second, Search Engine Bots. (realted: Google traffic for a blog ).
3. How clean is the theme’s code.
This last point has some pros and cons, but I do believe the more clean code of a theme, would be benefit for Search Engine bots crawling.
I also believe the more cleaner codes before your contents, will give more chances for the Search Engine bots to crawl your keywords, since all of them are in the content.
Imagine, you are Google bot that has a few seconds to crawl on a page, and if before content, you have long complicated code, before the time is up, you can’t reach the end of the content, but only at the beginning or maybe can’t reach the content at all.
Layout and Structure of a WordPress theme – Suggestion?
I am not an expert on SEO field, I am learning it by trying this and that method, and then see the result from this blog.
But if only I had to choose a wordpress theme which has a better layout and structure, I would choose some themes which fits into these points:
1. Should not have many Javascripts.
2. Should not have too big images.
3. Should not have too many codes in the header.
4. Should load fast.
5. Should be easy to customize.
6. Should appear the same in all browsers. (related: my blog looks different in a browser)
Those 6 points are should be in if only I had to choose the layout and structure of a theme.