SEO is one of the most important aspects of a website. Without it your content will be difficult for search engines to find no matter how great the content is. One of the best ways to improve your search engine optimization is to use an SEO-optimized WordPress theme.
- 1 Best SEO Friendly WordPress Themes for Highly Discoverable Content
- 2 1. Divi
- 3 2. Extra
- 4 3. Schema
- 5 4. Infinity
- 6 5. QOON
- 7 6. Gloria
- 8 7. Clementine
- 9 8. Noozbeat
- 10 9. Ember
- 11 10. Stag
- 12 11. Digital Agency
- 13 12. My City
- 14 13. SEO WP
- 15 14. Socially Viral
- 16 15. MH Magazine
- 17 Building an SEO Friendly Site Can Be Easy
Best SEO Friendly WordPress Themes for Highly Discoverable Content
It can be difficult to tell how well a theme is optimized for SEO as some of the features are sometimes hidden. Highly optimized SEO is in the details and you can tell by how the code and features are described.
A well-designed theme would have clean code that search engines love. They would be built with SEO best practices which would focus on headings, Google rich snippets for posts and reviews, Google authorship, semantic HTML5 markup, CSS3, be responsive, etc. Some themes even give you some extra tools to help you customize and improve your SEO even further.
With these features in mind I found 15 themes that are SEO friendly and help make your content highly discoverable. A few of these are older themes but they’ve been updated and are great examples of clean code that’s SEO optimized. They’re in no particular order. Let’s take a look.
1. Divi
Divi is a theme from here at Elegant Themes that has a modular drag and drop builder with dozens of modules so you can create any kind of layout you need. You can also use the many premade layouts and modify them any way you want. The theme options panel includes an SEO tab where you can set up custom SEO for your homepage, single post page, and index page.
You can set up custom titles, description, keywords, canonical URL’s, custom fields, and lots more. You can enable or disable any field you want, giving you complete control over how the theme can handle your SEO. It’s a great choice for building any kind of website you can imagine.
Features include:
- Custom SEO
- Drag and drop builder
- Dozens of modules
- WPML ready including RTL support
- Responsive
- Clean code
- Theme customizations
- Custom CSS
- Theme options panel
- Dozens of premade layouts
Price: $69 | More Information
2. Extra
Extra is Elegant Themes’ magazine theme built on the Divi modular platform. It adds a category builder so you can create custom magazine layouts that focus on categories. It includes dozens of modules and premade layouts and you can modify them to create your own layouts to use and reuse. The ePanel includes custom SEO features for your homepage, single post page, and index page SEO. You can enable or disable each feature.
SEO functions include title, meta description, keywords, canonical URL’s, and more. You can set up definable characters to separate names and choose the autogeneration method. It’s a great choice for any kind of online magazine.
Features include:
- Custom SEO features
- Drag and drop builder
- Category builder
- Dozens of modules
- Dozens of premade layouts
- Responsive
- Options panel
- Custom CSS
- Mega menu
Price: $69 | More Information
3. Schema
Schema is a fast loading theme that’s ultra SEO friendly. It includes a custom options panel, custom widgets and shortcodes, and a built in review system. It follows SEO best practices and has high quality code with a fast loading time. It identifies content, media pages, and rich snippets to search engines so they know how to identify your content which can rank your website higher in the search results. It’s a good choice for personal blogs and magazines.
Features include:
- Ultra SEO friendly
- Options panel
- Review system
- Ad management
- Responsive
- Shortcodes
- Rich snippet support
- Custom CSS
- Unlimited backgrounds
- Translation ready
- Related posts
- Google fonts
- 350 icons
- Custom widgets
- Social media integration
Price: $59 | More Information
4. Infinity
Infinity is a high performance theme designed specifically for speed and SEO optimization. It’s highly optimized and will improve your PageSpeed and YSlow scores and includes clean code. It has several page templates and you can design your own layouts using the included Visual Composer plugin. It includes lots of shortcodes and widgets and you can customize the look of the site using the live customizer. It’s an excellent choice for corporations.
Features include:
- Custom options panel
- Responsive
- Unlimited sidebars
- Blog options
- Shortcode generator
- Visual Composer
- Bootstrap
- Translation ready with RTL support
- Live customizations
- 519 icons
- 500 Google fonts
- AJAX contact form
Price: $49 | More Information
5. QOON
QOON is a creative theme with lots of features and layouts built in. It can build any kind of page you need using Visual Composer and has several built in templates to help you get started. It was coded with HTML5, CSS3, and jQuery to be fast and clean. You can create unlimited portfolio pages and each one can have its own settings and categories. It was built with SEO in mind with a focus on headings, Google rich snippets, etc. It has a strong focus on UX and is a great choice for portfolios and agencies.
Features include:
- Revolution Slider
- Visual Composer
- Multiple post formats
- Multiple slideshows
- Unlimited portfolio pages
- Unlimited colors
- Advanced typography
- Focus on UX
- SEO optimized
- Responsive
Price: $49 | More Information
6. Gloria
Gloria is a drag and drop magazine theme that was developed with the best clean SEO practices in mind. It comes with 6 demos that you can modify to help you get started. Choose between the many post formats and layouts or create your own. It also has 6 headers, parallax, mega menu, unlimited colors, timeline, news ticker, and a theme customization panel. The sliders and animations are smooth. This one is a great choice for magazines and personal blogs.
Features include:
- Drag and drop
- Mega menu
- Unlimited colors
- Unlimited fonts
- AJAX live search
- AJAX load more
- AJAX login
- 6 demos
- 6 headers
- Parallax
- Review system
- Social buttons
- Unlimited sidebars
- Responsive
- Supports Google rich snippets
- Theme options panel
- Translation ready with RTL support
- Ad management
Price: $49 | More Information
7. Clementine
Clementine is a simple and clean theme that was made with SEO in mind. It comes with lots of layouts, page templates, widgets, shortcodes, etc., to help you develop any type of website you want where simplicity is the goal without losing features. You can customize your site even further using the advance options panel. It’s a good choice for personal blogs, artists, and photographers.
Features include:
- Options panel
- Post formats
- 3 sliders
- 8 widgets
- 9 layouts
- Unlimited sidebars
- Google maps
- Translation ready
- Responsive
- Font Awesome icons
- Shortcodes
- Social buttons
Price: $49 | More Information
8. Noozbeat
Noozbeat is a simple magazine with multiple homepage layouts that focus on SEO. It includes multiple homepage and category layouts so you can create the pages you want. There are three different post types including a ratings post type where you can write detailed ratings for reviews. It’s a clean theme that loads fast and is ideal for any kind of magazine or blog.
Features include:
- Category layouts
- Unlimited colors
- Custom widgets
- Ad management
- Theme options
- Social icons
- Widgets
- SEO optimized
- Speed optimized
- Translation ready
- Responsive
Price: $39 | More Information
9. Ember
Ember is a one-page theme with parallax that can be expanded into an online store using WooCommerce. The sections are tied to the menu structure which even includes a max mega menu. Sample pages and post types are included which will display, along with your latest blog post, on the main page within your sections.
Shortcodes and customizable colors allow you to customize the theme to suit your needs. You can manage your SEO using the tools included within the theme. It’s a great choice to creative agencies and freelancers.
Features include:
- Shortcodes
- Customizable options panel
- Customizable colors
- Responsive
- Google fonts
- Integrated social media
- Custom CSS
- SEO optimization
- Sliders
- Parallax
- Icons
- Max mega menu
- Translation ready
Price: $39 | More Information
10. Stag
Stag is an interactive portfolio designed to showcase your work using SEO best practices with a focus on the user’s experience. It includes several theme demos and you can customize them even further using the drag and drop page builder. The theme options, parallax backgrounds, customizable header, and CSS animations add to the beauty of this theme. It’s a great choice for freelancers and creative agencies.
Features include:
- Revolution Slider
- Visual Composer with Delicious Addons
- Templatera
- Multiple layouts
- Post types
- Customizable header
- WPML ready with RTL support
- 600 Google fonts
- Options panel
- On-scroll CSS
- SEO optimized
- Includes child theme
- Enhanced for social networking
Price: $49 | More Information
11. Digital Agency
Digital Agency is an SEO optimized theme with page templates designed specifically for creative agencies. Showcase your work using a Case Study page that can display in 2, 3, or 4 columns. Talk about your services using the Services, About, and FAQ pages. Show off your work with one of the several portfolio pages which will display in 2, 3, or 4 columns. SEO optimization utilized the latest code trends and best practices for onsite optimization. This is a great choice for freelancers and creative agencies.
Features include:
- Visual Composer
- Revolution Slider
- Ultimate Addons
- Unlimited colors
- Advanced control panel
- Page templates
- Ultra responsive
- SEO optimized
- Translation ready with RTL support
- Custom widgets
Price: $59 | More Information
12. My City
My City was designed to showcase local events, communities, and directories. It has a strong focus on local SEO. A built in Google keyword planner helps you develop content specifically for your local area. The included stats can show you your SEO ranking factors so you know where to focus your social media efforts.
Included widgets let you give special offers to your readers. It even includes the Uber Taxi service affiliate program. It’s an excellent theme for any website that focuses on local events or communities.
Features include:
- Google keyword planner
- Google maps
- Slider Revolution
- Visual Composer
- Testimonials Showcase
- EventOn event calendar
- Tickera
- Shortcodes
- CSS animations
- Responsive
- User cards
- Icons
- Multiple layouts
- Uber Taxi affiliate
- Custom widgets
Price: $49 | More Information
13. SEO WP
SEO WP is an SEO-focus theme made in 2014 that was recently updated. It was created for SEO agencies and works to be the example of their SEO efforts. It includes premium SEO plugins to help improve SEO and page-loading. It includes sections for case studies, marketing free books and resources, a landing page template, forms, and more. It was named the best SEO WordPress theme for 2015 on ThemeForest. It’s a great choice for SEO and marketing agencies.
Features include:
- Visual Composer
- Master Slider
- Social sharing buttons
- Customizable
- Responsive
- Premium images included
- 10 premium plugins
- Front-end content creator
- Mega menu
- Icons for SEO services
- Google SERP checker
- Fast loading
- Translation ready
Price: $49 | More Information
Socially Viral is a simple magazine theme designed to improve social sharing and boost viral traffic. It’s also designed to boost your search engine rankings. With a primary focus of improving traffic and social sharing, it has the social features you would expect such as sharing buttons, trending posts, social integration, featured posts, and more.
It loads fast and even has schema integration so your website will rank higher in local searches. There are 2 different layouts built in and you can drag and drop single post elements. It’s a great choice for magazines and blogs of all types.
Features include:
- Mega menu
- Schema integration
- Subscription box
- 4 different loading effects
- Adsense optimized
- Social media icons
- Light
- Responsive
- Parallax
- Optimized for speed
- Option panel
- Shortcodes
- Font Awesome icons
- 600 Google fonts
- Ratings system
- Unlimited colors
- Unlimited sidebars
- Lazy load
- Translation ready with RTL support
Price: $59 | More Information
15. MH Magazine
MH Magazine is an older theme but it’s also a fast-loading theme designed to impress SEO experts. The code was written with the best SEO practices in mind. The theme is a widgetized template with multiple widget areas and comes with lots of custom widgets that you can place anywhere.
There are 12 demos of various layouts and color schemes to help you get started and show what can be done with the theme. It’s a great choice for any type of magazine, blog, or SEO-focused agencies.
Features include:
- Google fonts
- Unlimited colors
- Custom widgets
- FlexSlider 2
- Multiple layout options
- Clean code
- Theme customizations
- Responsive
- Translation ready
Price: $49 | More Information
Building an SEO Friendly Site Can Be Easy
That’s 15 of the best SEO friendly WordPress themes that make your content highly discoverable. As you can see, being SEO friendly is more than just being compatible with the many SEO plugins available for WordPress. These themes include clean code that follows best practices for SEO to tell search engines about your content. Between these 15 themes you’re sure to find what you need to rank high in search engine results and get your content discovered.
Article thumbnail image by Bloomua / shutterstock.com
Divi is a great theme, used it many times now and works well with Yoast for SEO.
The list of the best SEO friendly WordPress themes is without doubt excellent one. If we wan your website or blog rank well in Google, then it is vital for your website or blog have an SEO friendly WordPress theme.
Great collection of superb WordPress themes.
Very useful post and interesting collection of info. Thanks for sharing.
Very interesting post!
Have worked with several themes that make SEO difficult so I will give the themes on this list a close look.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi Randy,
I really love DeepFocus and ePhoto theme. Is it possible that someday, those theme would powered by Divi?
Yes
Divi is really nice to handle with SEO plugings like Yoast.
Magazine is also nice theme in terms of SEO optimization 🙂
Its difficult to say which one is better. What say?
How compatible is Divi with seo plug in such as pushbuttonseo and squirrly?
Great collection. Divi, Infinity and Qoon themes I like the most.
I’ve been seeing a massive growth in clients using divi over any other theme on the market including all those from themeforest – what’s the main reason for this?
Thanks for sharing important news for seo friendly themes. I want to use one of them now for my website. Is there a seo friendly themes that free??
Some of these templates are getting old for SEO, still a good list, except for DIVI which is the best template, can’t wait for 3.0.
Great list of awesome WordPress themes.
Thanks for sharing.
I use DIVI for my clients and it proved to drive in some really good results!
Awesome.
This was one hell of a list.
Hi Randy,
Really Thanks for sharing!
Actually, I really come to know that there are all the best SEO friendly themes out of all we have on web. Sure I will try one of these.
Thanks,
Hema
Great collections, I like Schema and Stag, thanks man ?
Hi Randy,
It was quite surprising to know that none of the studiopress and thrive themes are SEO friendly. 🙂
P.S. I am a great fan of Elegant Themes but I am also a fan of unbiased lists posts 🙂
This is a great list. I am wondering which is the best SEO, and fastest loading for e-commerce?
Love your informative posts!
Thanks Bab. Most of the themes on this list would be great for eCommerce. Ember, Divi, and Extra are especially good (imo).
I always thought Divi was a good theme, plays very nicely with the yoast plugin. Takes some of the stress out of the SEO process
Great Article.. so useful.
thanks
Also Thanks For this Article 🙂
Hi Randy!
is AVADA not SEO friendly ?
Hi Abdullah. It is. I was looking for extra SEO features, newer themes, and some that are not so well-known. Avada is a great theme.
ohh yeah, that’s good keep it up and thanks for reply 🙂
I was actually looking for this. I am ready to use them on my new blog actually. I have always been a fan of your themes and my blog are the living proof of it! 😛 😀
Thanks for this article. I think that the most important point right now for SEO is the loading time. (after the basics like content and backlinks of course)
And i’m not sure if a theme with heavy plugins like visual composer for example can be good for SEO ? Or do you need very fast hosting solutions.
What do you think ?
In my experience theme coded with a proper semantic (schema protocol, for example) can have an impact on the ranking.
They are many factors that will improve your SEO.
Yes, speed is one of them, but in my opinion, it doesn’t matter if you site loads in 2 sec instead of 1 sec, as long as the other factors are there.
For the mobile version of your site, it might matter a little more, but they are ways to make it load faster.
Either way, I think that using Visual Composer help you to make a website that people want to browse, and consequently it might improve some other factors of your SEO.
Hope that helps
Whilst I would agree that the themes that divi produce do pretty well there is still a major issue with any images within a gallery having their title and alt tags stripped out…not great
Any news on a fix for this?
Thanks
Damien
Curious Randy. how do you evaluate whether a theme’s SEO implementation is good or not? I have several checks that I perform and I’m interested in seeing if you do the same.
Hi Quentin. I look at several points. One is SEO features within the options panel (ET’s themes have this). Another is the code for speed optimization, minification, and code types. I also look for features for schema, rich snippets, etc.
I’m interested in hearing your evaluations (and thanks ahead of time for sharing).
I like the design look of Divi but I’m not sure I would agree that it is the best for SEO. Unless I am mistaken it does not support schema or rich snippets. I use Divi on one of my sites. On another I wanted to use Extra which again I like the look of but it certainly did not support rich snippets and also had an issue with huge page sizes which is also great for SEO.
One of the other themes mentioned in this round-up was Schema which is actually the theme I went with instead of Extra for this other project. Schema did not look as fancy as Extra but it still allowed me to create an attractive site and it really does work well for SEO.
I’m a fan of Divi but let’s not pretend it’s the best theme for every scenario and there are certainly a few areas where Divi and Extra can be improved, SEO being one of them. There are lots of comments on forums also about how it does not always work well with Yoast but there are always other SEO plugins that others have success with.
Thanks Randy for sharing!
Actually I found Divi to the best SEO friendly out of all you have on here. I’ve tried several others, but Divi run smoothly with Yoast and other SEO parameters.
Thanks James! I agree!
Hi
Using Divi on one site at the moment and is great!
My question is apart from Divi and Extra which I have yet to try, are there any other stand out themes I should try from my Elegant bundle?
Thanks Dan
All of our themes are kept up to date. So you should feel free to try any theme that catches your fancy. That said, I’d recommend sticking with these two as they are the two themes we are putting most of our design/dev energy behind.