This term has been prominent since the birth of search engines and their role in online marketing’s fortune.
Getting thousands of hits and visitors from Google is the first target of any blogger. You may think starting a blog and publishing content is enough for Google and other search engines to rank you higher and pass you the traffic they get.
Well, It isn’t as simple as it sounds.
For impressing search engines, you need to keep up with the best SEO practices along with following the latest SEO trends continuously.
One of the many things that determine how well your site will rank in SERPs is its structure. The best way to get a proper, search engine optimized structure for your WordPress site is by selecting a theme that is pre-optimized keeping SEO in mind.
A proper WordPress theme that can be considered SEO friendly should be:-
- Fast & Responsive
- Schema Ready
- Secure
- Free from bloatware
- Properly Coded
- Made with correct WordPress Hooks
- Easily Indexable
You can’t deny speed and user experience while selecting a theme so, it should be customizable as well.
A good theme will help you get sitelinks, fast loading speed, reduced bounce rate, and of course increased time spent by users.
At the end of the day, it’s you who has to build your unique site and your reader who will read your content. You have a design in your mind, and to make sure you get the same, or near to it, you have to select a theme that is customizable to its core.
Below are 7 best themes for WordPress that are SEO friendly & equally customizable as well.
1. OceanWP
One of the most customizable free WordPress themes you will ever come through, OceanWP is an outstanding masterpiece from Nicolas.
OceanWP is a proper SEO optimized theme with features like:-
- Fast Loading Speed
- Extremely Customizable
- Fully responsive
- WooCommerce Ready
You also get quick support with experienced experts in case you have any queries or ideas regarding the theme and its functionality.
OceanWP is extremely customizable. Once installed, every element and area can be changed to give it a completely different look.
The OceanWP theme is entirely free. However, if you want to add extra functionality other than what a theme can do, you can always look at the extensions.
Download OceanWP
2. GeneratePress
One of the most popular themes for WordPress, GeneratePress is a free theme which allows you to have a beautiful blog with minimal efforts.
With GeneratePress, You can don’t have to worry about fonts, header space, footer scale, and anything.
Install it and activate it. Do the necessary customizations that include adding a logo and setting up navigation and widgets. That’s it. The theme comes with Schema markup.
The best part, If you ever need to upgrade the functionality of your theme, you could actually do it with a single click! GeneratePress has a premium add-on in the form of a plugin that extends its functionality without any theme upgrades.
3. Schema Lite
One of the most downloaded and appreciated SEO oriented theme from MyThemeShop, Schema is popular because of its minimal style.
Schema Lite is a free WordPress theme that is very lightweight and genuinely fast.
You don’t get much with this free version, but this theme is quite impressive when it comes to structuring.
This theme is clean but lacks visual appeal. Overall, Schema lite is an excellent choice for a blogger in tech and other related niches.
4. Astra
Astra has been dominant when it comes to its speed with UX.
Being one of the most recommended themes for beginners, Astra is a highly customizable theme based on open source code. You can quickly get this theme do whatever you want since it’s code is available on GitHub.
It even comes with all the necessary schema.org markup for better SEO. Astra is fast and free from extra bloat.
Astra is beneficial for bloggers, a photographer, a portfolio site, and more related niches and sites. It’s entirely free for the core.
Astra is made my brainstorm media, the one who made exceptional products like ConvertPlug and SchemaPro plugin.
5. Neve
Neve is a free WordPress theme developed by Themeisle. It comes with an impressive layout with various customization capabilities.
This theme is primarily made for business, blogging, and marketing niche websites. However, according to my test on the live site, this theme is great for fashion, lifestyle, photography, and other niches as well.
Neve is an SEO optimized theme and delivers a great user experience.
The colors and typography are soothing, and readability for the blog section is quite good, so you won’t have to scratch your head for making your blog more user-friendly.
6. MeridianOne Theme
MeridianOne by MeridianThemes Store is a quality theme that is free despite the structure and layout it has. It gives a fresh, premium look the moment you see it.
I came to know the MeridianThemes 5 weeks ago when I was doing the research for this post.
The MeridianOne Theme is a free theme that is fast and quite light which won’t let your site load slow.
It’s fast and delivers great user experience because of its minimal and well-structured layout. The theme fully optimized for speed and SEO, However, it is not much customizable, and you can’t change the typography for example.
This theme is best suited for tech, hobbyists, and other related bloggers.
Download MeridianOne Theme Demo
7. Zillah
If you aim to run a content-focused blog that is beautiful and SEO friendly both, Zillah is a perfect theme.
Created by ThemeIsle, I once used this theme on my blog too. A few months back, when I was choosing between free themes, I ended up with Zillah.
It is a lightweight, customizable, and apparently beautiful theme best suited for female bloggers who love to blog about their interests. I also find it quite impressive for travel bloggers.
Over To You – This list is excellent, but your contribution can make it awesome.
All you need to do is comment on your favorite free WordPress theme either from this list or any other.
Danial Wilson
Wonderful, This is more than I expected.
I like to suggest one more theme related to blog – BloggerLite WordPress theme. Blogger Lite is simple and easy to use responsive WordPress theme. It has five different main menu layouts, homepge with left-right sidebar and other features.
Aayush Bhaskar
Will look in to it, Thanks for sharing.
NITESH GANDHI
Nice themes, Good job. I will try them.
Aayush Bhaskar
Mind telling which?
Md Maruful Hoque
Dear, I want create a newspaper list site. which theme is best?
please give me details.
Aayush Bhaskar
Hi Maruful,
Every theme above is a multipurpose theme so you can pick any of them.
Avi
OceanWP Is Awesome Theme Me Using This Theme From Long Time..
Thanks
Aayush Bhaskar
You’re welcome Avi,
Ankit Chaurasiya
Very good article. I started using Astra for my blog. Thank you for this list
Aayush Bhaskar
You’re welcome Ankit, Astra is a good choice.
Bharat Goyal S
Nice seo themes, I like astra though. It is beautiful and looks solid to me. I run a fitness blog so it would work I think.
Aayush Bhaskar
Astra is a good choice, Bharat.
Deepak Kumar
Are all of them free? Do I have to pay for anything or download them straight and use it on my site?
Aayush Bhaskar
All of them are free. Some do have paid version if you need to upgrade.
aporvi
Nice seo themes, I like oceanwp but which theme u use ?
Aayush Bhaskar
I use a custom developed child theme on Genesis framework. You may find it similar to Authority theme here.
Khursheed Ray
Schema and Astra work so far fastest and look very minimal. Thanks for sharing these in your post Aayush.
Rofaz Uba
At the moment of writing this, I’m using Point [FREE] by mythemeshop. However I want to move into a full width theme and Astra is what I am looking for. Can you help me with my questions?
* If I switch Astra, Will that effect in google search ranking?
Thanks in Advance :)
Aayush Bhaskar
If you’re using an SEO plugin like Yoast or Squirrly, probably not your rankings won’t change.
Zaky
Hi Aayush Bhaskar
Do You have more Seo Friendly Theme option? I need an elegant, Clean and Fast theme.
Thank You
Aayush Bhaskar
Then you’ll have to check a paid theme like Genesis or Elegant Themes.
Mike
I started using Zillah for my Blog, because it’so simple and beautiful theme. Thanks for sharing
Shreyash Verma
Schema Lite is very simple attractive, SEO Friendly and most important is it takes minimum loading time
Sachin Jangra
Hi I use sahifa theme from Themeforest it is user-friendly or not?
Satwik Sanand
I used Schema Lite when I started. Now I use JNEWS theme. The theme is nice but loading time is an issue. Please tell me how to reduce loading time. Thanks in advance.
Aayush Bhaskar
Try using some optimization tactics like Gzip and CSS compression. Check cache plugin and use some of the WordPress speed improvement tips.
Satwik Sanand
Hi, Ayush Thanks for the quick reply!
Please note that I use WP ROCKET CACHE plugin already on my site. Should I go for a new theme? If yes, please suggest a magazine style SEO friendly Theme. Thank you :)
Aayush Bhaskar
That’s great, Magzine pro would be an absolutely amazing theme for your blog if your looking for magazine style layout. Genesis is SEO friendly from core.
Pranag Suthaliya GR.
I tried in my blog Astra theme and got good results in mobile and desktop view in google speed test. Great work dude. Astra theme is doing a perfect job for speed optimization and is very well documented and with a big community. Recommended.
Junaid Khalil
I love the astra and oceanWP theme
Manya more
I heard a lot about sahifa theme, can you tell me is sahifa theme is good for wordpress blogs? and one more question is null or cracked theme is good for website?
Aayush Bhaskar
Shafia is a light weight theme focused on design, it is quite popular. You should never use nulled or cracked themes or plugins.
manya more
Thank you for your reply. can you suggest a simple and SEO friendly theme for a simple blog? I write articles on my blog I am finding a simple theme.
Aayush Bhaskar
For simplicity, try zillah. Far by it is the best theme for writers who prefer minimal and simplistic design along with all the latest SEO optimization.
FraQueen
Thanks great themes. I like to use Astra and oceanwp and I’ll look into generatepress this week.
Rahul Ahlawat
Can you suggest which theme will be perfect for blogging out of these themes in all?
Aayush Bhaskar
You should try Astra or Zillah
Mausin Shaikh
Hello Aayush, I was searching for some best free themes and I found your blog post. I am impressed with the listing. I found Astra and WPOcean theme in many listing but the most surprising are two themes. One is Zillah and second is MeridianOne. I never heard about both these themes on any of the blog posts. I checked those themes and they are awesome.
Joseph Chikeleze
Am planning to moving my blog go WordPress next week and I need to get all things in place before moving thus making me to go in look for WP theme for it.
I will try Oceanwp theme as it looks Techie.
Ryan K Biddulph
Aayush these look good brother. Big time factor is speed these days. I have a bespoke theme but speed plays a huge role in the design, for user experience.
Ryan
Indi
Beyond all that SEO functionality, Astra is also highly customizable, offers a bunch of free demo sites that you can import with a few clicks, and as mentioned above, it works great with WordPress page builder plugins .
Arjun Singh
A great list. These themes are really awesome and fast. One for every blogger to install. Thank you Aayush.
Aayush Bhaskar
Very welcome ????
Nayeem
I am planning to move my blog go WordPress next week and I need to get all things in place before moving thus making me go in look for WP theme for it.
I will try the Oceanwp theme as it looks, Techie.
lalit meghwal
Most of the theme are excellent and working great. I recommended for sure. Added one to my blog recently for fast loading.
Anshu Mishra
Well done. Choosing a SEO friendly theme is also an essential pat while setting up a blog or website. You have done a great job for making this list.
Even I have used Neve and Flash theme in some of my blogs, and they are very easy to modify.