Google Ranking: 11 Best WordPress Themes for SEO Optimization

Having a website configured for search engine optimization is the major goal of every website owner. This should also be your primary focus, as, with it, your website will be visible to your online users.

Installing and activating an SEO-optimized theme is one of the first things you must do to get your website optimized for SEO before even thinking of producing quality and engaging content that matches users’ search intent.

When you make use of an SEO-optimized WordPress theme,  your website becomes mobile-friendly, loads faster, and gives those who visit your website a unique user experience.

Theme selection is the first setup you need to make after building your website and before installing various essential WordPress plugins.

Some of these themes come in a free version, while others require that you purchase or upgrade from the free version for better performance.

There are about 12,447 themes in the WordPress directory, and therefore, you might need help to choose any theme that is SEO-friendly.

In order to ease your stress, I have come up with the 11 best SEO-optimized themes that you can choose from and use on your WordPress website. Make sure to read in detail till the end.

11 Best WordPress themes for SEO optimization 

The following are the lists of WordPress themes you can use to optimize your website and make it SEO-friendly. 

1. Kadence

Kadence is a lightweight, SEO-friendly theme for creating beautiful, fast-loading websites that will give your visitors a unique user experience.

Because of its simplicity and uniqueness, it can be used to design any website. It has an easy-to-drag header and footer builder, which enables you to build any header and footer in minutes.

It has a free version, which you can use to optimize your website or upgrade to the premium version for more advanced features. 

2. Astra

Astra is a lightweight fully customizable theme that can make your website responsive and beautiful. It is lightweight and gives high-speed performance.

It works perfectly well with some page builders like Elementor, Beaver Builder, Visual Composer, Divi, etc.

Some of the features and benefits of this theme are that it reduces website design time, changes the design layout through a variety of options, and works perfectly well with a lot of plugins. 

You can use the free version or purchase the pro version for as low as $49

3. OceanWP

OceanWP is a lightweight and dynamic theme that will enable you to design any website with ease; it has a lot of inbuilt templates that can be used alongside several WordPress page builders.

It is an extremely versatile theme with about 5k+ reviews and 7,463,513 downloads. It employs the best SEO practices and regularly updates its features for better performance.

OceanWP has a free version you can start customizing your website with, but it also has a premium version ranging from a starter’s pack to an Agency pack.

4.GeneratePress

GeneratePress is one of those WordPress themes that can boost your website speed and SEO performance. The theme is fully customized and responsive, uses valid code like HTML/CSS, and is translated into over 25 languages, making it very powerful and popular worldwide.

It has 60+ color controls, powerful dynamic topography, 5 navigation locations, 5 sidebar layouts, drop-down menus, and 9 widget areas, and it works perfectly well with any page builder.

Generatepress comes alongside with a free and premium version.

5. Neve

Neve is a fully AMP customized and responsive theme that loads faster in just a few seconds and adapts perfectly to any device. It weighs at most 50kb with a highly optimized SEO code, resulting in ranking at the top in Google Search Results.

Using this theme in your website will benefit you a lot as it works perfectly well with Gutenberg and the popular page builders like Elementor, Brizy, Beaver Builder, Visual Composer, SiteOrigin, and Divi.

You can try it out using the free version or upgrade to any of the pro versions for advanced features. 

6. Jannah

Jannah is a multi-purpose WordPress theme that gives your website an aesthetic design and interface. It has a lot of built-in templates that work perfectly well with any page builder.

The layout makes it SEO-friendly and will definitely boost the performance of your website. There is no free version for this theme. You can only use it by purchasing it directly from an online store.

7.BlogHash 

Bloghash is a lightweight, fully customized theme that is basically used for blogs. It has plenty of options to adjust color and topography, thereby making your website unique.

It is SEO-friendly and works well with WPML, Gutenberg, Elementor, and Woocommerce, and it supports translation and RTL.

BlogHash comes in a free version; you can download  and start using it on your website.

8. Iris WP

Iris WP is a friendly, innovative, and easily customizable multi-purpose WordPress theme that will give your website an astonishing design.

The theme is basically designed for small businesses, startups, or portfolio websites, and it works perfectly well with the Kubio page builder. You can get this theme for free in the WordPress directory.

9. Divi

Divi theme is one of the most used and popular WordPress themes, and it is definitely going to make your website SEO- and mobile-friendly. 

Using the Divi theme gives you the opportunity to combine its visual designs with your own custom CSS, enjoy a lot of unique page elements with design options,  and enables you to move elements around on the front end of your website without coding.

Divi theme works with the Divi page builder. There is no free version of the theme, but you will be offered a free trial for 30 days to familiarise yourself with it. After the free trial, you can proceed to make a payment if you love its features. 

10. Seo crawler

If you are planning on running a business or agency, then using the SEO crawler theme is the best option for you. It also works well with digital marketing websites.

Seo crawler has a lot of inbuilt inner pages and other customizable features that work alongside many page builders. Its structure makes it SEO-friendly with a fast loading speed.

This theme does not come with a free version; you can get it for as low as $64 on Themeforest.

11. Betheme

Betheme is a responsible and multi-purpose theme that adds a touch of professionalism and beauty to your website. 

It has a top-notch layout, which makes it possible for website visitors to navigate through the pages of your website with ease.

If you ever think of any professional theme to use on your website, then Betheme should be your number one option.

Betheme theme works perfectly with Elementor page builder, Beaver, and woocommerce.

The theme has no free version; you can get it at a premium price of $60 on Themeforest. 

Final Thought 

When you use an SEO-optimized theme on your website, it makes it easier for Google to crawl and index your website faster.

With the presence of a lot of WordPress themes, the ones listed above are among the ones that can get the job done perfectly for you.

This is because they have been used over time and proven to be good and reliable in terms of number of users and installation, compatibility, speed, responsiveness, and mobile friendly. These themes can be used to build all kinds of websites.

To install any of these themes, go to Appearance from your admin dashboard, click on Themes, and head to Add new Themes; search for the theme from the search box; once you find the theme, click on Install and then Activate.

If you can’t find the theme in the WordPress directory, you can purchase it from the developer’s platform and upload it to your dashboard in zip format.