What is the BEST Local Seo wordpress theme?

[Bishop]

Hope this question has not been asked before, what do you think is the best Local Seo wordpress theme? I need a theme that is best optimized to rank locally.
Thank you!

 

[Linda Buquet]

Don Campbell, who used to work with Microsoft and now specializes in local has the best one I know of. I've seen tons of his client sites that rank high. More info about it at the top of my "Tools Page".

 

[djbaxter]

I'm not certain there is a "best" WordPress theme for Local SEO, especially in view of the ongoing debate as to whether it's better to have SEO built into the theme or into a plug-in.

However, the Thesis theme, the Genesis theme. and the StudioPress theme have some excellent built-in general SEO features. If you prefer, you can disable the built-in themes for Thesis and StudioPress to use a third party SEO plug-in such as Yoast's WordPress SEO Plugin or the All In One SEO Pack (Genesis does this automatically and I believe Thesis version 2.x does as well).

Yoast also has a well-respected Local SEO Plug-In for WordPress (see also Local SEO Plug-In Configuration Guide).

 

[djbaxter]

Or there's the one Linda mentions above...

I was composing mine while she posted.

 

[Linda Buquet]

For awhile I was collecting links to clients of Dons that use the small biz theme that ranked in the A spot. When I was doing research for other clients, I would sometimes find them at the top of the pack. Can't find the list now, but there is a ton of info on his site.

A local SEO theme as opposed to a general SEO theme will do a good job of local NAP schema etc. but I'm sure Yoast's plug-in also does a good job. I just don't know if he "lives" local like Don does, but I've heard good things about it.

 

[Dustybones]

We use seismologic and have had great success: Providing Meaningful WordPress Technology for the Entrepreneur and Internet Marketing Since 2005 | Semiologic

 

[Mark Brassey]

We have had great success retrofitting wordpress sites with Local Search SEO Contact plug - in. We have used it on about 8 acupuncturist sites which are now in the top three results. In full disclosure, we also optimized the rest of the sites for local, but the anecdotal evidence is that the plug in works.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hey Mark, that looks like a pretty cool option with lots of features.

I would just caution that I've heard it's not a good idea to use both Schema and hCard on the same page. But looks like you can suppress options you don't want to use?

 

[JoshuaMackens]

Just my 2 cents, I wouldn't get a theme based off of Local SEO.

We choose our themes based off of design (does it look nice) and the speed optimization (how many server requests does it have to parse before loading).

Local SEO can be done through widgets. NAP can be in a simple text widget. Yoast is great for meta data, etc.

Choose a theme based on how it looks and how fast it can load, because those are the two elements that are hardest (and most expensive) to change once you've decided on a theme.

 

[Jo Shaer]

I have used Don's Smallbiz themes on a lot of my sites with great results.

One caveat - it makes my developer curse like a trooper. Great for people who are no good with code and don't want to do anything fancy to change the look and feel.

 

[Cam]

Hands down the Thesis Framework by DIY Themes! I have a dev license for all of the top frameworks and themes for WP and by far, Thesis is my preferred theme of choice for it's sheer speed and robust S.E.O features that are built right into the core framework.

Thesis support is also as far as I am concerned, top shelf bar none.

Here is my site done with Thesis and a custom coded theme that I built for the site. See for yourself how fast my site is using Thesis and I have no cache plugin installed what so ever....

 

[djbaxter]

Have to agree. I'm a big fan of Thesis too.

 

[JoshuaMackens]

{Named site} less than a second and 37 requests.

Most WP sites without a caching plugin clock in at 2+ seconds and 100+ requests or so.

Very, very impressive.

Connect with me, I'd like to see about having you build websites for us. I don't enjoy it myself and would like to outsource it.

 

[Cam]

Thank you for the compliments guys but I have to admit, I'm a tad confused at this point in time.

I have received 2 likes and a warning from the Admin who also liked my comment but removed it I don't get it! ...LOL

Just to clear things up before I go and read the forum rules, I was not trying to solicit anything I was merely showing the fella what you can do with Thesis.

I'm not a spammer I just enjoy my work as much as most of you do.

Cam

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Cam,

I believe David liked the post meaning he agreed with you on the general content. I realize you weren't being spammy. But the rules do say no linkdrops to your own site except down in the help forum, so he was simply enforcing the rules while I was away. But a link to your site in sig is always fine.

 

[Cam]

Hi Cam,

I believe David liked the post meaning he agreed with you on the general content. I realize you weren't being spammy. But the rules do say no linkdrops to your own site except down in the help forum, so he was simply enforcing the rules while I was away. But a link to your site in sig is always fine.

Honestly, I don't think anyone reads forum rules (I know I didn't) but I suppose at 43 years old and spending 16hrs a day on the computer and actively being involve with online communities to the extent that I am, I really should know better.

I was not aware of that so thank you for clearing that up for me Linda.

Man, I must have looked for 10 minutes trying to find the forum rules after I got done posting that and for the life of me I couldn't find them anywhere. Hell, I even did a search which yielded a NO-Go as well.

Where did you yank that from Linda if you don't mind?


Thank you

Cam

 

[djbaxter]

Sorry, Cam. I thought there was a link to the forum rules from the main navigation bar.

Thank you for pointing out that it had gone missing. I've now added a Rules link to the navigation bar on every forum page.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Where did you yank that from Linda if you don't mind?

Hi Cam,

It's a sticky at the top of each forum. For instance here in the "local search" section of the forum you posted in.

However it WAS a more obvious link at top of forum nav but I guess went missing during an update, so David just added it back at the top.

Sorry about that and no worries about the link.