2 replies to this topic

[dzinerbear]

Does anyone have experience with how Google views changing a blog's theme. Just as Google was rolling out its last algo change at the end of January, I was installing a new theme on one of my blogs. In the days that followed, I watched my Google traffic crash.

My blog is still indexed.

I'm not ranking in top ten for words and phrases that I used to.

I've used this "new" theme on other sites and they're still doing fine, so I'm certain there's not a problem with the theme.

My Google traffic has been solid for months, so I don't believe there are any problems with my blog.

I write heaps of original content and don't do anything SEOers would consider hinky.

Does Google consider a theme change enough of a major change to throw you into the mythical or real sandbox?

Thanks
Michael

[Jill]

If the new theme is just colors and look and didn't change your site architecture then it is unlikely that's the problem.

[dzinerbear]

If the new theme is just colors and look and didn't change your site architecture then it is unlikely that's the problem.

If you mean did it change category and file names, no this theme didn't do any of that. I didn't think a theme change could impact a site this way, but I thought I'd ask. Thanks for answering, Jill.

It's just so frustrating because all the sites that now rank for the keywords I used to have are pretty crappy sites. I was hoping things would change as Google tweaked the algo, but it's been over three weeks now. So I'm at a loss.