Well, I have read many articles about the pro’s and cons of using Thesis and it’s SEO benefits. I’m not going to give you the ins and outs of Thesis, but rather give you the cold facts that I know are true and 100% correct in my case.
My facts are based on my old theme and my new Thesis theme.
Previous Theme
My previous theme on Serradinho was One Theme and I loved it. I had used it for many, many months before my current theme. With using One Theme, I also used the All-in-One SEO Pack plugin from WordPress and I made sure to fill out all the custom fields when creating new posts.
Old Google analytics stats for traffic sources
As you can see above from my previous theme, most of my traffic was coming from referring sites and that was a major concern for me. I actually thought it might be my titles, content, keywords or tags being used.
Using Thesis Theme
I have been using Thesis for just over a month now and am very impressed with the results. I customized my theme to try and make it as unique as possible. I have asked many readers and visitors what to change and received a lot of feedback.
With me using Thesis, I removed the All-in-One SEO Pack plugin. Although Thesis can still work with the plugin, I felt no need of having a plugin which would achieve the same results as justing using the theme itself.
New Google analytics stats for traffic sources
Can you see the difference of me using Thesis? My traffic from search engines had more than tripled. My traffic from referring sites has dropped a lot. I know my direct traffic decreased.
Let me just say for the record that I’m totally realistic when I ask:
How many people would type Serradinho in search engines?
Maybe just a handful of people who know me from my site. Direct traffic will increase in time once people hear more about me and my site, ha ha ha 
Just to let you know, what I do now when posting is exactly the same as I did with my previous theme. NO DIFFERENCE AT ALL
Conclusion
My assumption boils down to that Thesis has great SEO benefits and I intend on capitalizing on it. I wish to increase my search engine traffic and to eventually increase my direct traffic. Hopefully when I make it big time
I know there are other themes with the same kind of SEO benefits as Thesis and I applaud those theme developers. SEO plays an important role in others finding your site and content.
I know you might have a difference of opinion, so lets have it.
Whats your experience?
Where does most of your traffic come from?
Don’t be shy, I won’t bite.
I am the proud owner of Serradinho Blog and have made this my second home. I'm into blogging, downloads, WordPress, meeting and helping others, etc. Basically the internet in general :) Serradinho Web Services is my own company whereby I offer my services to clients. This ranges from web design, website upgrades, theme customizations, support, premium WordPress plugins and many more .....
View all posts by George Serradinho, there might be other posts that interest you.
{ 39 comments }
Congratulations. Thesis theme is really a great seo theme!
.-= Toan Nguyen Minh´s last blog ..Interview With Dan Keller =-.
@Toan Nguyen Minh – thanks for visiting, it is a great SEO theme.
i heard great things also about thesis especially its SEO capabilities that can make a newbie blog like an SEO pro. and i am seeing almost so many using the thesis.
.-= elmot´s last blog ..Top Ten Emerging Influential Blogs: The Return of the Darth Vader =-.
@elmot – it’s great to see people using Thesis, I just love it.
Thesis really boosting ur traffic
George
The major thing why I will suggest Thesis to anyone is because he can forget about SEO part with this theme….
SEO becomes a major concern after some time and Thesis takes care of it…
harsh
.-= Harsh Agrawal´s last blog ..5 ways of making money online =-.
@Harsh – thanks for emailing me and for replying here on my site. I am currently trying to work more on my SEO to get the number of visitors even higher.
Man 12.95% to 40% is a remarkable increment.. My good luck is with you.. Hope to see some great improvement soon
.-= Harsh Agrawal´s last blog ..5 ways of making money online =-.
@Harsh – it was a remarkable jump, but I still need it to be higher and higher.
Seeing so many bloggers using this theme, I’m sure there must be something in it that attracts so many people! You’ve just given an analysis and proven that thesis does work!
Cheers
Sandeep
.-= Curious Little Person´s last blog ..SEO Tools: 5 Minute SEO with SEO Blogger =-.
@CLP – there are many users this theme and others, it boils down to what they feel comfortable with
This theme looks clean and readable.
.-= Rahul´s last blog ..Best Adsense Revenue Sharing Websites =-.
@Rahul – thanks for the complement, I do try my best to keep it simple and clean.
Wow… now you really gives me a ponder to use Thesis theme on my blog… I thought the SEO optimization part is just a gimmick marketing
.-= Michael Aulia´s last blog ..Norton Antivirus 2010 Beta =-.
@Michael – SEO has increased and I hope this helps me out a bit in the long run.
I just may have to change to thesis.
.-= Deneil Merritt´s last blog ..July 2009 Discount Coupon =-.
@Deneil – Thesis has changed the way I think about SEO and all. Still trying to improve my stats though. Might do another post in a month or two to get another view.
Well keep working at it. If I decide to buy the thesis theme. I will make sure to buy it through your link.
.-= Deneil Merritt´s last blog ..Are You Sick Of Seeing Me Everywhere? =-.
@Deneil – thanks, I would appreciate it although I think your theme is unique and cool
You welcome, Thanks but I am never really happy with a theme too long so I like to change and try new things.
.-= Deneil Merritt´s last blog ..Are You Sick Of Seeing Me Everywhere? =-.
@Deneil – I see. Well, good luck with your next theme.
Just bought thesis through your link.
.-= Deneil Merritt´s last blog ..Real Comments In Spam? =-.
Thanks for this sharing your stats. I’ve been looking into Thesis for a few days, and I’m getting quite sure that I need to give it a go, everybody seems to like it.
Unfortunately the blog I’ll be using it on, is still so new that it’s not even indexed in Google yet, so it’ll be hard for me to compare Google Analytics stats like you did.
.-= Klaus at TechPatio´s last blog ..Another Chance To Join “Become A Blogger Premium” =-.
@Klaus – give it a bash, you have so much to gain from using it. The support community is just awesome with loads of customizations that can be done with your site.
If you decide to go with Thesis, then use my link found at the bottom of all my posts with details about Thesis or use the link in my footer. I would appreciate it a lot
Klaus – I started using WordPress in late 2008 after using a free html template from my internet service provider. I had one visit from a few search engines and that was it. I couldn’t even get my best and juiceist articles indexed. Even if I searched for a “string of words using inverted commas to find the exact phrase only I knew existed on my site” it would not appear.
Within 3 hours of plugging in WordPress and using a free theme – BANG! I had been indexed by Google! and the other major search engines followed suit.
After getting frustrated with the limited capability with free themes I bought Thesis and within a week – I was getting visits from Google, other majors such as Yahoo and lots of wierd sounding ones EVERY SINGLE DAY.
If you are using an HTML site – get on board with WordPress as soon as you can. It is free (if you have fantastico with your cpanel if that is what your hosting provider gives you – I had to upgrade my hosting package a few dollars a month – very worthwhile investment!) and simple.
It literally takes 2 minutes to install wordpress and the gradual conversation of articles and information is quite simple. You don’t have to bother with additional plugins for SEO – Thesis has it all. I am a believer!!
Feel free to pop over to my site Thesis Theme HQ and read more about Thesis Theme. Reviews, tips and tricks relating to WordPress and Thesis.
If you want to buy it, most of the bloggers that use it get a small commission of about $27 USD (which is great for me in Australia as our dollar is weaker). You can join the affiliate program for free and after a few sales (some give you $54 USD thereabouts) you have a free premium theme that you will love forever.
I recommend you buy it here from Serradinho.com as George is a nice guy. I reviewed his site as well a little while back – the link is at the bottom of my comment courtesy of comment luv (another excellent plugin). He is a living example of how to use Thesis really well and how to blog with great effectiveness and fun. If you haven’t subscribed to his updates – do that too! Cheers
.-= Somone´s last blog ..Switching to Thesis Theme: When Personal Blogging Becomes Business =-.
@Somone – wow, you sure left a comment. Thanks for your experience and advice. Thesis has made a huge difference to me and thousands of of users.
Hey George. Thanks for visitng my blog.
I really like the thesis theme and I’m gonna start using thesis soon.
However, I’m surprised to see the huge jump in search engine traffic since you started using thesis !!
Thesis is the coolest theme !
.-= Roseli A. Bakar´s last blog ..EzyBlogger Blog Contest Winners =-.
@Roseli – I was also shocked, but I will monitor it in the next month or two and write a post about it.
Hi George,
I just moved one of my sites over to Thesis as the existing theme was a much-hacked and widgetless one that was hard to maintain. The changeover went without too much fuss and I am very pleased with the initial results. I intend to do more to it when I get more knowledgeable about Thesis.
One thing I would like to know is how did you go about changing all the meta descriptions and meta tags created in All In One SEO to Thesis? Is there an easy way to do it or must I do it manually for each post?
Thanks for your help.
.-= Anthony´s last blog ..Magic of Making Up – How to Get Back Together After a Breakup =-.
@Anthony – do it manually for each post, ARE YOU MAD? Sorry for shouting, but that would take some time if you had many posts.
Go have a look at this link and it will show you some details: Thesis Answers
Bookmark the page as you could also use it for other things that you would like to do.
I would have be mad if I had to do it manually George, wouldn’t I?
Anyway, thanks for the link to a much easier solution. Maybe you should put the SQL query to do all this somewhere in your post.
insert into wp_postmeta (post_id,meta_key,meta_value)
select post_id, concat(‘thesis_’,meta_key),meta_value
from wp_postmeta where meta_key in (‘title’,'description’,'keywords’);
.-= Anthony´s last blog ..Magic of Making Up – How to Get Back Together After a Breakup =-.
@Anthony – I will be setting up another post whereby I put a few details down and will mention this.
George, you need to login to view this URL, and a login requires a purchase first, or so I understand:
http://diythemes.com/answers/copy-all-in-one-seo-to-thesis/
.-= Klaus at TechPatio´s last blog ..10 Blog Traffic Tips =-.
@Klaus – you are correct that you have to purchase the license in order to see it. This is for Thesis!
I’m thinking of change to Thesis now. Same with Deneil, I’ll use your link to buy Thesis for sure if I’ve decided. =)
.-= Jacob Yap´s last blog ..Contest: Win $25/$50 with Asswass.com and Hiburrito.com =-.
@Jacob – thanks, I’ll appreciate it a lot. Let me know if you need help on anything. I’m no pro, but I can help and point out a few things that I’ve learned
This is interesting. Great to know that you have gain more traffic from Thesis theme. I didn’t know Thesis theme can give such a good SEO benefits
.-= Alvin Lim´s last blog ..Blogger Venture Into Video Blogging? =-.
@Alvin – I was also surprised, but looking forward to more from Thesis.
@Deneil – thanks, I saw it went through. If you need any help, then please ask. I owe you a lot of help and assistance for all you have done for me
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