SEO Tycoon

**astrojith** · 01-26-2007, 07:29 AM

Is this possible, folks ? I've been using this theme for 2 weeks now. Even if I didn't see much difference, I want to know, is this possible ?

Getting 455% increase in traffic just because of a Wordpress theme called Cutline !! This really belongs to the realm of unreality. I mean, even if he says "Cutline framework, which I built from scratch with SEO in mind ....", this couldn't happen. Of course I'm having increase in traffic.

Can any expert inspect this theme ? Is he telling the truth ? More over, I think off-site SEO is much more effective than in-site SEO. You may consider reading this article - "How I Increased Search Engine Traffic by 455% in One Month".

**stOx** · 01-26-2007, 08:23 AM

It may be true, If the theme impliments better SEO than the last.
If the new theme uses <h1> tags when the old one just used large font that will help improve ranking in the search engines.

**ForrestCroce** · 01-27-2007, 02:38 AM

On the other hand, you have to wonder about cause and effect versus coincidence. Just about everybody in prison drank milk when they were children; milk didn't turn them into criminals.

Look into your web stats and see where these new visitors are coming from.

**astrojith** · 01-27-2007, 09:23 AM

Well, I think I am recieving more traffic. But I do post good content you know. I wish someone could actually look into the code in the theme.

**vangogh** · 01-27-2007, 12:02 PM

It's possible the theme has something to do with it. I believe Chris Pearson designed Cutline with seo in mind so it's possible it's doing something to improve traffic.

It's also possible that over time your site and some of your backlinks have gained the authority to rank for more keyword phrases than you were previously and so are getting more traffic.

It could be a handful good links you've recently picked up sending traffic directly. It could be a combination of all of the above or something else.

Where is the traffic coming from by the way? That might shed more light on why you're seeing more of it now.

**ADAM Web Design** · 01-27-2007, 06:24 PM

Anything is "possible".

Is it likely? No.

A theme alone won't necessarily solve SEO to that extent UNLESS the site's old theme was poorly constructed.

Chris might also have gained certain backlinks along the way that gave him some authority.
He might have submitted his theme certain places.
He might have done a series of blog posts search engines would like.
Or he may just be bull****ting completely. Hey, it's happened.

Personally, I don't buy it.

**travelagent** · 01-27-2007, 07:17 PM

I have to agree with Adam on this one ... -- chuckling here--

**astrojith** · 01-28-2007, 12:37 PM

Well, I'm starting to get more organic traffic. However, the theme looks really unattractive. White, white and more white. Nothing else.

**ADAM Web Design** · 01-28-2007, 03:01 PM

Most people would solve that issue by adding colour, astrojith.

**SEO Slacker** · 01-28-2007, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

A theme alone won't necessarily solve SEO to that extent UNLESS the site's old theme was poorly constructed.

I'd say that is the only way it's possible to see that much improvement with just a new theme. Maybe if the old theme was really poorly SEO'd, but I'd bet the traffic is coming from somewhere else.

**astrojith** · 01-29-2007, 01:16 AM

I am doing a project to port the theme with some graphics and all.

**vangogh** · 01-29-2007, 05:37 PM

Sreejith I read you're post wrong initially. I thought you were saying you had increased your traffic by that much after installing the theme.

The only way a theme could really improve traffic by so much is if there had been something broken in the site previously. It's really unlikely changing the look of the site will change things that much.

If it means anything I increased my own traffic about the same time (back in October), but making one 5 minute change to my site. I think my traffic increased about 400% over a three week time frame.

In my case Google was indexing my blog feeds and tossing every page of my blog into the supplemental index. I fixed that issue and within a week all my pages were back in the main index and Google was sending me traffic.

**astrojith** · 01-30-2007, 09:36 AM

I think my previous theme was crappy enough. I've a small question. Does Google index AJAX pages ? I had a lot of AJAX in my previous theme.

**stOx** · 09:47 AM

they will index the page, but they wont see the content

It depends what the ajax does really though. If the ajax is getting content and displaying it live it probably wont because the content is delivered via javascript.
if you can't right click and view it in the source search engines wont see it.

**bj_private** · 01-30-2007, 10:18 AM

Astrojith,

I liked your previous theme more. I read your posts always and I thought the old theme was better looking :-)

Now concerning the increase in traffic you get, maybe b/c of the Google update that was running (umm... maybe it's still running ... I don't know). It may have given you some better ranking on specific keywords that brought traffic to the site. You should check your stats to determine the source of traffic.

**Popeye** · 02-06-2007, 10:51 PM

I use the Cutline theme on two blogs. I did see a traffic increase after switching, but my previous themes were the WP Default and another simple theme who's name I can't remember right now.

There are other themes out there better for Adsense and monetizing, but I prefer Cutline for a more personal blog. It's simple with plenty of white space and easy enough to add color if you visitors come to look at rainbows over content.