If you have used WordPress, then you have probably switched themes at least once in your life. If you haven’t, and this is your first time, then it is even better. The beauty of WordPress is that it makes it very easy for users to change themes. It is literally few clicks away. But changing themes is much more than simply clicking activate. In this article, we will provide you with a checklist of things that you MUST do before changing WordPress themes. These steps are critical to make sure the process goes smoothly otherwise you can end up losing elements that you did not mean to lose.
1. Take Notes on Your Current Theme
Many WordPress users surf the web to find solutions to their problems. Often they find those solutions in form of snippets that they add manually in their theme such as the functions.php or another file. Because these changes were made once, people have a tendency of not remembering them. Go through your theme files and note down all additional code that you added. You also want to check your current theme’s load time because this way you can compare the two. Go to a site like Pingdom Tools or use YSlow to test out different pages (Yes different pages, not just the homepage).
2. Be cautious of the Sidebars
You must make sure that your new theme is widget-ready. Sidebar widgets are really easy to use therefore a lot of users use it to customize it. We notice that sidebars are probably the most user-customized area of WordPress sites. People make tons of changes such as adding custom texts, images, links, advertisement, and other widgets. If you are using a widget-enabled theme, and you switch to a theme that is not widget-ready, then you will lose all of that. If you are using a widget-enabled WordPress theme, then this is not an issue.
Also anything that you modify in sidebar.php file of your old theme, will be overwritten. So make sure that you add those codes in the new theme sidebar.
3. Don’t lose tracking
Most bloggers use some sort of analytics whether it be Google Analytics, or one of the other services. A lot of us don’t use plugins to add the tracking codes. Some of us open the footer.php file and modify the codes. Some of our themes have a spot to place the adsense code. Whichever one is your case, you want to make sure that you copy and paste your tracking code to your new theme. This is one of the things that is very commonly overlooked by users. Because it is so simple, most of us forget about it.
4. The Good ‘ol RSS are you working?
A lot of us use FeedBurner for our WordPress RSS Feeds. One of the parts of integrating FeedBurner into WordPress is pointing your default feeds to FeedBurner this way you can have analytics on your feed subscribers. A lot of themes like Genesis, Standard Theme, and others allow you to integrate FeedBurner from their settings panel. You need to make sure that you keep the feed directed to FeedBurner otherwise there will be two RSS feeds for your blog. The main WordPress one, and the FeedBurner one which is taking the info from your WordPress RSS Feed. Except, you will lose count of a lot of the subscriber that you had because they were subscribed using the /feed/ url which no longer points to FeedBurner. Again, this does not mean you lose them, it just means that you can’t see them in the FeedBurner count.
5. Backup!!
You never have anything to lose by creating a backup. As a precautionary measure, you should backup all of your theme files, plugins, and the database. Although nothing should happen, but you can never be too safe. You can use BackupBuddy to create a full-site Backup for you.
6. Maintenance Mode
You probably don’t want your users to see while you are making the switch because they will end up seeing a broken site or such. It is best to turn on Maintenance mode for 15 – 20 minutes that it may take you to make sure that everything is working properly. Once you have setup Maintenance mode, you are good to go ahead and activate the new theme.
7. Testing all functionality and plugins
Once you have the new theme activated, you need to make sure that you retain all the functionality and plugins still work. Remember that good ol’ notes list that you created in step 1. This is the time where that can come handy. Go back and add any and all functionality that you want to bring from the old theme into the new theme if you haven’t done so already. Try out all the features including but not limited to the commenting process, single post pages, search, 404 page, archive page, contact page etc. Make sure all of your widgets are still there and are working.
On the plugin front, you just want to make sure that the formatting is still the same. A lot of plugins utilize your existing styles to display their output. So you probably want to make sure that they still look good with the new theme.
8. Cross Browser Compatibility
Test your site in all browsers you have access to. Browsers have a tendency of rendering things differently. Specially Internet Explorer. You want to make sure that your design looks good in major browsers. Some pretty looking themes have a tendency of breaking in various browsers. So if a lot of your audience is using Internet Explorer, then you want to make sure that it is still accessible to them.
9. Make those Third Party Items look pretty
If you are using Google Adsense or another ad company that allows you to format them, then your best bet is to customize them. For example, you previous site was orange, so you had orange links for Google Adsense. Now if it is blue, then you probably want to take that into account.
Same goes for twitter widget, facebook like buttons etc. Adjust those with your new color scheme. If you are going from a light to a dark design, or vice-versa, then you need to make those changes.
10. Let your Users Know
Turn off maintenance mode, and write a quick blog post to let the users know. Notice, you only spent like 15 – 20 minutes on checking things. There is no way that you could’ve catch all the bugs. By letting your users know, you can expect to get bug reports. We often ask our readers on twitter (@wpbeginner) for bug testing. Ask your audience via twitter, facebook etc to see if the site looks good in their browser. If they say YES, then its good news. If they say NO, then ask them to please take a screenshot of the issue. You can take a look at the issue and try to fix it. If you can’t fix it, then kindly ask the developer of the theme to fix it. Notice: unless you paid for the theme, these developers are NOT required to fix those issues for FREE.
People have all sort of browsers, screen resolutions, etc, so getting their opinion is important. Don’t forget to remind your RSS readers to visit the site as well, so they can see the goodies.
11. Pruning plugins
Themes are now coming pre-loaded with a lot of features. For example, if you are using Genesis or another theme that has BreadCrumbs, then you can get rid of Breadcrumb plugin of yours. The concept is simple. Get rid of things that you don’t need. One thing you should make sure though is often plugins can do the job better. For example a lot of themes are coming with tons of SEO features. Genesis, Thesis, Standard Theme, and all others boast their SEO features. We’d rather use a much more powerful plugin like WordPress SEO by Yoast. Make your choices wisely.
12. Take Baby Steps when Changing
You are working with a new theme here, so it is probably best that you make changes carefully. Change smaller elements to make sure that it behaves properly in all browsers. Then once you are comfortable enough, then you can make drastic changes. It’s important to learn the structure and semantics of the new theme before you make huge changes. This will allow you to detect the problem right away.
13. Test Loading Time
Take the load time numbers that you had on your old theme (from item 1 of this checklist), and compare the two. See what you can do to improve load time by checking out Syed’s presentation on Slideshare.
14. Monitor Bounce Rate
After switching themes, you want to make sure that you are monitoring bounce rate. Some themes are just more friendlier than others when it comes to navigating the readers around your site. If your bounce rate has increased compared to the previous theme, then you should probably work on that. Add related posts widgets, popular posts widgets, or simply have a better call-to-action for new readers.
15. Listen to your readers, and IMPROVE
When a new design comes out, users always have suggestions. They either love a specific feature, or hate a specific feature. Communicate with your audience using surveys or Facebook Polls. See what they would like to see improved, and then work on getting that done.
Do you have a checklist of your own when changing WordPress themes? Would love to hear it if we missed something.
Hello everybody
Quick question: If I use the theme customizer on a specific theme but later change to another theme do I have to re-enter all the customizer settings for the new theme?
And secondly if i change back to the original theme when it still have the original customizer settings or will it have adopted the settings from the second theme?
thanks in advance…
Hi Lawrence,
Customizer settings are for a particular theme. If you switch theme then you will have to configure the new theme. If you switch back to the old theme, your settings will be there.
If we change anything in the site often our site traffic gets low?
I plan to upgrade from a free wordpress blog to an upgraded (premium) one in the future. At what point do you suggest making the switch? When you have 100 followers? 1000 views? Just whenever you’re ready? I don’t want to commit $8/month without knowing my blog is getting traffic.
Any advice appreached!
Thanks!
Hi Jenn,
We assume you are talking about WordPress.com. Please see our guide on the difference between self hosted WordPress.org vs free WordPress.com blog.
i have been asked to rebuild a wordpress website – i have content and SEO expertise but limited knowledge of any back end stuff. (i managed to muddle through building one wordpress site a few years ago using an avada theme) other than the domain name i am not looking to keep any of the content or structure from the existing site, so do i follow the steps to change the theme? or should i create a staging site in the same spot as the current site, build the new content there and then simply switch over when its ready for publishing? thinking of using avada theme again as it seems to rate well – i am building a small brochureware style of site.
Hi I love the info here and am a newbie so forgive me for what may seem like simple questions. I am currently running a .org site and want to switch to a new theme. I’ve uploaded the new theme but not activated it as I need to work on it before launching, the old theme info will not be transferred. (I own the domain) I believe I have to set up a sub directory in order to do this so it’s not seen until I’m ready…how??
Also will the new theme affect my current search results (do I have to copy any info to keep my status)
For my wp website, I am planning to upgrade from the free version of the theme to the pro version of the same theme. Currently I have plugins installed. Do I need to deactivate the plugins before upgrading to pro version & then reinstall?
Hi Surya,
Yes, you should. In case a plugin causes conflict with the theme you wouldn’t be able to find out which plugin. Disabling them will allow you to activate them one by one to see if they all work nicely with new theme.
I am preparing to move from WP.com to WP.org self hosted. I checked and I can keep my old theme on org but I would like to use a new premium theme going forward on the new site. Can you please advise what is the best way to go about it? I would also like to do a clean-up of my blog and refresh posts, delete posts that are no longer relevant and of course, revamp the look. Many thanks!
Hi Alex,
Please see our guide on properly switching WordPress themes.
I recently installed the flatsome theme in my WordPress/WooCommerce website. I’m trying to load products from my t-shirt fulfillment company but their POST requests are being ignored by my website like there’s nothing there. I’ve whitelisted all there IP addresses and give them the api key. They are unable to establish webhooks as well. Could this be a problem with the flatsome theme?
Hi Michael,
Please see our WordPress troubleshooting guide, it will help you figure out what’s causing the issue and how to fix it.
Very helpful! Thank you for providing this checklist. Excited to switch themes on my blog.
Hello!
From one perennial newbie to other newbies ….
Before I change ANYTHING on my WP site, I use the Export function under Tools in your dashboard – it is the fastest, accurate way of making sure you lose no content.
I save the xml file in a Documents folder on my hard drive. Then if you change a theme and it messes stuff up, then you import the xml file you saved on your hard drive back into the new WordPress theme.
I know there are all kinds of other ways but I challenge anyone that says that they are easier or cheaper. A standard XML file can be exported and imported so fast and saved so you do not lose your site. It only takes a few minutes and you do not have to pay for any of the expensive backup programs like Backup Buddy. Not saying Backup Buddy is bad, just expensive!
And maybe it is not for you if you are an amateur like me. I do my own sites. I do not do sites for others.
Good luck and happy exporting and importing!
-Charles Pedley
Hi Charles,
The method you described above works only for your posts, pages, and comments. It is not a full database backup. It can be used to import content only but it wouldn’t import any website settings stored in the database.
If price is your main concern, then you can try the free version of Updraft Plus. Also see our list of WordPress backup plugins for alternates.
Great article thanks. i have changed my theme several times 2017 to 2016 but now i am using Genesis and genesis sample child theme. i tried to change my header image but the code is not responsive. the image still stays the same. also when i tried to write a code in a text widget on the side bar it is not responsive. what could be wrong. thanks!
Hi Monika,
If you are editing code, then you need to make your changes in child theme. Theme frameworks use their own filters and functions that may sometimes override what you are trying to do in a child theme. See Genesis documentation for more help on customizing your child theme.
Hello…I have recently installed WP and upon instalation my website was replaced with a WP Theme “Twenty Seventeen” with all my contents gone. I attempted to undo everything to restore the original website and received a error message stating “Twenty Sixteen” directory not found. I uploaded the “Twenty Sixteen” theme but none of my original contents moved over. Please advise what I need to do to restore my original website.
Thanks
Hi Jimmy,
Did you install WordPress in a folder where another non-WordPress website was already installed? In that case, WordPress will overwrite your website. Your website files may still be there. Please ask your hosting provider, they may be able to provide you with a backup of your website or restore your website to an earlier state.
Thank you for your response! WordPress was installed in the same folder with a previous version of my website created via Word Press. I have spoke with my hosting company and they were not able to restore the website to a earlier version. We located the files and was advised to reinstall WP, which led to a response of “Twenty Sixteen” directory not found.
Jimmy, do you mean you installed ANOTHER version of WordPress? As far as I know you can only install 1 version of WordPress so you may have inadvertently overwritten all of the previous installed version of WordPress included content, theme etc and unless your hosting company can help restore from an old back up you are going to have to re-build from scratch. Have to admit, if your host does not have a back-up that is very odd and you should consider moving your hosting to a more responsible company.
I am getting ready to do a total redesign of a client’s website. I have backed it up and chosen a new WP theme but am not sure how to make the transition easy. Once you install a new theme, what do you do with the backed up version? Can you access it and copy and paste certain content back onto the new site?
Ex. They want to keep the bios of their directors but the current theme includes an element that allows you to add individual staff members info. It then creates a shortcode which you can add to any page on the site linking it to their bio. I will be using as the new theme but it doesn’t have a Staff feature. Any suggestions?
Hi Allison,
That’s one downside of using themes that rely on shortcodes or include functionality inside the theme instead of plugin. Your best option is to copy code blocks from their own theme, and try to add it into a site-specific WordPress plugin.
I am new to wordpress. So Can you please tell me whether changing the theme can cause data/content loss or broken href ?
Hi Ratul,
No, all your posts and comments are safely stored in your WordPress database.
Changing the theme will delete the plugins?
Hi Kishore,
No, it will not. However, if you are using a plugin that has some Theme Specific settings, then you may need to readjust those settings after switching the theme.
What happens to all your current url’s when you change your wordpress theme?
Do you keep them and and content?
Thanks
Hi Pete,
Yes, changing theme does not delete your content. However, it may change your site’s navigation menu which you can restore by visiting Appearance » Menus page.
You should NEVER directly edit theme files. If you do, then you will lose all your changes when you update the theme. Create a child-theme instead, and edit that. Then, when the underlying theme gets updated, you haven’t lost your changes.
Hi, how are you doing? Congratulation for your Blog. I really like it, and It always sold my problem. Keep going and thanks for creating this blog. Can you please help me or give me an idea. I’m gonna build a E commerce website that also have more feature than shopping. I bought a multi purpose eCommerce template and I customized it but not the CSS code but I put some new Icon, widget, and customize some new pages. I had to update my theme because it was not compatible with the woocommerce new version. I used a plugin called Easy Update theme & plugin cause I didn’t want to delete and upload the theme again. After I update the theme, the woocomerce plugin still not updated and the search bar missing on the front page it looks like the page deform. Do you have an idea where I can get a ecommerce multi purpose Child theme where I can just update it like I update all my plugin through WP . Where I dont have to delete my theme and uninstall my plugins and reinstall them again. I need a theme where I can get a serial number and update it automatically through WP. Thanks for anyone suggestion.
Please help +++ I bought a theme to try and revive my charity’s website look. It said nothing or no files would be changed or lost – not so. My front page with nice sliding picture disappeared and was deleted. I reverted back to my own theme but the front page was lost. I have another part of the site which is our US version. I want to copy its front page back to the UK version but on my admin side bar the tools tab is missing so I cannot import that page. I am desperate and have tried searching the web about tools missing without success.
my site is
the US version is
Please can you help me.. Thanks
Hi Tom,
When you buy a new theme, you should always test it out on a staging website or on local server. Once you got it setup, you can move it to the live site. Always backup your complete website before switching themes to stay safe.
Your previous theme may have a different setup process to add slider and other things. Go to your site’s US version and visit theme settings, or Appearance -> Customize page to see how it is setup. Then try to replicate them on your UK version.
Hope this helps.
Hi, when you say “Once you got it setup, you can move it to the live site”, how do you do this? Do you upload the theme as per normal and then the theme settings by exporting/importing a specific database table from the staging to the live site?
I didn’t even think of using a maintenance mode plugin until I came here. Thanks sooooooo much for that idea! This really helps out a lot because it makes the transition to a new website A LOT more professional. I’m not going to be able to finish the web redesign tonight, so this really comes in handy.
Hi Wpbeginner,
I have an issue with deleting wp default theme 2017.
My default theme in wp is 2017,when trying to remove it completely by clicking delete button(and install a new theme from elementor) failed!!!
Can you please help me to resolve the issue?
Being a non techie i dont want to touch and mess the existing settings unknowingly….a step by step guide will surely help ….
Radha
Hi Radha, that can happen if you don’t have a backup theme installed and 2017 is the only theme available. If you haven’t already tried it, try installing the new theme and activating it first, then trying to delete the 2017 theme and see if that helps.
But my advice would be to install and activate the new theme but leave 2017 theme there as a backup theme in case anything happens to your new theme.
Terry
How do I get my new posts on WordPress to be sent by email. To clarify, lets say I created a new post. I want the post to appear in my inbox. How do I handle this? Please advise.
Use IFTTT , they have a service that emails you new content in blogs.
Excellent. This is my second day with wordpress/themes. One suggestion for the old/new; Use notepad. Paste useful links such as:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/checklist-15-things-you-must-do-before-changing-wordpress-themes/#respond
Into your notes and save a copy of what you did into your site folder.
Old school but effective.
thanks for such a useful article
cujstomer wants to change the hosting co… we keep the same domain….—
MY question: if i don’t transfer the whole site and later with the new hosting i choose another theme (or the same), how i am sure i will have all the images of my library i have now…? WP will have them or better copy / transfer to my external harddrive?…… — never did someething like this… is this a dumb question?
the site still under construction and small … no e-commerce….
thank you for any info you may provide….
BJ
Hi Beatrice
I would recommend downloading a full copy of your database before switching web host. And for safety I would transfer all media onto a hard drive.
Once you switch host, you can then upload the database to the new host server.
Mike
Thanks.
This was informative.
What about themes that claim AMP compatibility? We can’t just check the theme demo on AMP validator. Right?
switched to a broken theme and now I am locked out of the WP dashboard and my site. I have my site hosted on Amazon EC2. I don’t use Linux, just Windows machine. How can I can into my files? I am totally locked out and confused. Thank you.
Hey Juan,
You can use FTP or SSH to connect to your server and delete the theme that you installed.
Log into your hosting via cpanel. Delete the last themes folder you activated. WordPress will work behind to automatically exchange itself to default themes. Once you deleted it, try to log into your wordpress site. I hope this step will help you.
I’d like to hire a WordPress consultant who can take care of these maintenance issues for me, and maybe train me in some WordPress basics. Is there a preferred way to find one?
Hi Steve,
You can find freelance WordPress developers and consultants on websites like UpWok, Fiverr, etc.
Hey,
I’ve just switched my blog from WordPress.com to self hosted using bluehost. I imported all my posts from my .com account but now they are not formatting to my new theme.
My new theme is by mojo and has a post background box, but my old imported posts go outside this box border. Can any one help me to get my old posts to format properly to my new theme?
Thanks!
I am sorry I didn’t see this post until it was too late. My website is hosted on wp .org and while I was on the .com website I ruined my entire website in just a few short clicks. I didn’t realize they were connected.
I have been working to fix all the bugs created, but I still have one issue.
On my iPhone my website doesn’t seem to be responsive, the featured image is non existent and I see a bit of a boarder outside of the text, whereas before it filled the screen.
Do you have any suggestions for that?
Thank you for your time and attention on this, I really appreciate it.
Thanks a lot,
1 question – is there any way to observe / test the site with the new theme, before it goes live? something like a test environment, where the old theme is still in place but I can already “play and test” the new one?
Dan
Hi Dan,
You can install WordPress on your local computer. You can also just install a theme and then go to Appearance > Themes page. Click on the preview button below the theme you want to preview.
I zip up all my theme files and copy them into a subdirectory on my website, copy the database, use phpMyAdmin to change the site URLs to the subdirectory, set it for no search engines and test things there.
I have toyed with the idea of a local install but then you have to maintain the exact same versions of PHP, WordPress, MySQL etc to really have a proper testbed.
Here’s an article that’s good for showing how to migrate:
I am a new WordPress web developer and I am now using a couple of WordPress themes that I have changed back and forth between themes without really asking anyone HOW TO DO IT. I sometimes learn best this way . . by JUST DOING IT and making mistakes.
This is what I found . . .
1. The old theme or themes do NOT go away or get replaced with the NEW THEME UNTIL one refreshes using the “VIEW SITE” tab up top.
2. Take heed, I found that the NEW THEME was usually NOT what it looked like in the preview of all of the pretty and Free WordPress themes. Upgrade time!
3. I have kept initial coding changes minimal until I get to final theme. Just in case all gets wiped out.
4. I also have all site / page text backed up. So I can copy & paste if all gets wiped out from a theme change.
Hope this helps someone, even a little.
Happy New Year!
Hi. I just switched themes. All of my post are full of the regular text that I wrote as well as gibberish (i assume it’s code). Do i have to go through all posts to remove or is there a plugin that can do that? Thanks!
I have inherited a web site which has been created in WordPress Twenty Eleven the me which I would like to update to Twenty Sixteen. Can you tell me if these two themes are compatible? Also WordPress version is 4.5 and there is a notice to upgrade it to 4.7. Should I upgrade this prior to changing the theme?
It’s entirely upto you to update WordPress or not, but it is recommended to upgrade.
Every theme is unique even same theme’s update patch is also unique, it’s upto blog maintainer to adapt to newer themes
Hope this helps!!
I purchased a WordPress responsive theme to use on our WordPress blog but when I went to upload it I found that WordPress is not accepting own theme uploads. What can I do?
Please contact the theme developer for support.
This is great info, but I need to know about an important step. How do I work on a new theme while keeping the old one live? Do I create a different file that houses the new theme? Where does one start?
Download WordPress and develop new theme in local host, Best and secure way.
Hi, I really, really, really need/want to change our website theme but am not a web developer and don’t have the budget to hire one. I like your list but it’s a bit over my head. Our website is and I know what I want it to be a cross between Washington Post and InsideQuest – essentially. What do you suggest? Is there an intern who could help us? We have 2 big events in mid-Oct we want this done by and have been trying to get it done for a while without luck. Ideas??? We can trade advertising and consulting services. Thanks!
Hey Joan, we would recommend you to look for a magazine theme.
hey, iam using supernews theme by acmethemes. its good but i cant find page option it only show older post to go next page. i have used wp pagenavi plugin but it same. it dont show pages number. pls give me a solution, or tell about a good newspaper theme
thanks for a good news!!!
I changed themes and there seems to be some code from my previous theme in some of my posts on the new theme. Is there a way to delete or suppress all of the previous theme editor codes across the board or do they have to be done manually?
If by code you mean shortcodes, then yes you can hide them. See our guide on how to find and remove unused shortcodes from WordPress posts
Hi WPBeginner Support
I have just updated my theme and failed all the rules you suggested.
Everything seem to work but I can only view coming soon pages on other computer.
What do I need to twick?
Michael
Hi
I have just updated my theme and failed all the rules you suggested.
Everything seem to work but I can only view coming soon pages on other computer.
What do I need to twick?
Seems like you fixed it yourself.
I was getting the 500 error message. Your advice on removing plugins and slowly adding them back was a great help. I have used those plugins for a long time but maybe they do not like my new theme. Thanks for the help.
Glad you found it helpful
WPB Support,
How to remove plugins as I have 500 error message and cannot customize WordPress.
Thanks
Hi Dawood,
Please see our guide on how to deactivate all WordPress plugins via FTP.
Hi there
First of all, great post.
I’m looking for a theme that can support 2 writers, do you know a theme that can give this use?
Thanks
Tzachi – His side her side
All good WordPress themes support multiple authors.
I am using Spacious free theme for my Niche Blog-Ease Bedding. But now I am planning to change theme to pro.
Is it going to effect my site or not?
Thank you for sharing those valuable tips with us. Migration from a wordpress theme to another is not as easy as one might think espcially when it comes to complicated themes that require certain skills.
It took me one week to migrate to my current theme and those are the steps i followed:
1- backing up database and files (wp-content folder).
2- importing the database and the files to a localhost to explore the new theme.
3- restoring backup after making necessary changes to the server.
Very helpful for me, I am preparing to change new theme. Thanks!
Hi,
I am considering temporarily changing theme as my theme (free theme Virtue) for whatever reason doesn’t give access to the header or footers and I need to add some code to have my site verified. I have tried everything – also uploading the file using filezilla and that was also rejected! I would rather not change theme if I can avoid it as I like a lot about Virtue – but can you tell me what the effects of changing theme temporarily and then changing it back – (of course, I would back everything up) but would it cause an issue for the site to change, put in the code – get verified and then change back – or would I find a lot of things changed when I get back!?!?
Thanks,
Sarah
Instead of switching themes you can try using Insert Headers and Footers plugin. It allows you to add code to your site’s header without modifying your WordPress theme.
Hi, i cannot see the Theme that I activate. It shows another menu and layout. Is there a change to make, something to select or deselect on the Page section? widget? Menu?
Thanks for the help
i don’t get it can someone tell me some other way i am new to wordpress?
Great article. Thanks for list.
I’m a total beginner in coding and WordPress. My current WordPress site (non-responsive and Genesis Prose theme) was done by a developer (no longer use him). I find that Genesis is too hard for me. Now I want to change the theme something that is easy for me to install and update without an experienced web developer, maybe like GeneratePress. If I change theme, will I lose all my Google search indexing that I’ve accumulated over the years?
Thank you again.
Switching to any standard compliant WordPress theme should not affect your search rankings. However make sure you follow the checklist above. You may also want to follow instructions in our tutorial on how to update a WordPress theme without losing customization.