How Wordpress theme switch can possibly affect SERP position?

Hi guys,

I am planning to switch my current WordPress theme to a new one with responsive design.

My concern is how this can potentially affect the ranking of my site.

Currently the site holds position in G top 3 results in the specific niche - naturally, based on high quality content. Lost of ranking will be crucial.

Now I wasn't able to find much on this subject but what I was reading in different forums is:

1. The ranking might flicker for a few days and then goes back to where it was or better after the new template is activated.

2. If the internal linking of the new template is messed up for some reason the site will loose ranking.

3. If the menu structure of the new template is different than the menu structure of the old one the ranking will drop.....VIP this is really something I want to know because this is one of the things I would like to do .e.g. to get rid of the side navigation.

Advice form any one who already did this kind of manipulation will be highly appreciated.

Thank you.

Come on, no one did this before.....!!!???

What you read and just wrote is pretty accurate. Try to keep your internal linking structure as unchanged as possible.