Use Of Heading Tags
Heading tags are
used to differentiate the heading of a page from the rest of the content. These
tags are also known as HTML header tags, head tags, heading tags and SEO header
tags. The most important
heading tag is the h1 tag and least important is h6 tag. In HTML coding the header tags from h1 to
h6 form a hierarchy. This means that if you skip any of the tag numbers the
heading structure will be broken, and this is not good for On-Page Optimization
in SEO.
The coding should be something like what is
shown below:
<h1>Main Heading</h1>
<h2>Secondary Heading 1</h2>
<h3>Sub-section of the secondary heading 1</h3>
<h2>Secondary Heading 2</h2>
<h3>Sub-section of the secondary heading 2</h3>
Note::::“ The h1 tag is the most important tag. Every page must
have an h1 tag.”
Advantage using Heading tags:
The heading tag is
used to represent different sections of web page content. It has an impact on
both theSEO and usability of your site.
Header tags from an
SEO point of view:
1. Relevancy: Web Crawlers check the relevancy of the header
tag with the content of every page.
2. Keyword Consistency: Web crawlers check the keyword consistency
between the header tags and other parts of the page.
3. The Importance of an
h1 Tag: The h1 is the most
important tag and it should never be skipped on a page. Search spiders pay
attention to the words used in the h1 tag as it should contain a basic
description of the page content, just as the page <title> does.
4. Enriched User
Experience: Heading tags give the
user a clear idea of what the page content is about. Search engines give much
importance to user-experience on a site, meaning the presence of heading tags
becomes an important component of SEO.
Header tags from a
usability point of view:
1. For users of the web who must use a screen
reader, it is easier to navigate sections of content by referring to properly structured
headings on a page.
2. The h1 heading tag (main heading) of a page
gives users a quick overview of the content that is to follow on the page.
3. By reading the different heading tags, users
can scan a page and read only the section they are interested in.
4. The primary use of heading tags is for SEO,
not to gain the larger, more prominent fonts; but the presentation of a web
page does look cleaner with the presence of these tags.
Things you should not be doing with heading
tags:
1. Do not stuff your heading tags with keywords.
2. Do not use more than one h1 tag on a page
unless really necessary. Usually pages will have a single h1 heading and
including two might make search engines think this as an attempt to include
more keywords for SEO in multiple h1 tags. It is better to divide the content
into two separate topics on individual pages with their own h1 tags. This makes
more sense to both readers and the search engine spiders, however, using
multiple h1 tags is allowed.
3. Do not use heading tags as hidden text. Any
hidden text can result in penalties for your site, especially if the hidden
part is a component that effects SEO.
4. Do not repeat heading tags on different pages
of your site. It is a good practice to have unique heading tags throughout your
site.
5. Do not use the same content in your page’s h1
tag as in your meta title tag.
6. Do not use heading tags for styling text but
use them for presenting organized and structured content on pages. Use CSS style
sheets for the purpose of styling.
