SEO FAQ: Headings

Headings are one of the most important and simple aspects of optimizing your website. Use headings in the HTML markup to identify important text. The <H1> through <H6> tags can be used to give emphasis to sections and categories in your text content, and should ideally contain keywords. I recommend using only one of each heading tag per page, the other heading tags being used as needed (H2, H3, H4, H5, H6). Use them in order if possible, as you would in an outline.

My recommendation is to have an <H1> heading for every page. Try to make sure that this tag contains the same text (or at least containing the same keywords) as the Page Title and Meta Tags on that page. That way, the relevancy for your page goes up exponentially for those keywords. That, and it helps people understand not only what page they are going to visit, but what they are looking at once they are there, without reading any of the actual Text Content.

Note: If you are having trouble deciding on keywords, you're definitely not alone. The best software I've come across can help you choose the best, most profitable keywords and even shows you the competition (and so much more). It's called Market Samurai, and I write more about it on the SEO Resources page.

Ask questions or post comments about SEO Headings here.

Posted on Tue, June 22, 2010 by Christopher Nelson

5 comments (Add your own)

1. Jeff Blankenship wrote:: In your e-book you suggest using only one H1 per page. Does the same hold true for H2, H3, H4 etc? Or can I use them more frequently?
Thu, August 5, 2010 @ 2:11 AM
2. Christopher Nelson wrote:: Hi Jeff,

When I say that you should have only one H1 per page, it's because all the weight search engines give H1s will be on that single phrase, instead of split up between multiple H1 headings. We really want to emphasize one keyword, group of keywords, or keyword phrase per page in most cases.

You should use the rest of the headings (H2-H6) as needed, like you would an outline. However, it is not as important to keep them down to one each. If it would simply look better aesthetically to include multiple H2s or H3s, go ahead and do it. Just make sure your main keywords or keyword phrase is getting emphasized adequately.

Thanks!
Thu, August 5, 2010 @ 2:15 AM
3. Jeffrey Nichols wrote:: If the heading tags stand out a little too much compared to the rest of your site's content, can you use CSS styling to tone them down a bit without negatively affecting how well they work with search engines? Or will changing their style make search engines view them lesser than they did before?

Thanks! Love the book!
Jeffrey
Fri, November 5, 2010 @ 10:31 PM
4. Christopher Nelson wrote:: Thanks for the question Jeffrey - and it's a good one!

The beauty of CSS is that you can style text (headings or otherwise) pretty much however you want and it won't affect how the search engines view it. For example:

Let's say you have an H1 heading. Let's also say that you have styled your headings with CSS. The search engines will view the text and weigh it by looking at the HTML code. When they see the tag, the search engine will think, "Hey, this is really important text". The search engine has no idea what the text actually looks like on the web page itself.

Using CSS, you could have your main heading (in an H1 tag) be as small or large as you want it (or any color or other attribute for that matter). The search engines will only see the text and the tag itself, which is GREAT for design and readability purposes.

However, I have one word of caution for anyone else reading this reply: if you have any text that you've made to be the exact same color as the website's background color (you are trying to hide that text), some search engines can recognize that and may think you are not trustworthy. If a search engine thinks you are not trustworthy, your website may be penalized or even banned. In short: do not try to hide text. If you're not trying to do this, then you don't have to worry about it.

Sorry for the long reply for such a simple answer! Thanks again for your question!
Sat, November 6, 2010 @ 12:04 AM
5. Anita wrote:: Surprising to think of somehting like that
Fri, March 23, 2012 @ 8:42 PM

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