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PageRank 5 Club Weekly Tip: Only Use 1 H1 Tag on Each Page

While debated, it is generally accepted in SEO community that most search engines analyze text inside heading tags and use it to rank Web pages.

heading tags While debated, it is generally accepted in SEO community that most search engines analyze text inside heading tags and use it to rank Web pages. They assume that anything important enough to put in larger text is also relevant to the page's content.  The <H1> tag is by far the most important: it describes the purpose of the whole site. Search engine spiders will use it to score your page's relevancy. Make it a more succinct version of your page's TITLE tag and include important keywords. The sub headers decline in importance relative to their size, but they're still useful: be sure you include keywords there too.

Read also: Heading tags and search engine optimization

Do not use heading tags as only a way to format text

Heading tags are not just about font size, Google uses them to determine what text is most important in a document.  If H1s are most important followed by H2s, H3s, H4s, all the way down to H6s, then it would only make sense that you ought to only have one H1 on a single page.  Think about it, you can't tell Google you have two things that are MOST important.  A superlative means you can only have one!  Your H1 tag is generally the title or tagline of your site and this tag is usually built into the template of your real estate blog.  So, you should never use an H1 in your posts.



Never use header tags as a substitute for the FONT tag. Use FONT tags or Cascading Style Sheets to emphasize words on your site. A search engine spider that finds this code:

  <H1>Contact Me!</H1>

would assume that your blog page is about "Contact Me" and not about a real estate.

The hierarchy of your heading tags is important

The hierarchy of tags is also important for proper site structure and W3C compliance (FYI: W3C is standards that good web developers try their best to comply with).  For example, W3C says that a well formed site would have an

H1

H2

H3

H2

H3

H4

But never

H1

H3

H2

See how the second set of headings are out of order?  It all matters. You need to decrese and increase tags in order and cannot skip from an H1 to an H3 without putting an H2 in between them.

Resources:

As always, don't take just my word on this, check out the words of SEO experts and their opinions of H1 tags.
Search Engine Ranking Factors
SEOmoz.com Date unknown
Blog SEO Tip #7: Heading tags
Stephan Spencer.com Feb 2006
What Attribute Ranks Better Bold or H1 On A Page?
seoroundtable.com March 2005

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The differences between search engines
Stop Word List


http://www.rsspieces.com/001B6C
http://www.rsspieces.com/pagerank-5-club-weekly-tip-only-use-1-h1-tag-on-each-page
Posted on January 31, 2008 21:55:12
Comment from: Laurie.Manny [Member] Email · http://www.longbeachrealestatehome.com
Laurie.Manny

It took me a long time to understand Header tags because they were never really fully explained.  This is the best explanation I have ever seen.  If I had read this post a year ago I would have understood right away.  Thanks.

PermalinkPermalink February 01, 2008 05:11:52
Comment from: Christopher Myers [Member] Email
Christopher Myers

Thanks for clearing that up Mary.  I had alot of questions regarding header tags, and this answered them for me.

PermalinkPermalink February 01, 2008 08:59:07
Comment from: Victor Lund [Visitor] Email · http://waves.wavgroup.com

Have you thought about including header style navigation into the WYSIWYG editor of the RSS Pieces Blog?

PermalinkPermalink February 01, 2008 10:27:13
Comment from: admin [Member] Email
admin

Victor,


Nice to see you around.  Just like Ragu, it's in there.  Our WYSIWYG already has heading styles in the drop down for font formatting.  Since I know you are on our platfomr- just go to where the font style drop down is (the default style is "paragraph") And drop that box down and viola... heading styles from H1-H6... You didn't think our geeky little hearts would allow such an important aspect of editing be forgotten, did you?

PermalinkPermalink February 01, 2008 10:36:48
Comment from: Laurie.Manny [Member] Email · http://www.longbeachrealestatehome.com
Laurie.Manny

Don't feel bad Victor, I was using the system for about 10 months before they were pointed out to me.  Much easier than entering in the html code manually, lol...

PermalinkPermalink February 02, 2008 06:02:04
Comment from: Daniel Bates [Visitor] Email · http://www.mymcclellanville.net

I think that the H1 tag is rediculously large and would put off readers. If I use only one H3 header in the place of an H1 , do you think the search engines read it the same way? I'm not going to compromise the look of my site just for SEO, but curious about suggestions for dealing with this. Thanks for you help and always useful info.


PS - already talked tried to change the size of them, but the whole site was built around them, so it messed everything else up.

PermalinkPermalink February 02, 2008 07:41:25
Comment from: admin [Member] Email
admin

Daniel,


Search engines do not place the same importance on an H3 as an H1- you really need to use one.  Your CSS ought to be built around the base fotn (ie the body fornt) if it is built around the H1, you need to have a talk with your web developer and discuss standards.  You can also set the H1 to hidden in the CSS which would make it visible to search engines but invisible to users.


 


-Mary


 

PermalinkPermalink February 02, 2008 09:43:55
Comment from: Joanne Hanson [Visitor] Email · http://www.mountainlivingblog.com

So more is not necessarily better in this case!  Thanks for pointing it out.  I had been wondering about it. 

PermalinkPermalink February 02, 2008 18:17:01
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