Do’s and Don’ts of Writing Header Tags for SEO

Do’s of Writing Header Tags :

• Use a heading structure and follow proper hierarchy: In doing so, you’re providing users with a quality experience and improving relevancy within search results.

• Include only one H1 tag on each page:  It’s important to include an H1 tag on every page of your website; but if you have more than one, you’re confusing search engines by telling them that the page is about multiple topics.

• Properly Using Heading Tags: Make sure the content inside heading tags is relevant, particularly your H1 tags.  Web crawlers, including the Googlebot, put extra weight on the contents of your heading tags.

• Create a direct correlation between the language used: in your H1 header and your Title tag. You’ve spent countless hours performing keyword research, now make sure to incorporate that info onto the page and highlight it so that users and search engines know what the page is about.

• Include content to support each header:  A header should summarize a piece of content or pose a question that the following copy is going to answer.

• Use simple text. If you are in doubt about what header tag to apply or if the phrase even qualifies as a header, it’s perfectly acceptable to not add anything .

• Use subtitles frequently:  When you use H2 tags every few paragraphs, or to divide major sections, it makes your content easier for users to skim.  In place of using H3 or H4 levels, you may consider bolding your points or using bulleted lists instead.

• Always starts Title with H1 Tag: Always have your title in an H1 tag. Never start with H2, skip a level or ignore headings entirely.  Think of them as shortcuts to appropriate formatting, with an SEO boost added on.

DON’Ts of Writing Header Tags :

• Do not stuff your heading tags with keywords : Incorporate the keywords naturally. Otherwise, search engines will consider your headings and content “spammy”.

• Do not use H1 tag more than once on a page : Although it’s not hardcoded anywhere to use only one h1 tag on your webpage but the best practice is to use one tag. This way, more importance will be given to that keyword used in heading one (h1).

• Do not break the order: Always start from H1, going all the way down to H6. Skipping any tag number results in a broken structure, which is a practice frowned upon.

• Do not duplicate your heading tags: You should have unique heading tags for every page as well as headings on one webpage should not be duplicated.

• Do not use your heading tags as hidden texts: Such practices lead to cloaking, and this can cause you to be penalized.

• Do not use heading tags for formatting purposes: Use them to organize the content on your page. For formatting, you can use CSS style sheets.

• Do not use CMS solely to increase font-size : This is a very common mistake that can be easily avoided by installing plugins such as TinyMCE Advanced that enables features for WordPress and allows you to adjust font sizes without having to use paragraph headings dropdown feature.

• Do not stuff your heading tags with keywords: Never keyword stuff your headings.  If a robot can pull out all of your H2s, lay them side by side and see the same keyword jammed into everyone, you’re going to be hard-pressed to convince Google that you’re not keyword stuffing.