Heading tags

by Nick Berns | Apr 22, 2021 | On Page SEO

What are Heading tags?

Heading tags are used to organise a topic and subtopics on a webpage. Website visitors use them to preview the content that they are about to read, allowing them to scan for specific and relevant topics/subtopics without actually reading everything on your webpage. Search engine crawlers also use the information inside these tags to make sense of the topic of the page.

What are the different types of headings?

There are six heading tags available in HTML:

The H1 tag is generally the most visibly notable heading tag on a page. It usually contains the title or the main topic.
The H2 and H3 tags are commonly used to contain the subtopics of the H1 tag.
Lastly, the H4-H6 tags are less commonly used but also can be utilised for structure within subsections.

How can I use effectively Heading tags for SEO?

In SEO, it is important to properly structure the content of your posts. Although this does not directly affect how search engine algorithms rank your webpage, it provides a better user experience when people visit your page. Search engines pick up the quality of your post by measuring what we call the bounce rate, which is the number of people who navigate away from your webpage too quickly. Having a high bounce rate can mean that searchers do not find your content relevant, which can affect your ranking in SERPs.

Here are some tips to effectively use heading tags:

Use only one H1 Tag. Search engines use this tag to make sense of the topic of your content. Create a unique title and include a focus keyword.
Separate block of texts with subheadings. Breaking up a huge topic into smaller bite-sized subtopics makes it more user-friendly and readable, and it also allows users to quickly scan your content.
Logically structure your heading tags. If you have an H1 tag, use the H2 tag to break up subtopics about the H1 tag. Consequently, use H3 tags to break up subtopics about your H2 tag. And so on. Do not go about using H3 tags for subtopics about your H1 tag.
Use header tags to outline items on a list. Google can use the subheadings in your page to create its own bullet points and display them as a featured snippet. For example, if a searcher inputs: “How to create an effective website”, Google can create an outline about the topic using your subheadings, and display it to its SERPs.