Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Sequence of heading tags (H1, H2, H3, etc) important?
-
Meaning heading tags (H1, H2, H3, etc) are a critical part of good on-page optimisation. Fair enough. It helps humans and bots make sense of a page's content.
3 questions regarding implementation of heading tags:
-
Should heading tags appear in sequence in the HTML code. I.e. H1 first, then H2 lower down, etc.?
-
Can the page contain more than one H1 tag?
-
Can the page contain multiple H2, H3, H4 tags?
-
-
Thanks!
I have some pages that contein h1, h2, h3 and h4. And I have other pages that dont't have h3 but they do have H2 and H4. Is it a seo mistake?
Thanks!
-
Yeah, should be fine.
-
I just listed about 6 H2 tags. That is ok right?
-
@vtialscom and @Barry Smith,
Thanks for your input. I agree with you both. Your resources are spot on Barry.
Cheers
-
-
Doesn't matter too much.
-
Yes.
Things to maybe think about though is HTML 5 and the
<header>tag for sections. Read - http://html5doctor.com/the-header-element/ - and - http://www.alistapart.com/articles/previewofhtml5
At the moment there will be some accessibility issues with screen readers when using multiple
s but that should get better.
Headers aren't a big ranking factor - http://www.seomoz.org/ugc/the-five-least-important-ranking-factors - http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors#metrics-6
A vast majority of the web isn't coded correctly and the above points to it not really mattering, however, it's worth thinking about your structure and still only really using one
if you can.
</header>
-
-
In my experience, the sequence of the H tags didn't matter at all, but if the H1 tag doesn't deserve to be on top of the other heading tags, I would suspect something may be wrong with your page layout. I don't recommend more than one H1 tag.per page. The H2, H3 and H4 tags are meant for sub headers. If you don't use the header tags as intended, your pages may be flagged as spam, so use cautiously. I have seen so many webmasters unwittingly abusing these tags, like by putting their brand name in a H1 tag on every single page.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
H2 tags always recommended? Or ok without?
Is it ok to have no h2 tags? There are no "keywords" relevant to the product in these example h2 tags. Also, is it ok to not have a PRODUCT DESCRIPTION header, or is it better with that header? It's for a "product page". Examples: <h1>Used Bow Front Desk With Mahogany Laminate</h1> <h2 style="display:inline;">QTY:</h2> 3 - <h2 style="display:inline;">Manufacturer:</h2> Hon <h2>Product Description:</h2> <p>This bow front desk is in excellent condition. It has a beautiful mahogany laminate.</p> OR (no h2 tags or product description header at all) <h1>Used Bow Front Desk With Mahogany Laminate</h1> <p>QTY: 3 - Manufacturer: Hon</p> <p>This bow front desk is in excellent condition. It has a beautiful mahogany laminate.</p> I prefer the last one as it's much simpler, but I'm curious if search engines would prefer the existence of h2 tags in the first version. Thanks,
On-Page Optimization | | NRSmart
Todd0 -
Page Title versus H1 title
What's the difference between the Page Title and the H1 title? It seems like both summarize the page. Is it a wasted opportunity to make them the same? Should they be similar but slightly different?
On-Page Optimization | | amybethmegjo1 -
Do Blog Tags affect SEO at all anymore?
We're trying to standardize the use of tags on our site amongst writers/editors, and I'm trying to come up a list of tags they can choose from to tag posts with - and telling them to use no more than 10 (absolute maximum) per post. We are also in the process of migrating to a new CMS, and have 8 defined categories that will all have their own landing page within our "News" section. TLDR: Do blog tags have any impact on SEO anymore? Are they solely meant to help users find articles related on popular topics, or does creating a tag for a popular topic help to improve organic visibility? Full Question: With the tag standardization, I want to make sure we're creating the most useful and effective tags; and the UX/SEO sides of my brain are conflicted. To my understanding, creating a tag about a high volume topic in an industry helps establish the website's relevance to Google/other search engines about that topic and improves overall relevance; but the tag feed page (ex: http://freshome.com/tag/home-protection/) isn't really meant for organic search visibility. So my other question is, is it worth it to noindex the tag pages in the robots.txt? Will that affect any benefit to increased relevance for Google (if there is any)? I'm interested to hear others' thoughts and suggestions. Thanks in advance!
On-Page Optimization | | davidkaralisjr0 -
Is there any benefit to removing brand name from the title tag?
I just signed up for Moz recently, and have noticed that in my crawl errors, I have hundreds of issues with my title tag being too long. My business is selling prints for landscape/travel/nature photography, and I've built these pages dynamically to where the title tag for pages selling individual photos has the title of the photo for sale followed by a hyphen and then the brand name. The same goes for gallery pages "Gallery Name | Brand Name". Would it be worth it to shorten the title tags by removing the brand name from these pages? Or will that actually harm more than help? Thanks in advance!
On-Page Optimization | | shannmg10 -
Break in H1 tag - big, small or no problem?
Hi, I've just taken on a new ski client who offers ski instructor courses. The landing page for the keyword [ski instructor courses] was created by the web agency but with no heading tags... http://www.snowrehab.com/ski-instructor-courses Subsequently they've put them in but I've noticed the H1 tag has a break in it where 'ski' is on a separate line to 'instructor courses' Is this an issue that need to be addressed? Also I can't look up the page in the Moz on-page grader - any ideas why? Many thanks! Richard
On-Page Optimization | | richardpatey0 -
Define H2,H3 and H4 for e-commerce sites
Hi Everybody, I was wondering what is the best way to define H2,H3 and H4 for e-commerce sites. For example, I randomly chose an e-commerce site http://www.designerleds.com/products/high-power/ What would you suggest for H2,H3 and H4? Thank you very much for your help!
On-Page Optimization | | pbess0 -
Prices in title tag
At our ecommerce site adwords ads generally perform a lot better when the product price is included in the ad title. Does anyone here have any experience and data on CTR with including product prices in title tags of product / category pages?
On-Page Optimization | | ese0 -
Title Tags: Does having the singular and plural version of the keyword hurt the ranking?
I'm wondering if there is a duplication issue with having a singular AND plural version of a keyword in the Title Tag. For example: Wood Desk - Wood Desks| Furniture Store Would this help or hurt my ranking for this URL? I can’t find a concrete answer for this under Moz’s “Title Tag SEO Best Practices Page.” Thanks for your help!
On-Page Optimization | | jampaper0
