The Heading Tag, also known as Header Tag is the second most important on-page factor after the Title Tag of a web page. Heading Tags are the main headings or titles on a web page. Header Tags are used on websites to give more weight to important keywords by using them in headings and making them prominent on the page.
There are different kinds of heading tags that can be used, starting from <h1> tag to <h6>, <h1> being the most important. They include the <h2>, <h3>, <h4> and <h5> tags. The most important keywords of the web page should be used in the <h1> tag, and the less important and other themed or related keywords should be used as sub-headings in the website content and therefore should use <h2> through <h6> tags. <h2> to <h6> tags can also be used to label paragraphs within the body content to highlight them.
Common practice is to use <h1> through <h3> tags, as you would rarely find a deep level of headlines on a single webpage to use all <h1> through <h6> tags. Also, the keywords used in the Header Tags should be limited to certain characters, and not over-optimized by using long keyword stuffed headings.
Since Search Engine Algorithms change from time to time, the weight given to heading tags can change slightly, sometimes giving equal or more importance to <h2> and <h3> tags, as compared to <h1> tag. Examples of using heading tags on your webpage are given below:
<h1>Main heading for page</h1>
<h2>Sub-heading to be used on page</h2>
These heading tags can be used anywhere in the <body></body> part of a web page.
All heading tags can be controlled through CSS style sheets using appropriate fonts and styles. Here are some tips which you should consider for using heading tags on your website pages:
- Try and use <h1> as the first headline in the content or body part of your HTML page
- Use <h2> and <h3> as paragraph headings within the content
- Use the most important keywords in <h1> tags
- Use related or less important keywords in <h2> and <h3> tags
- Use descriptive body text after each headline to elaborate on the theme of the web page
- Use CSS and fonts to control the style of the heading tags
- Do not exceed the character limit on a webpage for heading tags. Ideally you should use a maximum of 3 – 4 words in each heading
- Do not over use the heading tags. Normally, only use 1 <h1> tag on a page and no more. Same applies to <h2> and <h3> tags
The heading tag can be overly used quite easily which can he harmful for the website or webpage on which it is being over used. Therefore, it is extremely necessary that the heading tags are used with ut-most care so that they don’t set off unnecessary flags by the Search Engines.
The best way to go about using heading tags on a page is to view your competition. If they are using heading tags on their web pages, you should also use them. If however, the top 10 sites ranking on the SERPs for your important keyword are not using Hx tags, you may also ignore them on your web page. Make sure you count the number of characters being used in the header tags by your competition, and try and keep your header tags of the same length.
July 21st, 2008 at 9:35 am
[…] <h1>, <h2>, <h3> up to <h6>, <h1> being the most important. Read our Heading Tag tips to know more about how you can use these tags on your web pages. This entry was published on […]
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:14 am
[…] help attract users to your website for long tail keywords. Using keywords in the Title Tag, in the Heading Tags and also in the body content will help improve the visibility of the blog on the search engines for […]