All your blog articles and all the pages on your site have a title, in web language (HTML). These titles are materialized by a tag called the H1 tag.
This article lists in a few steps everything you need to know about the H1 tag to optimize your pages for SEO
The H1 tag
The title <h1> is the most important and most visible on your page. This is why it is associated with the main title. It’s the first to appear.
Due to its importance, it is recommended to insert a keyword there, as Google will give it more importance.
Concerning the number of <h1> to use in a web page or blog article, the question is debated. John Mueller, webmaster trends analyst at Google, indicated in a tweet in 2017 that this number depends, making it clear that there are no rules on this subject.
Today, we advise you to insert a single <h1> per page. This practice has become a standard and you will notice that in many examples of HTML markup, the <h1> only appears once.
How to optimize your H1 tag?
To improve your SEO, the H1 tag in your editorial title must meet these criteria:
- Be doubly unique: although there are no predefined rules, it is best to put only one H1 attribute per page. One page = one topic. The same goes for its content: write an original title to avoid duplicate content;
- Your main keyword must absolutely be present in your H1 since it will define the subject of your content;
- Avoid long editorial titles and follow Google’s advice which recommends a length of between 5 and 8 words, or around 70 characters;
- Neither too long nor too short. A title of less than 30 characters is not good for your SEO. Try to flesh out your title with a rich semantic field.
H1 tags for user experience
Never dissociate user experience and SEO optimization: Internet user satisfaction is an essential positioning criterion for Google.
Write an attractive and explicit title tag. Your reader must immediately understand what the subject is and your title must make them want to continue reading.
The importance of the H1 tag
The H1 title of your web page content is one of the elements that will help Google rank your pages in its index. When web crawlers like Googlebot crawl your website, they record your page information.
Once the crawl is complete, Google robots send this information for indexing. It is the H1 tag that will therefore indicate the main subject of your content to Google algorithms, which will then be able to classify your page URL on the right theme.
The consequences on your visibility on search engines are mathematical:
- If your H1 is poorly optimized, your page will not be ranked on the right theme;
- If you are not classified in the correct category, your page URL will not appear in response to queries from your target audience;
- Your content production will have been for nothing!
Even if the H1 is not the only element that will allow Google to identify the subject of your web content, it remains an essential ranking factor that you should not neglect!
Also Read: Google penalty: how to recognize it and get out of it?
Other tags for SEO
How many tags to use?
You are completely free as to the number of times you use hN tags. You can insert them all, or insert none.
Obviously, for the sake of readability, we advise you to include a few tags to structure your text as little as possible, especially when it is made up of several parts.
You can also have multiple <h2>, <h3>, <h4>, etc.
Most of the time the tags <h1>, <h2> and <h3> will be sufficient. Those going from <h4> at <h6> are little used.
The h2 and h3 tags
The <h2> is used for the subtitles of an article and allows you to highlight the different sections of your page.
Do not overuse <h2> tags, they must structure your text without weighing it down.
This tag is also taken into account by Google, allowing you to insert a keyword, synonymous with the one used in your <h1> tag.
The <h3> must also contain a keyword, but its real use lies in the architecture of your text. Thanks to it, you can air out your article and bring out its depth.
The H4, H5 and H6 tags
As mentioned previously, these three tags are used less. They still find their place in very long texts, in sidebars, or the breadcrumbs.
Others use <h4> at <h6> for a question of style but remember: these tags are intended to demarcate the importance of your different sections. If you want to stylize certain titles or expressions, you should use CSS.
Does the order matter?
The W3C recommends not skipping any steps.
You must maintain a logical order. As a result, the main title will be associated with <h1>, the subtitles with <h2>, and the subtitles at <h3>.
Also, avoid inserting a <h4> directly after a <h2> For example. A <h3> must be between these two tags.
Now you know how to effectively use <h1> at <h6>!
Apart from all the rules we have stated, you must remain consistent in the structure of your text and not overload your titles with keywords. You risk making them illegible and indigestible.
How to spot markup errors?
Several solutions will allow you to check that your title tags and subtitles are correctly prioritized, and occasionally spot duplicates.
- Solution #1: Right-click on your web page and select “Page Source Code”.
- Solution #2: Download the Web Developer extension and once it is integrated into your browser, in the “Information” tab, click on “View Document Outline”. A page will then open with the hN titles of your page highlighted.
However, you will have to repeat the process page by page. To have a complete listing of your entire site, use an SEO audit crawler tool!
All you have to do is list missing tags, duplicate tags, tags that are too long or too short, or even poor prioritization of tags. Once done, all you have to do is rework your markup in your CMS!
Some CMS automatically add an additional H1 to each page (brand name or slogan, usually). You must then delete this inappropriate H1!
Our tip for optimizing your HTML tags
To offer SEO optimization to your pages while ensuring the quality of your content and your markup, call on a professional SEO web editor at Digital Marketing Agency Lahore.
When ordering, you have an HTML formatting option to receive texts directly formatted in HTML with the correct tags. This saves considerable time when integrating content on your website.