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jlampstack
23,932 PointsH1 H2 H3 Tags etc...
I always thought there was an additional reason for using H1, H2 tags etc. I thought they also indicate a hierchary of importance that search bots / crawlers use for SEO rankings and searchability.
Is this still true, or am I wrong? If it is true, shouldn't we be using H1 tags for all titles?
Wouldn't changing changing H2 to H3 change their level of importance even though it's the exact same data?
2 Answers
Shelby Rice
5,468 PointsHi there,
Yes, it is true that header tags are generally used to indicate hierarchy within webpages and that many popular search engines take header tags into account when they are crawling webpages. However, the H1 tag is unique in that it is common practice to use it once per page for the page-specific title. Some SEO tools will even complain if they see 0 or more than 1 H1 tag. The H2, H3, and subsequent header tags have significantly less of an impact on SEO rankings and can therefore be used more freely than the H1 tag.
Switching between H2 and H3 tags would ideally mean that there is a change in level of importance, but arguably their level of impact on SEO is negligible enough to be used more flexibly from a design standpoint. Still, it is better practice to treat the headers as an hierarchy because it typically leads to more consistent and readable designs for both visitors to a site and coders.
Frank Starr
7,680 Pointstry harder
jlampstack
23,932 Pointsjlampstack
23,932 Points@Shelby Rice .... Thanks so much for the explanation. Very well explained. Now I understand better.