How to Squeeze
the Most SEO
from Header Tags
During the 25 years I’ve spent designing and developing websites, I have had the opportunity to work on hundreds of (maybe even over a thousand by now) websites.
In recent years, I have been splitting my primary work between website development and search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is a natural fit for me since it is important for a website to be found. I see it as a natural evolution of website development. I practice SEO on my clients’ websites and, also, teach clients and other content writers how to add SEO to their websites.
One thing that I have been noticing, and, indeed, am guilty of myself, is the misuse of the Header tags (aka Heading Tags).
In the past, I have used them to style content, depending on the size, font, and color I wanted.
I’ve used them to break up the content and transition from one paragraph to another, when I want to change the focus.
I’ve used the header tags to highlight questions and phrases like : “Why should you care?”, “What does that mean for you?”, “The Challenge”, “The Solution”, and the like.
As I have dug deeper into my SEO studies, I’ve become more cognizant of the SEO value I’m leaving on the floor.
You see the the heading tags were created in order to indicate the structure of a web document (web page, blog post, article). The browsers look to them (and over 100 other indicators) in order to know how to display a web page.
Heading Tags and SEO
Heading tags come in 6 predefined sizes: heading1, heading2, heading3, heading4, heading5, and heading6 (aka h1 – h6). Heading1 (h1) is the largest in size, and heading6 (h6) is the smallest.
For SEO purposes, the size of the heading indicates the importance of the text. So, if you look back at the questions and phrases that I have been highlighting, you’ll see that I was highlighting words that have no value for the work I do. Who will be searching for “Why should you care?” or “The Solution”, and, how do those words indicate and support the website development and SEO work I do? They don’t. This is me leaving the SEO value on the floor…missed opportunity.
Since the heading tags have importance for structuring a blog post, web page, and article and emphasizing the important concepts in a written piece, it makes sense that we use them to highlight words that are related to and support our work. We can do that easily enough.
But, there is more to it. There are rules and nuances, and sequences and combinations to avoid.
Heading Tags and SEO Webinar
I invite you to grab lunch and join this webinar to learn about the best ways to use the header tags so that you earn the most SEO value from using them, and avoid missing SEO opportunities. I’ll talk about the abuses I’ve seen so that I can demonstrate the proper ways to use the header tags to squeeze the most SEO value out of their use.
Note: If you attended one of the Sweet Talk Google into a Better Rank webinars, you already have your list of words that support your work in an SEO way. Bring your list with you so that you’ll have it handy and be able to assign h1 through h6 to each SEO term.
This webinar is for non-techs. I’ll mention SEO plenty, and with that, I’ll suggest
impactful, non-tech actions that you can take today in order to squeeze the MOST SEO value from the heading tags.
FYI: The registration confirmation email will come from no-reply@zoom.us. Please whitelist this email address.
Here’s an example of what to look for (only the webinar name (middle column) will be different).
