H1 Tag for SEO – is it a myth? April 15, 2008
Posted by seonotes in On-page Optimization.Tags: H1, H1 tag, Heading tags, Organic SEO, SEO myth
trackback
Opening my spam mailbox yesterday, I found the SEO news email newsletter. They wrote about the 10 Myths in search engine optimization. There were a couple of points that I must say, are quite questionable to me, but the part that intrigued me most is this:
Organic SEO Myth 7: Header tags or H1 should be used to ensure high ranking. There is no evidence to prove this. However, this is one of the most common myths.
I have seen a lot of sites that lack that html element in its code. This is most evident in sites optimized via link building (instead of keyword/content optimization).
Speaking from experience, sites I have optimized with proper writing of the H1 tag or the ‘heading 1’ tag, have had more stable rankings, as compared to sites that lacked that important element. It was easier for me to maintain rankings for particular key terms which I have coded in the H1 tag.
Remember search engine crawlers look for your H1 description (aside from other important SEO elements, i.e. meta tags), to determine the relevance of your page. Omitting this tag isn’t good SEO practice.
How do you create the H1 tag?
• H1 tags are symbolized by this html code: <h1></h>
• Include your primary keyword in the H1 tag
• While you have your keyword, opt to write your headers (either h1 or h2), in a meaningful text: <h1>Summer Bikinis in all sizes for sale!</h1>
• Write your header tags prominently at the beginning of your content, ideally after the <body> tag.
• Learn how to tweak your CSS style sheet when you wish to blend your H1 tag with your page content font styles. Never hide the text in this tag.
Among experienced search engine optimization specialists, the H1 or the heading 1 tag still ranks high among other seo relevancy factors. You may do without this, but as far as page relevance and rank stability, putting heading tags for SEO are standard operating procedures.
Good read, friend!
I’m curious, though… I usually use the other Heading tags like h2, h3, and h4 (as my h1 is only used once in the title on top). Does “h1″ have more weight than the other heading tags in terms of on-page seo, or do all heading tags contribute the same amount of weight?
Thanks! mwah
Hi Joni, thanks!
Actually, I think there has been no evidence yet if one heading tag is more important than the others, though in the first SEOmoz rank factors article, some noted that the H2 tag gives more weight than the H1 tag. I still feel that it all boils down to prominence - whichever tag (containing the target keyword) comes first in your codes is more accessible to the spiders.
well, the spiders decide which is more weighty XD
but thanks for this good article you have! :3
i doubt that a tag will do much difference to your site, but thanks for putting this up! It’s worth a try!
Interesting. Keep it up!