SEO heading tags and why you should use them

Or, how headings boost engagement and Google rankings

A great deal of content on your website goes unread. That’s the truth. People just don’t read anymore. They skim. We could shake our fists in fury shouting things like, “back in my day,” but a much more productive approach is to at look how your customers consume information, and write your content accordingly. Using SEO heading tags is a great place to start.

Heading tags are also a vital part of any SEO strategy, helping to make you more visible on search engines. So how can headings please both humans and Google? Read on to find out.

1. Headings for structure

Headings structure the content on a page. They signpost what the page and each section is about, helping to provide context and make the content more skimmable.

Helpful, skimmable content can reduce your bounce rate because it’s easy to read. It’s also more shareable, increasing your chances to earn valuable backlinks (links from high-quality domains). Both are ranking factors for Google.

Here’s what a standard page heading structure looks like:

<h1> The main content heading – the topic the page is about

<h2> subheading – the main topic covered in sections

<h3> additional subheading – subtopic of section

<h3> additional subheading – subtopic of section

<h2> subheading – the main topic covered in sections

You can create heading tags in WordPress using the drop down formatting menu shown below.

 

2. Headings to break up content

Large chunks of text can be daunting and deter your visitors. Using headings to break up your content makes it instantly more digestible, enticing your visitors to stay on your site for longer.

You see, when a task is broken up into smaller, more manageable tasks, it can suddenly seem much more achievable. And when a task appears more achievable, it becomes more attractive to a larger demographic. Reading web content is no different.

Here’s an example of heading structure from an article for a gardening business. Obviously, there would be more subtopics, but I’m just keeping it short for the example. Here we go:

<h1> Tomato plant pests and diseases (and how to treat them) </h1>

<h2> Garden pests </h2>

<h3> Whiteflies </h3>

<h4> How to get rid of whiteflies </h4>

<h3> Aphids </h3>

<h4> How to get rid of aphids </h4>

<h2> Plant diseases </h2>

<h3> Early blight </h3>

<h4> How to get rid of early blight </h4>

<h3> Septoria leaf spot</h3>

<h4> How to get rid of septoria leaf spot </h4>

<h2> Summary </h2>

As you can see from the example, the headings tell the reader what to expect from the article so they can go straight to the section they want to get the information they need. 

3. Headings for SEO

Placing keywords in your html heading tags is a great opportunity to improve SEO. H1 is the title of your page – The higher the heading tag (h1-h6), the higher SEO value. So place your primary keyword phrase in your h1 tag, and secondary keywords in your h1-h3 tags.

H4 tags are usually the defaults products or services tables, so, naturally they’ll contain keywords. They can also be useful for an extra level of subheading. H5 and h6 aren’t of a lot of use these days, so don’t worry too much about them.

Let’s revisit our tomato plant article for a better idea of how to use keywords in headings.

H1 heading: Tomato plant pests and diseases (and how to treat them)

The h1 contains keywords that describe the topic of the article.

H2 headings: Garden pests, Plant diseases

The h2 tag examples contain variations of the keywords in the h1, but still adequately describe the section.

H3 headings: Whiteflies, Aphids, Early blight, Septoria leaf spot

The h3 tags are the types of pests and diseases. These are terms that people search for, so it’s important include them in headings.

H4 headings: How to get rid of whiteflies

The language used in the h4 tag is a popular search query for this topic. I searched Google for the pests and diseases from the article along with the word, “treatment.” For example, “blight treatment.” A number of the results came back with articles and youtube clips with “how to get rid of” in the title. So I added it to my H4 headings to align with the queries that people were searching.

Effective SEO copywriting is about including the search terms that your target audience actually use. This comes down to thorough keyword research. We’ll touch upon it a little this time, but keyword research really is a topic for another article (or several, for that matter).

4. Avoid keyword stuffing

Headings are great for SEO, but you can’t just cram keywords into your heading tags and hope for the best. Google will whack a penalty on your site causing your ranking to plummet. An effective way to comfortably avoid repeating your keywords, potentially attracting penalty, is to use Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI).

LSI keywords are related terms or synonyms of your primary keywords that often pop up when a certain topic is written about. The easiest way to find them is to simply type your search term into Google, without pressing enter/return, and see what pops up. Or just go to the bottom of the search results page.

Make a list of LSI keywords and try using them in your h2, h3 and h4 tags. If it feels forced, don’t do it.  Some headings may not even contain keywords. And that’s ok. Remember, Google rewards helpful, engaging content over forced keywords.

Write for humans first, Google second.

5. Only use one h1 heading tag

As the heading suggests, there should be only one h1 tag per page. And for good reason. Multiple h1 tags can be seen as an attempt at keyword stuffing, particularly if the page doesn’t contain a lot of content.

Furthermore, the SEO value of an h1 tag can be reduced when another h1 is added, as the primary keyword may no longer be clear to Google.

Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t use multiple h2 or h3 tags. In fact, search engines expect each page to contain multiple h2 tags. Just consider keeping your h1 tag a solo act.

6. Make your headings engaging

It’s important to make headings informative, but not boring. Sure, their job is to provide structure, but it doesn’t hurt to add a little spunk to your headings.

Engaging headings pique the interest of the reader, enticing them to slow down, read the content and stay on your website.

Google monitors this behaviour. So if your headlines don’t entice your visitors to stay and read your content, Google will deem your page less relevant to the search query than you’d like. Your ranking will drop as a result.

However, as catchy as your headings might be, ensure they are still relevant to the content and help the reader to accurately navigate the page.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:

Write for humans first, robots second.

A quick tip is to use search queries in question form as headings. At least then you know your content will be of interest to your readers.

7. Keep your heading tags consistent

A well structured webpage is much like a good pop song. It follows a structure that is easy to follow and consistent enough to predict what is to come – so you can sing along! Or in the case of an article, find the information you need.

When it comes to website copy, a big part creating this easy to follow, sing-along structure is the consistency of the heading tags. Another thing to note for SEO purposes, is that you should only place an h4 after an h3, and an h3 after an h2. It’s not advised to jump from an h4 from an h2.

8. Heading tags are for headings, not formatting

As the heading suggests, heading tags are not for styling or formatting text. If you want to make text bigger, just increase the size using the formatting tool (or CSS if you’re not shy about using a bit of code). Just don’t add a heading tag unless it is for an actual heading. And especially don’t use heading tags for entire paragraphs.

When large chunks of text have heading tags, Google becomes confused as to what the actual headings are.

And if Google doesn’t know what your headings are, then it can’t pick up what you main keywords are. And you don’t want that…

I’ve touched upon this in my SEO basics for small business article, if you want some more info.

Summary

Headings play an important role in making your content more appealing to your readers and Google. It’s a lot to take in. So, if in doubt, keep it simple, descriptive, and follow the advised structures.

As an SEO copywriter, this is the stuff I do. If you would like to chat about creating more engaging content for your audience, whilst pleasing the Google gods, get in touch.