Search engines have been using heading tags as one of the ranking factors for a long time. This ranking factor is still relevant and Google gives immense importance to it to this date.
SEO services have long been focusing on title tags and heading tags. By using headings properly, a
website can get better rankings. There are cases when mere heading tags may not help.
This article explains why heading tags are important for search engine result page rankings.Continue
reading if you want to learn the correct usage of heading tags in different content types.
Heading Tags and Search Engines
The concept of including headings in pieces of writings is thousands of years old. For some forms of
writing, including heading is necessary while it is optional to include headings in various content types.
In HTML and other web programming languages, the title of the page and headings are divided into tags
such as H1, H2, H3, H4, and H5. Assigning these tags help web programming languages distinguish web
page elements.
Since the early days of search engines, website pages and posts have been differentiated based on their title and headings. With time, search engines started to check the contents of the page to avoid
mistakes.
Why Use Headings in Your Text
Besides search engines, the readers of your website pay much attention to headings. When a reader
does not have enough time, that person will skim through by reading the main headings of the text.
In other words, the user experience can be enhanced by including headings at various places within the
article or website page. People that visit a website would like to see a perfect arrangement of content.
Google and Headings: A Love Affair
For more than 20 years, Google has put heading tags at the center stage of their page ranking algorithm.
What makes it such a powerful indicator of search engine rankings? Well, there are many reasons.
Recently Google's John Mueller said that heading tags send a strong signal about the content. He was
talking about H1 when he said this in August 2020. However, a page can rank even if it does not have
any heading or title.
From Matt Cuts to John Mueller, we have been repeatedly reminded about the importance of headings.
Your content seems organized when you include relevant headings.
How Headings Helps Your Pages Rank
John Mueller is confident to mention that heading tag usage is a good habit for search engine
optimization. The usage of heading tags is an important search engine ranking factor.
Bots from search engines use heading tags to determine the nature of the content they are crawling and
indexing. It is also true that websites can still rank even if they do not have heading tags
.The usage of H1 heading is quite common and that is why it does not appear to be crucial in the ranking
of pages. Moreover, John Mueller in the past has downplayed the importance of H1 tags
.Search engine optimization experts note that heading tags especially the H1 tag were used to be of
utmost importance for search engines but there are no longer much useful.
There are other factors to focus on. As the importance of H1 and other heading tags diminish, the SEO
value of some other content-related factors has grown bigger in recent years.
Correct Usage of Heading Tags in Content
When you write, you may or may not place headings within your writing. To make your online content
better, it is crucial to divide your page or post into headings. According to Yoast.com, you should use the
H2 tag for the main headings of your content.
Never use the H1 tag for headings because the title of your content must have an H1 tag. For sub-
headings, one can use H3 and H4 tags. The usage of an H4 tag is rare. You have read the role heading
tags such as H1, H2, H3, and H4 play for search engine rankings. In this day and age, search engines are
intelligent, and mere heading tags cannot make you win.
In the end, we can say that there are more than 200 ranking factors that must be considered by SEOs.
Now you have a better idea about the role of headings in your website’s content. I wish you all the best
with your website’s search engine ranking goals.
