Your header tags provide structure and context for your article.
Each header should give the reader an idea of the information they can glean from the paragraph text that follows below.
A helpful way to think of header tags is by comparing them to a table of contents for a non-fiction book:
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1. Use Header Tags To Provide Structure
•Your H1 introduces the topic your page is all about, just as a title tells a reader what a book is all about.
•The H2s are akin to book chapters, describing the main topics you’ll cover in sections of the article.
•Subsequent headers, H3s to H6s, serve as additional subheadings within each section, just as a book
chapter may be split
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1. Use Header Tags To Provide Structure
up into multiple subtopics.
When drafting a blog article or landing page, think about the main ideas you want your visitors to come away with.
Those are your header tags.
Use them to help you write your outline.
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2. Break Up Blocks Of Text With Subheadings
A scannable article is a readable article, and a readable article is one that’s more likely to perform well in the search engines.
That’s because Google likes to reward content that’s user-friendly.
Content that’s easy to read is, by definition, more user-friendly than content that isn’t.
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2. Break Up Blocks Of Text With Subheadings
When an article is scannable, users might actually stick around to read it, instead of bouncing back to Google.
Plus, they’ll also be more likely to share it with their friends.
While social signals aren’t a direct ranking factor, the more an article is shared, the more likely it is to naturally earn backlinks, which are a
ranking factor.
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3. Include Keywords In Your Header Tags
As Mueller told us, Google uses header tags to gather context for your page.
As with anything Google pays attention to, that means it’s worth including keywords in your header tags.
This does not mean you should shoehorn keywords in at all costs. Be judicious, not spammy.
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3. Include Keywords In Your Header Tags
You’ve probably noticed that many of the header tags in this article contain keywords.
In fact, the H2 for this section literally includes “keywords!” But, the keyword I’m actually referring to is “header tags.”
That’s one of the target keywords for this article, so I’ve included it in many of the H2s.
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3. Include Keywords In Your Header Tags
I haven’t included it in every single H2, though, because that kind of repetition can turn off readers.
Your page should be readable, first and foremost.
If keywords fit naturally, then you can go ahead and include them, as well.
Always think of your user first. Then, optimize for
Google.
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4. Optimize For Featured Snippets
Sadly, header tags are an afterthought for many marketers.
But they can make a sizable impact on your chances of scoring a coveted featured snippet.
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5. Only Use One H1
Let’s dispel a common SEO myth.
Google has said there is no problem with using multiple H1s.
However, that doesn’t mean it’s an SEO best practice to use multiple H1s on a page. Why not?
H1s are big, and they look like titles to readers.
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5. Only Use One H1
Use multiple H1s on your page, and it starts to look a little out of control.
Want to make sure you don’t have any multiple H1s lingering on your site?
Run your domain through a crawler tool like Screaming Frog.
Toggle over to the H1 tab to see at a glance
whether you have
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5. Only Use One H1
any pages that are missing H1s entirely or have multiple H1s.
Then click the Filter drop-down menu to export the ones you care about fixing.
The same report is available for H2s. Huzzah!
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6. Keep Your Header Tags Consistent
In marketing and in design, your goal is to maintain a consistent experience for users.
When a site achieves that down to the finest detail, it’s impressive.
Aim to impress with consistent header tags on your site.
If you choose to use title case format, stick with that
across all your pages
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6. Keep Your Header Tags Consistent
(and vice versa if you choose sentence case).
Also, keep your headings on the shorter side.
A header tag is not the place to write a paragraph of keyword-rich text for Google.
Instead, treat it like a mini-title for the following section of text.
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6. Keep Your Header Tags Consistent
A good rule of thumb is to keep your headers about the same length as your title tags (70 characters or less).
The more you can set expectations for your site visitors and consistently meet them, the happier (and more engaged) they’ll be.
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7. Make Your Header Tags Interesting
This rule applies to all your copywriting, not just the headers.
Your initial draft may have bland headers that you use to create your outline.
That’s okay, but you should always review and revise your headers prior to publishing to make them compelling for your visitors.
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7. Make Your Header Tags Interesting
Yes, your header tags make an article scannable. But ideally, they don’t scan the whole way through.
Intriguing header tags encourage visitors to take a beat and read for a while.
Place special importance on your H1 tag in particular. Users notice H1s.
In large part, your H1
may dictate whether
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7. Make Your Header Tags Interesting
visitors bother to scroll down the page at all.
Do your best to write one awesome H1 tag that answers the user’s search intent and gets them excited about reading your article.
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