Headings and search engine optimization
Crafting effective headings is one of the most important parts of search engine optimization. The way you structure and formulate your headlines can determine whether a visitor decides to stay on your page or move on. In this guide, you’ll learn how to use heading tags correctly, how to write headlines that capture both search engines and readers, and how to build a clear and optimized page structure that strengthens your overall SEO strategy.
H1
The main heading is the most important element on the page. This is true both for search engines and for your visitors. You usually have very little time to capture a visitor’s attention—really very little time. The main heading can serve exactly that purpose. By having a headline that immediately captures interest and clearly states what can be found on the page, you create a much stronger landing page. This almost always applies to both conversion and search engine optimization.
The “correct” way to mark something as a main heading, according to both web standards and search engines, is to use the H1 tag:
<h1>This is a main heading</h1>
The visual appearance of the heading can vary using CSS, but we won’t cover that here as it falls more under design or development than SEO. What’s important to know is that it can look virtually any way you want and still be considered the main heading.
From a search engine’s perspective, however, it needs to appear high up and be prominent. Most modern search engines can now interpret the visual structure of a page. A small, hidden H1—something that used to be common—works far less effectively today. Just like with a title tag, the H1 should contain the keywords you want to rank for, while still keeping the visitor in mind. There’s no strict limit to how long an H1 can be on a landing page, but it becomes awkward if it’s excessively long. Think of a newspaper headline or the main title of an academic paper.
Headline writing is about more than SEO. You also need to consider your visitor and their intent. By clearly stating that it’s possible to buy butter on the page, and not only read about the history of butter, you’ll likely increase sales. The heading must therefore align with the visitor’s expectations. If your search result promises that butter can be bought on the page but the heading says something different, you create unnecessary friction.
Craft a compelling main headline and make sure to include your target keywords. For those managing tens of thousands of product pages, some degree of automation often becomes necessary. The obvious choice is to use the product name as the main heading, and there are rarely better alternatives. You may want to include words like cheap, online, or for sale, but in most cases, prioritize the visitor. Avoid writing spammy-looking headings—if you can include your keywords naturally, that’s great, but don’t overdo it.
Other headings
HTML provides room for several other types of headings besides H1. These are called H2, H3, and so on, up to H6. Each level represents a subheading, much like in a Word document or an academic paper. Under the H1, you can divide the text with various H2s, and under each H2, you can add as many H3s as you need. This structure can continue down to H6 if your document is large and complex.
You write headings in HTML as follows:
<h2>Heading of type H2</h2>
<h3>Heading of type H3</h3>
<h4>…</h4>
Google values subheadings in a similar way to how it values the main heading. It’s therefore worthwhile to include keywords in them as well. However, it can look odd if every subheading is stuffed with the same keyword, so there’s room to vary the phrasing and use synonyms.
A page targeting the phrase cheap cars might have the following structure:
- H1: Find cheap cars here always the best price
- H2: What to consider when buying a cheap car
- H3: Don’t buy too cheap
- H3: Don’t choose the first car you see
- H3: Make sure you choose from inspected cars
- H2: Why you should choose us for your car purchase
- H3: We offer warranties even on cheap cars
- H3: You’ll get a free set of cheap winter tires with your car
It’s important to remember that subheadings should reinforce the main heading, providing more detail and a broader range of supporting information. By being intentional with your heading structure—something that requires some thought—you can create content that appears much richer in the eyes of a search engine. Building rich content is crucial, in contrast to thin content. The more useful information you can fit on your pages, the better.
Consider this:
- Think about how this book is structured in terms of headings. Although it’s in print rather than online, the same principles apply. Perhaps the only difference is that you might not consider the inclusion of keywords in subheadings as important as Google does.
- How would you improve this text?
- Can this be applied to your own writing?
- Can product descriptions be divided in the same way?