Heading <H1..H6> Tags

Hello,

When optimizing for Google, does anyone have a feel for how important it is to have <Hn> tags?

Can you have more than one <H1> tag on the same page? Most examples in books show one <h1> tag for the main title of a page, one <h2> tag for the theme of a paragraph or major section and <h3..6> tags for the major points being made.

My question is focused on their use in a retail application where I would use a <h1> tag to designate a broad product catagory like baseball. I would use multiple <h2> headings for categories like gloves, bats, hats, etc. and <h3> left hand versus right hand.

Would this be an acceptable use for Heading tags?

I'm looking for guidelines in using <Hn> tags on the same page? Can I have 3 <H1> tags on the same page and 12 <H2> tags on the same page. (one for every product on the page?

Thanks in advance,

Harry

 

If in fact on-page items have any impact on search engine optimization then <Hn> tags are the second most important item after the title. There is a very good explanation of their intended use on the W3C Standards site.

But there is actually nothing to stop you using several <h1>s or <h2>s on a single page. The original usage seemed to anticipate one contiuous document, but frequently a single page may contain several connected but separate pieces of text or information. There is nothing wrong with having each of these begin with a <h1> heading.

 

Harry,

I am making the assumption you are speaking in relation to SEO of the page. If not, then the following may be completely incorrect.

Regarding "on-page" optimization, it is my understanding that the prominent tags are: <title>, <h1>, <h2>...<B>. I'm not 100% certain where the breakpoint is between lower level "H" tags and the Bold tag exist but, I feel confident someone else on this forum will be happy to state.

Regarding the multiple use of the Heading tags, it is my understanding that you may use them as you stated. Keep in mind that you do not want to "stress" more than approx. 4 keywords/keyphrases on the page or risk diminishing the value you could create.

There are a number of threads on these forums regarding: PageRank, Content optimization, etc. that go into even more detail than I have here but, hopefully this can give you a starting point. IMHO.

 

While it's not something I personally would do, I concur with compar - you could get away with two h1s.
three h1s and 12 h2s is basically the opposite of what heading tags are designed for - if you had 3 things you would want to be h1s, you either a) make them h2s and sum them up with an h1, or better yet, make 3 different web pages all with a single h1.

-Greg

 

I used to have one h1 tag and then maybe 6 h2 tags on my home page.

I changed it to all h1 tags - and some more. I currently have 10 h1 tags and one h2 tag. My serps went up.............(but I have been adding links also). Anyways, it made no difference (and I've also got them wrapped around internal links)

 

The only problem I have with this approach is if Google ever really started to devalue pages for obvious on-page over optimization your page would be a prime candidate. You are using the tags in ways that there were not meant to be used. Google could only conclude that you were doing this in order to try and manipulate their results, and they might not like this.

If you want to emphasis internal links use <strong> or <bold> tags. This is what they are for and they may make just as great a contribution as a <H> without looking like an attempt to spam the SEs.

 

Good advice Bob

I'll do that

 

I remember why I did this now. Take a look at fortunecity.com - top for just about everything

 

Again somebody jumping to the wrong cause and effect conclusion. Fortunecity.com has 13,800 reported backlinks. This is the explanation for their success. It has absolutely nothing to do with how they use <h> tags.

 

Well Bob, I stand corrected