What are Headings
SEO Jargon Explained
Headings are what separate the parts of your page. The main heading then subheadings for each section then sub-sub headings for each paragraph and so on.
Most people using websites quickly scan pages and pick out the bits what they want to read. Headings make your text easier to read by breaking it up in bite sized chunks and highlighting the various parts.
Using Headings
When writing content headings are given a tag , H1 for the main title then H2, H3 and so on down to H6 reducing in size and importance as you go down the scale. You can use the smaller headings but there is rarely a need to go beyond H5.
The heading tags, as well as creating the headline format, are also meta tags (see what are meta tags) which are visible to search engine crawlers and tell them how your page is structured
You add your heading tags automatically with your text editor as you write.
The rules of using headlines are simple.
Google recommended only 1 H1 heading per page, unless you are breaking the page into multiple major sections.
Do not skip headings ie:- go from H1 to H3
Structuring Headings
Here is an example of how to use titles on a page of text.
A list of Games.
The Title is HI, each subheading for the group of games is H2 and each game title is H3, any subheadings within the text for each game would be H4 as in the chess example. The keyword for the page is games and appears in the H1 and H2 headings
Games for All1. Board gamesChessA two-player strategy board game played on a chessboard, a checkered game board with 64 squares arranged in an 8×8 grid. How to play Chess:Set up the chess board with the pieces in the positions illustrated described in the first section....... LudoA strategy board game for two to four players, where the players race their four tokens from start to finish according to the rolls of a dice.... 2. Card GamesRummySometimes played with two decks, where the players try to form sets and sequences of cards......... WhistA simple trick taking game, played in pairs. 3. Number GamesSudokuSudoku is one of the most popular puzzle games of all time. The goal of Sudoku is to fill a 9×9 grid with numbers ThreesThrees, as the name sounds is a game revolving around the number three. The game loads with a board of four-by-four matrix....... 4. Guessing gamesI spyI spy is a guessing game where the Spy or It says "I spy with my little eye..." and players have to guess the object the Spy saw....... Animal, Vegetable or Mineral?Someone thinks of an object that is either animal, mineral, or vegetable. Once they think of an object they tell........ |
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Headings and Keywords
When indexing pages the search engines see the heading tags and pay attention to what is inside them, adding keywords to your headings is beneficial but overdoing it (stuffing all your headings with keywords) is cheating as is adding too many main (H1) headings on a page.
Warning: Google penalises websites for keyword stuffing
When adding a keyword to a heading make sure it is part of a coherent description of the content of that section and not just a string of keywords. Google will spot that and penalize the page.
Normally 1x H1 heading and 3x H2 headings with your main keyword in them is enough.
Heading examples:
Normal text:- "How to do your own SEO"
H1:- How to do your own SEO
H2:- How to do your own SEO
H3:- How to do your own SEO
H4:- How to do your own SEO
H5:- How to do your own SEO
H6:- How to do your own SEO
Have a look at some of our other SEO Jargon buster articles to help with your DIY SEO.