Using Heading Tags Appropriately
Heading tags or H1, H2, H3 and more heading tags are extremely important and can really aid internet marketing activities in regards to search engine optimisation. How do you use heading tags on your website?
The important item to bear in mind when thinking about heading tags is that they should be used in order to emphasise important text which you want to make noticeable as part of your web design.
It is important that you do not confuse heading tags with the <head> tag because this is something completely different. It is a common mistake made by many and do not confuse it with any HTTP headers either. Heading tags are used to present structure on the page to website users.
Since heading tags usually make text contained in them larger than the normal text on the page it acts as a visual cue to grab the visitor’s attention and this could help them to understand what is contained in the page below and thus give them a reason to read on.
What you need to do when you are using heading tags is to try and avoid the following:
- Placing text into the heading tags that isn’t going to be helpful in defining the structure of the website page
- Using heading tags where other tags like <em> and <strong> may be more appropriate
- Erratically moving from one heading tag size to another different one
- Excessive use of heading tags all over a website page
- Putting all of the page text into a heading tag
- Using heading tags only for styling text and not presenting any page structure
You should always use heading tags sparingly across the pages of your website and where they make sense to use. Too any headings can make it harder for users to scan any content on the page and can hinder them distinguishing where one topic ends and another topic begins.