Why Do Different Headings Matter In SEO? Find out more.

Headings assist users and search engines to read as well as understand text. For instance, they act as signposts for the readers and also make it easier for them to ascertain what a post or page is about. Headings also describe which bits of your content are important. Headings show how your content is interconnected.

Headings are signposts which guide readers through an article. This means that they should indicate what a section or a paragraph is about. Otherwise, readers won’t know what to expect.

Readers like to scan through content in order to get an idea of what the text is about as well as to decide which parts of the text they’re going to read. Headings assists them with doing that. Scanning the text becomes significantly more difficult for your readers when it doesn’t include any headings. It’s even worse when you add in long stretches of text after a heading.

For web copy, it’s a great practice in order to make sure that your headings are informative to the reader. Some individuals like to tease their audience in the headings, attempting to entice them to read further. While this can work very well, it’s very easy to get wrong. Remember that the main focus of headings should be on the content. The main purpose should be to make the text easier to read and understand.

Backdrop To Heading Tags for SEO

In the early 2000s, heading elements (in other words, H1, H2 and H3) were actual SEO ranking factors. It was compulsory to add your keywords in the headings if you wanted to rank in the SERPs. However, that’s not been the case for many years. However, it is a common SEO practice to be concerned about keywords in the heading tags.

The term “rote” means doing something mechanically and out of habit, with no thought about it. Inserting keywords to heading tags has become a rote SEO practice. It’s done not because it’s helpful but because it’s a habit. Have a look at the top ranked sites for almost any query and it’s highly likely you won’t see websites seeding heading tags with keywords.

Which Heading Tags Should You Use?

Ideally, you should be using H1, H2 and H3 heading tags.

Heading tags are numbered in order to be used in descending order of priority. Thus, your most important heading needs to be H1. H2 tags are under H1 tags and then H3 tags are under H2/H1 tags.

You get it, however here’s an instance in outline form:

• H1: Post Title
• H2: Section 1
• H2: Section 2
• H3: Sub-Section 2A
• H3: Sub-Section: 2B
• H2: Section 3

For any given blog post, your post heading should be the H1. It’s important that it includes something similar to what you would utilise for your page title and contains your keyphrase.

Now, your usage of H2 as well as H3 tags will be dependent on how you organise the post. As Google mentions in its Starter Guide, you need to write your posts like an outline. Organise your sections before you even start to write them.

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