STRUCTURE HEADINGS IN YOUR BLOG POST (THE HTML TITLE TAG – H1 TO H6)

“Hi, Na’im,” my client gave me an SEO checklist, and he recommended I structure the headlines into H1 to H6 as HTML title tags. I don’t understand what that means, and all the content I read couldn’t explain it well enough. Do I need to be a programmer, or is this some backend stuff?” she asked.

The signpost to a blog is the headline, like a billboard to a city. The first headline or title explains the content and determines whether a reader will read it or dump it. This is similar to an inviting aroma that determines whether we eat the food. Beyond the heading are subheadings in a blog post – compartmentalizing a blog into beautiful and meaningful segments. Appropriate use of titles also provides hierarchy and makes reading easier, communicating the intent of a post quicker.

Headings are six – H1 to H6, meaning heading one to heading six. However, H1, H2, H3, and H4 are primarily used in blog posts; you barely see H5 and H6 in posts.

Understanding H1 to H6 headings for HTML title tag

It may be surprising that you have never seen a post labelling the headings into H1 to H6 because headers are defined in a page’s HTML – it is not visible after the content is published. But when you see a well-structured post, you will know they used the headings. The H1, the main title, is referred to as the main heading, while the others are subheadings.

The importance of the subheadings

Besides making it easier for visitors to navigate your blog post and get the information quickly, it also helps search engines.

·   For visitors: When a visitor visits a page, the headings tell what the posts cover and help determine if the content is relevant for them. Additionally, visually impaired readers use screen readers to navigate and surf the internet. But screen readers rely on headings to get the content of the web pages and help the users.

·   For search engines: search engines rely on headings to understand a structure and the topic covered in a page. Although it is not a major factor in determining your search rank, inserting keywords in your headings improves your search engine rank. A thing to note, especially if you doubt headings as a ranking factor in SEO, is that anything that enhances the user experience on your blog improves your search engine result. 

Featured snippets coming from headings – another importance of structured headings

Google and other search engines may use an extract from a page as special snippets in the SERP. But before this is done, the search engine must understand the content thoroughly to pick the extracts that will match the visitor’s search query. They do this by relying on the headings to understand the content. Therefore, it is pertinent to use the titles correctly to boost visibility and help search engines rank your page and build featured snippets from your content to drive more traffic for you.

How to structure the heading

Because you want to achieve the benefits we mentioned above shouldn’t make all your posts have H1 to H6. Hence, the headings should be logically structured on a page. As mentioned earlier, H1 is the heading, then H2 is the major subheadings. Suppose any of the H2 has a subheading that is H3. If your content requires more, you can have H3 to H6.

H1 – the topic you are writing (2 types of food in a naming ceremony)

Introduction

H2 – Food 1

H3 – How to cook food 1

H4 – where to buy ingredients for food 1

H2 – Food 2

H3 – How to cook food 2

H4 – where to get ingredients for food 2

Conclusion

The example above is how to structure headings; it has to be hierarchical – you cannot jump from H1 to H3; H3 will always come under H2, which I call a major subheading.

You can also view the structure headings this way

·   H1 talks about the title

·   H2 is a major subheading of the topic

·   H3 is a subheading under H2

·   H4 is a subheading under H3

·   H5 is a subheading under H4

·   H6 is a subheading under H5

·   H2 – you can have another major subheading for the topic

·   H3 – that major subheading can have a subheading, which is H3. 

How to pick the heading size for your blog post

As you continue to write from H1 to H6, the headings should get smaller – bloggers and content publishers would have seen this while publishing content. H1 should be the biggest, followed by H2, while H6 should be the smallest.

Order of headings in HTML source

How your headings appear in your HTML title tags source doesn’t matter. What does matter is how the titles appear for visitors on their screens and how they appear for search engines. 

H1 heading

The H1 is the main topic of the blog content, which must describe what visitors want to read in the post. For instance, how cook rice as H1 should not have content on where to buy affordable laptops online. Additionally, a webpage or blog post should contain just one heading.

Additionally, the heading should not be around the image because search engines do not understand images how text is understood. Therefore, H1 around the image will confuse search engines when understanding the purpose and message of your content. Additionally, it is not compulsory your H1 matches the page title, but it can. This is because visitors will see your H1 heading bigger and bolder than your page title, so H1 should be more attention-grabbing.

H1: 5 ways to cook party jellof to make your visitors beg for more

Page title: how to cook jellof rice.

H1 length

Your H1 should be brief; a longer one may not be readable for your website visitors, hurting their experience. So 60 to 70 characters are enough – short enough to make sense.

H2-H6 subheadings

The H2-H6 are other headings called subheadings. They are great for structuring content. Your page will look more readable with at least two H2s but don’t force it if it is not required, such as in essay writing. Additionally, don’t skip the headings’ hierarchy.

Conclusion

As a take-home message, H1 is the content title, H2 is the major subheading in the post, H3 is the subheading under H2, and H4 comes under H3; this continues to H6. Therefore, a post can only have one H1 but multiple H2 and others.