H1 tag options

[J_Sinclair]

Hi,

Working on a website and the developer has asked some questions about the h1 tag placement...

So the main page has a bold heading named 'Overview' which then has a left hand navigation to tab through the content which appears next to the nav. The main content then has a heading and content below it.

The 'Overview' heading appears on all pages of the left nav so really shouldn't be the H1 tag as it would cause duplication.

One option we have thought about is to have the right hand heading above the content be the h1, and it has been suggested to stylize the 'Overview' heading but it won't actually be an h1. My question is would this have any negative impact on SEO?

Thanks!

[BrightHealth]

No negative impact. Unless it's a one service/product website, the heading "Overview" would not be the best use of the tag. This would be something more like "Real Estate Refinancing Product Overview" or something much more descriptive of what is to follow.

Utilization of H2's and H3's will also be useful towards structuring the overview page.

Duplication would be my secondary concern. After running many site audits this year, I have seen how many sites have duplicated heading tags as a result of how it was built into the site theme/design. My recommendation is to make h1's an editable field at the page level, rather than generate automatically, or, style it remove the tag from page heading's (as you suggested), this would be the next best option.

[josh-riley]

H1 is a tag search engines use to help identify what your page is about. Using "overview" for all H1 would imply that your site is about "overview." (Ok, I'm dumbing it down a little bit, but I'm doing it to make a point.)

The more specific an H1 tag can be to the content of a page, the better. It's easier for search engines to understand your page and it's a better user experience (how valuable is "overview" all over the place?).

[J_Sinclair]

Thanks for the responses!

I think we're going to have to go down the route of styling the heading to look like an h1 and then use the heading which is related to the content to be the h1 to avoid duplication and the make best use of the header tag.

Really good to get other opinions !