Hide H1 tags on pages. Don't chuckle-Need assistance.

[ballanrk]

I redesigned my companies website and I am first and foremost an SEO person so I know the importance of a well laid out website.  Furthermore, I know realistically you should NEVER hide text whether it's with WH or BH intentions but here is my problem.

For every page I have all the details taken care of except proper placement of H1 tags.

• My website is responsive designed
• VERY competitive industry
• I have to make sure it is properly developed both design wise and seo wise
• It's an INC 5000 company so NO BH intentions

On phones and tablet devices I have the header images hidden and in the place of header images I have the information as in location, service,etc of whatever that page may be.  This makes it look good on desktops and serves up information quickly to people using phones and tablets.

My question is:

Would it be bad to turn that text seen on tablets and phones into an h1 tag as it's hidden on desktops with CSS but available on mobile devices.  My problem is making the h1 tag's work with the desktop versions visually as placement doesn't make since.

Any opinions are appreciated.

Thanks

Ballanrk

[MSTJames]

I would never hide H1 tags. I personally would start thinking about completely different templates for mobile and desktop devices and optimise each for their intended target rather than try and serve the same site to both and compromise each user's experience.

[Vizergy]

Tricky.  Here is my take.

Google, as I am sure you know, recommends responsive design so all 'versions' of a website operate under the same URL. https://developers.google.com/webmasters/smartphone-sites/details

However, it is very clearly stated "...serving the same HTML to all devices and using just CSS to change how the page is rendered on the device"

I read that as "Don't hide anything"  They want the SAME html being served so I take that to mean all of it - not some.

Could you compromise and make it an H2 or H3 and just set the CSS to show that particular tag as a small sub-header on the desktop version, but a bigger more prominent header on the other versions?

[ballanrk]

I knew the answer just not the one I want. LOL

Looks like I will be making a few changes, thanks.

If anyone else has input please let me know.

Ballanrk