Title Tag vs. H1 / H2

[ChristianRubio]

OK, Title tag, no problem, it's the SEO juice, appears on SERP, etc.  Got it.

But I'm reading up on H1 and getting conflicting bits of information ...

1. Only use H1 once?
2. H1 is crucial for SERP
3. Use H1s for subheads
4. Google almost never looks past H2 for relevance

So say I've got a blog post with three sections ... do I use H1 three times (or does Google think you're playing them ...)

Or do I create a "big" H1 subhead and then use H2s? Or just use all H2s because H1s are scary? 

I frequently use subheads, it would seem weird to me to have one a font size bigger than another, but of course I can adjust that in settings ...

Thoughts?

Lisa

[hammadrafique]

Just use H1 one time, matt cutts said in a video that he would like to see only 1 H1 tag on a page.

Create content for better user experience, use headings just for your readers, and don't follow these on page tactics very much. Now everyone knows these techniques, and I don't think Google gives higher weight to these things.

Create content for readers

Use H1 as your Page's Heading(Just one time)

Use H2 where you think it's essential

[Lumina]

Of the 4 points you mention you've seen, I'd say the only one that's entirely incorrect is #3.

1. Only use H1 once: True. Think of it like a book title. That's the most important thing, so nothing else should share that prominence.

2. H1 is crucial for SERP: **True. **This is what Google looks to, after your title tag, for information about your page and the content therein. This reaffirms that your metadata, keywords, title, content, etc. are all related - while also showing visitors what this page is about (Google values visitor experience more and more with each update).

3. Use H1s for subheads. False. Think back to #1 - H1 should be reserved only for the 1 absolute most important thing (which should be your title).

4. Google almost never looks past H2 for relevance. Kind of true. Google DOES look beyond this (and even parses your body-text), but with each lowering of prominence / heading, Google gives it less weight. #4 is true in the sense that this weight is lessened significantly, but it's incorrect generally - your content is still very important.

I hope this has been helpful to you! Good luck!

[twitime]

Like others have mentioned you should only have one H1.  This should appear on the page before any other headings such as h2, h3 etc.

The styling shouldn't matter so the h1 doesn't need to be in a larger font size than the h2's.

[ChristianRubio]

Ah, so ...

• Title (duh)
• H1 header (use as first subhead after lead graph to set the tone for the piece?)
• H2 for all other subheads
• Set H1 and H2 at the same font style so no one knows the difference.

Can someone give me a good example of an H1?  I don't know why I'm a bit stuck on the H1 application, but a few in the wild examples should help.  This is truly appreciated guys!

Thanks!

[ChristianRubio]

OK, getting more information ... I think the issue here is this is for a blog and I'm thinking the Title tag usurps the H1.

For a blog, it would be:

<title>Awesome Cool Headline<title></p> <p><H1>Awesome Cool Headline<H1></p> <p>which would look redundant.  So I think I could use the first subhead as an H1 if it was written in a way that was relevant to the story, but I'm guessing best practices are H2.  Although if I did that, I'd NEVER have an H1 on my pages unless I was doing a landing page promotion of some sort ... hmmm.</p></title>

[twitime]

<title>Awesome Cool Headline<title></p> <p><H1>Awesome Cool Headline<H1></p> <p>This looks correct.  Then use H2 for subheadings.  The title won't get printed on the page so "Awesome Cool Headline" will only show once on the page content.</p></title>

[RNW_Media]

Let me add that

• In many cases the title tag will also contain the website's name, as in
  <title>Awesome Cool Headline | website name<title></li> <li>A good CMS will let you differentiate between headline in title and headline on the page (the H1)</li> <li>If your website is indexed by Google News the shown headline will be the H1, not the title tag</li> </ul></title>