SERPs Showing H1s Instead of Title Tags?

[VTDesignWorks]

Hi,

I'm noticing two strange things in search results recently. Often I find that if I search for a client's company name, I see just the company name in SERPs where the title tag would normally be displayed. Examples:

'aci northwest'

'lanz heating'

As strange as that is, I'm tempted to assume this is just Google's way of "getting smarter" and showing more relevant results (though I'm not sure exactly where it's pulling from).

But it gets stranger. For the first example, 'aci northwest', when search that key phrase on Bing/Yahoo!, etc. I'm not only not seeing the title tag where it would normally be, but I'm seeing the H1 in it's place:

"When your projects demand more, demand ACI."

Any idea what's happening here?

Thanks in advance!

[andresgmontero]

Hi, quoting you: "I'm tempted to assume this is just Google's way of "getting smarter" and showing more relevant results" , yes you are right, Google actually shows what its more relevant, I know there is a more recent video about this, but this will give you a good explanation on the subject (Matt Cutts) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlJiLDn9-38

[VTDesignWorks]

Cool, thanks for the quick reply Andrés. So it sounds like my assumption on that part was essentially right.

Any idea about the second part - H1s showing up in place of title tag on other engines?

Thanks again!

[andresgmontero]

Here is a theory... because I am not really that involve with those 2, if I remember properly Bing/Yahoo are using the same search technology, so results shouldn't be that different, and my guess is they try to do the same as Google, showing what seems more relevant, but they are not as advanced yet so the probably add more weight to the H1 in the case of your website.

As I said, its just my theory, I am not so into those 2.

Happy to help!