Page title = h1, or slight variation of it?

[scanlin]

I recently found a new SEO tool http://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/search-engine-optimisation/

It is fast, and has found some site tweaks I need to make. There is a free demo version that crawls up to 500 URIs. I recommend you check it out (I'm not affiliated).

One of the conditions it checks for is if your page <title>is exactly equal to your <h1> tag. The fact that they flag it makes me wonder if that's something I should avoid (?).</p> <p>When I googled it I found a variety of opinions. When I looked at Rand's excellent piece on the perfectly optimized page http://www.seomoz.org/blog/perfecting-keyword-targeting-on-page-optimization I notice that the example Page Title and H1 are slightly different. By design, or a happy coincidence?</p> <p>Any opinions on whether I should make my Page Titles slightly different than my H1 tags to avoid the appearance of over optimization, or some other penalty?</p></title>

[baptisteplace]

Diversity is a sign of quality and will be a positive flag for GoogleBot. Having same head title, h1 title and h2 can't be a good sign nowadays.

I recommend you make a SEO / CTR optimized HEAD title and a more verbal and more informative H1 title. At least make it slightly different. This won't make a huge difference although