H1 Tag, necessary or not? Hidden or not?

[BMDM]

Our new site design utilizes H1 tags on all pages except the home page. We couldn't find a way to work it into the design. That being said, what's the opinion on necessity? Do we need an H1?

If we do the image replacement thing, will that be better for SEO than none at all?

Our old site had one and once we changed it to the term we wanted to optimize for we made the top 10 in less than 60 days. We don't want to lose that placement. Thoughts?

You input is very much appreciated.

[dignan99]

I believe having H1 tags are important on each page.  The solution of style usually falls into the CSS so that it doesn't stick out that much.  As you mentioned, you could put a banner or image over your H1 title, but I believe this would be classified as hidden text, so you're taking your chances.

[Oversteer]

The H1 can help but it isn't the magic bullet that the title element is. Everything's a compromise. You aren't better off without it though.

Is the question because the text that would have gone into the h1 is embedded in am image? If so, have you thought about using Google Web Fonts or Typekit, Kernest, etc as an option? You can create an H1 and add a background image (your current image sans embedded text) behind. It's one option FWIW.

[Trupanion]

Keeping the same look and feel, the easiest way to integrate the H1 into the design would be in the "Define your Brand" section, add the h1 tag into the text on the left, and use css to design it so it looks similar.

[kenneth_martin]

The short answer is Not...

Here at SEOmoz we ran some correlation data last year to determine the answer to this very question. The result was that we discovered simply using your keywords near the top of the page in a larger font will yield you much the same results as an h1 tag. You can find the Whiteboard Friday where this was introduced here: http://goo.gl/9IJ0X

Also, I strongly encourage you to stay away from most image replacement techniques as they will end up causing you more harm than good. For images please use the ALT tag

[BMDM]

Thank you to everyone for their feedback. I appreciate it.