H Tags in Menu

[BeckyKey]

Hi

I am checking the H2 tags on this page https://www.key.co.uk/en/key/dollies-load-movers-door-skates

I have noticed my dev team have implemented H2's on the categories in the menu. Will this completely confuse Google as to what that page is about?

In my opinion those links shouldn't be heading tags at all

[Nigel_Carr]

Hi Becky

I have to agree with you there. The H1 should be a header for what is visible in the on-page content. These clearly are not. It won't confuse Google as it takes little notice of H2 but for me it's just a bad use of page elements.

Regards

Nigel

[HalfPriceBanners]

I agree with you that those nav links shouldn't be h2 tags, but don't worry about whether it might "completely confuse google."  Even from 2009, google was great about processing pages with less-than-stellar syntax. Here's a youtube of a google webmaster (matt cutts) explaining that a similar issue isn't confusing to google. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR5itZlq8sk

We had a similar issue regarding H-tags on our site that we thought was more concerning than it was. It might be a bigger problem if they were all H1s, but I wouldn't stress it as a website breaking issue that must be fixed immediately (though I would, like you, prefer to correct it).

[BeckyKey]

Thanks! So a project to tidy up those on the website won't have much benefit for SEO?

[HalfPriceBanners]

It's worth tidying up, but H-Tags aren't as powerful as they used to be (especially h2 and lower). Best practices are always worth following, but when this happened to us I know I stressed it more than I should have.

Titles, meta descriptions, and body content are all more worthwhile projects you can control that will impact rankings more, but for peace of mind I'd have your dev team understand that H-tags aren't to be used as an easy way to style some text.

[Nigel_Carr]

Hi Becky

Concentrate on the on-page content.

If H1 and H2 are properly aligned where H1 virtually copies the page title and H2 are reserved for headings just ensure that you write contextually rich content on the page. The more the better but don't keyword stuff or ramble on for nothing. A shorter page which is engaging, with images and maybe video is better than a long rambling piece that people will bounce off.

Regards

Nigel