Hyperlinked header tags, what's the proper order?

[Christian Little]

We're doing a major redesign of our site right now to make it more seo-friendly, and an interesting question has risen.

We are going to have some hyperlinked header tags on some pages, and I'm trying to figure out if we should have the hyperlink inside or outside of the header tags.

Example 1:

<h1><a href="somewhere.html">Some Important Topic</a></h1>

Example 1:

<a href="somewhere.html"><h1>Some Important Topic</h1></a>

Which if these is the most beneficial for SEO purposes?

We've always done it as shown in Example 1, but I'm curious to know if it would be better to go with Example 2 instead. Both are valid in HTML and such, but what will make it more Google-friendly?

Most wordress themes and other websites I've ever looked at seem to go with Example 1 as well. So I'm inclined to think that's the better way of doing it.

[InitialEffort]

I use example number 1. No real explanation why.

[phupha]

Example no 1

[Christian Little]

It's Example 1. I was talking to somebody about it last night after posting the question here, and they told me that Example 2 is invalid HTML.

I put together a test page and checked it with the W3 validator, and it is indeed invalid HTML. Apparently HTML standards don't allow you to have an H tag inside of a hyperlink, even though it does work. Having the hyperlink inside the H tag appears valid to the W3 validator though.