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How Many <h1> Tags Per Page ?

by Tony_D
16 replies
I've heard that using too many <h1> tags on a single page will get you sandboxed by the big G.

I'm working on a site and currently the most <h1> tags I'll have on any given page is 3. Think that'll hurt me?

Also, what are the rules for <h2>, <h3> and so on? I'm using... about 7 <h3> tags right now, wondering if I should just make them .style2 .style3 div's instead.

Any help would be appreciated.
#<h1> #<h1> #header #on page #page #seo #tags
  • Profile picture of the author Andy Fletcher
    Its a good idea to only have a single h1 tag on a page and it should contain relevant seo keywords. The other heading sizes don't seem to matter much/at all to the SERPs.
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    • Profile picture of the author Sean A McAlister
      Originally Posted by Andy Fletcher View Post

      Its a good idea to only have a single h1 tag on a page and it should contain relevant seo keywords. The other heading sizes don't seem to matter much/at all to the SERPs.
      Agreed...I might add that I would still use sub headings 2,3,4,5 etc....rather than all 2's for example
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  • Profile picture of the author Careygee
    I have about 10 to 12 ebooks on SEO and the gist and most common
    advice is no more than two per page.

    One at the top (h1 to h5) and one at the bottom (h1 to h2)
    Hope this helps
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  • Profile picture of the author entrepenerd
    Google looks favorably on semantically correct markup pages. That would mean on 1 h1 tag per page. You can have as many h2 tags as needed to identify secondary sections of content, and then follow with h3 tags to identify 3rd level sections and so on.
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    • Profile picture of the author Careygee
      Originally Posted by entrepenerd View Post

      Google looks favorably on semantically correct markup pages. That would mean on 1 h1 tag per page. You can have as many h2 tags as needed to identify secondary sections of content, and then follow with h3 tags to identify 3rd level sections and so on.
      Your first sentence I can agree with ...
      but from all I have researched ....
      "H tags", regardless of the size(H1, H2, H6 and etc.) are treated as an "H " by Google.

      More than two of any designation or "size" on one page is not good as far as I can tell from many sources including Matt Cutt.

      Am I missing a better or newer source? ...
      if so will someone jump in and illuminate me. :confused:
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      • Profile picture of the author Lambert Klein
        I'm sure that Google is smart enough to tell the difference in H tags. It just makes sense I think.

        One H1 tag per page that coresponds with the page's title.

        Then use the others logically.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tony_D
    Thank you all for your helpful information. After reading through your comments and considering the way my website is sectioned, I believe that using one <h1> tag per page will be more than adequate. That way I can really target my search terms.
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  • Profile picture of the author James Schramko
    I only use one H1 tag and I don't worry about H2 3 4 5 etc....
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  • Profile picture of the author Louis Raven
    I think the main problem with using many H1's is diluting your keywords.

    The most common structure for big name sites is:
    H1
    H2
    H2
    H2
    H3
    For some reason people use many H2 tags.

    Good luck and remember PR is more important. A PR-4 site which mentions "keyword" once will out perform a PR-0 site with "KEYWORD" mentioned all over including title and meta tags.

    I'm a ninja SEOptimizer and this is only what I've concluded due to my research.

    Louis
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    • Profile picture of the author Dan Grossman
      Originally Posted by Louis Raven View Post

      For some reason people use many H2 tags.
      It shouldn't be surprising... many pages are broken into sections. The page title/topic gets H1, the sections are secondary headers.

      Just like a book. The title is the <H1> and the chapter title are <H2>s. Or if the book has sections, the sections are <H2>s and the chapters within the sections are <H3>s.

      That's how headings are supposed to be used.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
    Hi Tony,
    Here maybe this will help.. Personally I do not use the nasty little tag as it has different effects in different browsers.

    But Anyways
    Promotion Tip: Too Many Headers Spoil Your Rank

    James
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  • Profile picture of the author dvduval
    If there is one heading that is especially important for the page, use the H1 for only that heading. You probably won't get penalized by google for using too many H1 tags, but the reason you would use it is to show the most important text on the page, or what the page is about. Having too many just confuses the search engine, and it is not sure what your page is about.
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  • Profile picture of the author crumblepie
    You can use several <h1> tags if you want, but the proper way to do it would be to use just 1.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kevin Riley
      I only use one set of H1 tags on any page. I put the <h1> at the very top and the </h1> at the very bottom. People love reading my pages.
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  • Profile picture of the author Andy Fletcher
    Also, as a general rule templates for stuff like Wordpress etc are commonly broken.

    They follow the one <h1> tag rule but only use it to highlight your site title not your page titles. Make sure you include the relevant page keywords in your <h1> tag. If necessary change your sites' templates so the existing <h1> is just a <div> with style and replace the page header (usually an <h2>) with your <h1>. Don't forget you'll need to rewrite some of the CSS to do this but its definitely worthwhile.
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