Heading Hierarchy in SEO: Is It Still Important?

When writing content for a webpage or a blog post, you want to make sure that it’s good content. However, an important aspect that seems to get ignored more often than you may think, are heading tags and their hierarchy.

Heading Hierarchy in SEO is a key factor to consider and should be involved in any sort of plan when laying out a piece of content on a webpage.

Let’s get into more detail.

What Are Heading Tags in SEO?

Headings in SEO refer to the use of HTML tags (H1’s, H2’s, H3’s, etc.) and help create a hierarchical structure of content on a webpage. These heading tags help both search engines and human readers to understand the organisation and content of a webpage more easily.

Search engines, such as Google or Bing, use headings to determine the main topics of a webpage, which help underline the relative importance of different sections.

H1’s, H2’s and H3’s

A H1 should be the first heading tag on a webpage, as it is typically the main heading of the page. Preferably, it should also contain the primary keyword or phrase that you or your business is targeting. Subsequent heading tags such as H2’s, all the way up to H6’s, should be used to indicate subtopics and supporting information.

As well as this structure being useful for search engines, people also use headings to quickly scan and understand the content of a webpage. An effective use of heading tags can help make a page more user-friendly and improve the overall user experience, which is good news all around.

So, Is Heading Hierarchy in SEO Still Important?

When SEO was in its infancy, H1 heading tags used to be a really important ranking factor and because of this, people always used to put their most important keywords in the H1, so that Google knew the page was relevant for that keyword/phrase.

Although this is still good practice and should be implemented in a webpage’s content, it’s not as important as it used to be.

H1’s used to have more ranking power, as Google’s algorithm at the time was using those keywords and phrases to ultimately make assumptions regarding what a webpage was about.

The Evolution of Heading Tags in SEO

We’re now in 2023 and Google’s algorithm has become much more advanced. Nowadays, Google can understand what sections of a webpage are about, consequently meaning it knows what the whole page is about, just like that. It’s pretty clever.

The function of heading tags in SEO has essentially evolved. If you’re looking to improve the SEO of your website or a specific webpage, you should use H1’s, H2’s and H3’s to indicate what section of the content is being dedicated to a specific topic. The application of heading tags is to help assist search engines in comprehending the overall page topic, thus facilitating its ranking.

As per the official HTML specifications:

“Descriptive headings are especially helpful for users who have disabilities that make reading slow and for people with limited short-term memory.

These people benefit when section titles make it possible to predict what each section contains.”

Tips for Heading Tags

Implement Heading Hierarchy for SEO

Ensure that your headings are structured in a well-organised hierarchy. By creating a comprehensive hierarchy, individuals can easily browse through the content to locate the details they require. Those who use screen readers require a dependable heading level hierarchy to discover pertinent information.

Use One H1

Limit each webpage to only one H1 and ensure that it is distinctive to that page. This will help aid users and search engine bots to comprehend the material, meaning they’ll be able to locate it easier through search engines, thus improving your site’s SEO.

Try to Avoid H4’s and Beyond

While deeper heading levels (level 4 and beyond) can be used for exceptionally complex documents, it is best to avoid them if possible. The use of deep and intricate heading hierarchies can indicate that the content of a webpage or chapter is overly ambitious, which may ultimately result in losing the reader's attention.

Space Out Your Heading Tags

To establish a clear separation between content, include some space between each heading.

Final Thoughts

Heading hierarchy in SEO remains an important factor. Despite the changes in SEO practices, search engines still rely on headings to understand the content of a page and its relevance to user queries.

A well-structured heading hierarchy not only helps search engines, but also improves the readability and user experience on a website or that webpage in particular. Although heading tags have evolved from the early days of SEO, it should not be overlooked as a crucial element in on-page optimisation.

Remember though, if headings are excessively or incorrectly used, like overusing keywords or utilising multiple H1 tags, it can be detrimental and may negatively impact your website's search engine rankings, and no one wants that.