Are you curious about the answer to this frequently asked question: what is a H1 tag? If you’re not familiar with website content creation, this is an element that might have flown under your radar. However, correctly formatting a page is important for your on-page SEO efforts – and the H1 tag plays a huge role in that goal.
Fortunately, you have landed in the right place if you’re searching for information on this piece of web page formatting. From topics such as what is an H1 tag to what is H1 tag in SEO terms, how many H1 tags per page to use, and more, this guide is your source for all things H1.
What Is an H1 Tag?
What are H1 tags, exactly? In basic terms, it’s an HTML heading tag. As you may gather from the “1” in its name, it is intended as the main heading for a webpage – much like a title. A title wrapped in H1 tags is typically bigger and stands out more than the rest of the page’s content.
What’s more, an H1 title doesn’t just stand out for your site visitors; it’s also an important element that search engines use when gathering data on what your web pages are about. If you have ever wondered why you are instructed to insert your primary keyword in the title, now you know the reason!
What Is H1 Tag in HTML?
As seen in the “what is an H1 tag?” section above, you will see that H1 is an HTML tag. However, what does this mean exactly? HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is a coding language for creating websites. Due to how most website building platforms are set up these days, it’s possible to build a cohesive, visually appealing site without seeing any HTML code. Yet make no mistake: HTML is doing all the heavy lifting under the surface.
Every piece of HTML within your website is highly functional– and that includes the H1 tag, too. Say you’re using WordPress to make a new blog post; when doing so, you are given a title box to add the post’s headline. In reality, this title is wrapped with an HTML H1 tag code – even if you can’t see it.
For example, you could create a page titled, ‘What is H1 Tag in HTML?’. In HTML code, this would be formatted as:
<h1>What is H1 Tag in HTML?</h1>
This small piece of code determines how the title will be displayed on your page. It also tells search engines where your main heading starts <h1> and ends </h1>.
As mentioned, platforms like WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace will add the H1 tag automatically to your headlines. If you’re wondering how to use H1 tag in HTML manually, simply insert the <h1> and </h1> code in the appropriate place on your web page.
How Many H1 Tags Per Page SEO Guidelines
How many H1 tags should be on a page? How many H1 tags are appropriate on a single page? Can you have two H1 tags on a page? These are questions we regularly see when it comes to H1 tags.
So, how many H1 tags per page are allowed? The answer: as many as you like. It might not sound appropriate, but it’s true. Senior Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google, John Mueller, once said this about the subject:
“Regardless of whether you use HTML5 or not, having multiple H1 elements on a page is fine.”
However, the answer will be very different if the question is: How many H1 tags per page are recommended?
In this case, the general consensus is to stick with a single H1 tag per page. While Google has developed systems that can handle multiple H1 tags without any SEO penalties attached, this isn’t the case with certain legacy browsers. Unless explicit CSS rules are applied to help with rendering, multiple H1 tags on a page could lead to problems.
From just a content structure point of view, a solitary H1 at the top of the page is advised. If you then want to place other content under a heading, you can then use H2 and H3 tags to do the job. The text size typically decreases in size as you go down the heading tag list (the limit is H6).
How to Write H1 Tags for SEO: Best Practices
When utilising H1 tags, care has to be taken to ensure it meets those all-important SEO requirements. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:
Avoid Going Too Long
Technically, any title you add to your H1 tag can be as long as you want. From an SEO perspective, however, this isn’t advised. A rule of thumb is to keep your title at 70 characters or under.
What are H1 tags if you can’t display the title in full? That’s a common question people ask. However, if you go up to 80 characters – even if this looks fine on the page itself – it could end up being truncated in Google search results – something that will negatively impact your organic traffic.
Capitalise Your Title
A title case approach is highly recommended for your H1 tags. This is where any major words in the title are capitalised – usually those that are four letters or longer. However, smaller words can also be given a capital letter depending on their function and style format.
Here’s an example:
What Is an H1 Tag?
If you’re unsure if a word should be capitalised or not, Capitalize My Title is a useful tool to keep bookmarked. By using a title case, it keeps your title appearing neat and professional.
Incorporate Your Target Keyword
Including your main target keyword in the H1 tag is essential. As the page’s most important heading, you want to make it clear to Google – and potential visitors – what the content revolves around. That’s why the title of this guide is “What is a H1 tag”! It’s a keyword that users often search for and it tells Google and internet searchers what this content is all about.
Be Compelling
You have to be direct and to the point. You have to include your target keyword. Yet along with this, you also have to create a title that’s compelling enough to grab the attention of users – and generate those all-important clicks.
For a little inspiration, type in your target keyword into Google and see what results show up on the first page. You can use these examples as a foundation for your own title.
Need Help?
Naturally, all this talk of HTML and search engine optimisation can be mind-boggling – especially for complete beginners in this realm. Alternatively, some people are so busy that they don’t have time to undertake the task of optimising their website – both in terms of user-friendliness and playing to search engine algorithms.
If you’re any one of these people and need assistance, why not chat with our friendly team? Our SEO masters are some of the best in the business and can take on the job of optimising your website and its content to achieve real results that boosts your site’s ranking and drives traffic through its gate.
