How H1 Header Tags Have Changed Over The Years

Ensuring that a webpage’s H1 header tags are correctly utilised is an important part of SEO analysis. The definition of H1 tags has changed in modern times, and so it is crucial for the SEO community to understand how it fits into a page’s organisation. SEO agencies and website owners should also understand other header tags – like H2, H3, and H4 – as they play a huge part in SEO page analysis, as well as the website’s user experience.

In the past, H1 tags were standardised and systematic, but they changed as search engines got smarter every day. The idea of using H1 tags as the main category never changed; people still use these header tags as a headline.

However, its role is now more focused on the page’s overall user experience instead of the keyword variations involved or the header hierarchy. In other words, SEOs do not necessarily have to use H1 header tags for their headlines, but the purpose of an H1 tag remains.

H1 header tags should be concise and comprehensive, briefly summarising the whole page’s content.  Meanwhile, the rest of the page’s content will most likely be in the form of subheadings, comfortably existing below the H1 tag.

In the past, SEO page analysis had specific requirements when it comes to creating H1 tags. For instance, SEOs used to avoid using more than one H1 tag per page, and they made sure that it included important keywords. H1 tags should also be mentioned before other subheadings and have the largest text on a content page. However, Google has already made it clear that these requirements are no longer applicable.

SEO is always changing, along with websites and the way they are presented. Search engines have also evolved, changing the way they crawl webpages, and the way users interact with websites have changed, too. Therefore, webpage SEO analysis must be improved to accommodate all these needs.

Nowadays, having multiple H1 headings has become common, especially with HTML5. Moreover, the number of H1s or where they are placed on the webpage is not a problem as long as the heading structure is organised in the best way possible. Google’s John Mueller also stated before that a website could rank perfectly well regardless if it has five H1 tags or no H1s at all.

The biggest thing to focus on is the user experience. This is the top priority of all SEOs as it is more important than keyword density or the header hierarchy.

It has been made clear that multiple H1 tags do not affect a webpage’s organic visibility negatively. Important keywords also don’t necessarily need to be in H1s. SEOs and webmasters should instead focus on ensuring that the content is organised in the most sensible and practical way possible.

Mueller shared several ways in which Google’s system works to understand and support page headings. Google includes a page with multiple H1 headings, one H1 heading, and content webpages with stylised text and no semantic HTML.

This means that there is a lot of freedom when it comes to page style and organisation, as well as headings in general. There are also plenty of websites that have gained positive results by using all of these three layouts.

Headers are used to neatly present the content to its readers. Our team at Position1SEO can make sure that your website’s user experience is on point so that your readers can easily digest the information found within your content pages.

Aside from that, we can fully optimise your content and webpages so that they will be in the best state to be crawled by search engines, allowing your website to rank better in the results pages.

If you are interested in working with our team of professionals, just call us via 0141 846 0114. Likewise, you can email your written enquiries at office@position1seo.co.uk.