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You are here: Home / Google / Google: H Tags as a Ranking Factor

Google: H Tags as a Ranking Factor

July 13, 2018 at 4:43 am PST By Jennifer Slegg

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How important are using <h> tags – and more specifically multiple <h> tags, such as using <h1>, <h2>, <h3> and more – on a page when considering it from an SEO point of view?  What about the benefits to site visitors?

The question came up specifically about the use of <h> tags and whether they should be used throughout the content or just as a heading to the page content.  While it is natural for some shorter pages to have one or two <h> tags, longer pages could definitely benefit from more <h> tags.  And it is not just from an SEO perspective.

John Mueller said that <h> tags can help Google tell which parts of content of together.  We know Google uses <h> tags to better understand context, such as “which pieces of text belong together”, so this would definitely help Google for rankings as well as snippets in the search results.

So in general, I think it makes sense to use semantic markup for different heading levels to better break up your content and make it a little bit easier to understand.  Sometimes this helps search engines to better understand which pieces of text belong together, sometimes it also helps users to understand this a little bit better.  For example, if they’re using a screen reader, then it might be a little bit more obvious which parts belong to the same section.  So from that point of view, I recommend keeping those headings.

Then he continues into the ranking specifics of <h> tags.  He does refer specifically to it being a ranking factor.

I don’t expect to see a big change in rankings with pages like this where you have different headings on a page.  But it does help us a little bit to kind of understand things a little bit better.  So if you haven’t been using these headings properly, it’s like don’t panic.

If you have been using them properly, I would definitely keep the there.  And it’s something kind of, I don’t know, like a really small and soft factor when it comes to understanding pages a bit better.

Mueller also recently commented on <h> tags and how the order of tags influences rankings.

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Jennifer Slegg

Founder & Editor at The SEM Post
Jennifer Slegg is a longtime speaker and expert in search engine marketing, working in the industry for almost 20 years. When she isn't sitting at her desk writing and working, she can be found grabbing a latte at her local Starbucks or planning her next trip to Disneyland. She regularly speaks at Pubcon, SMX, State of Search, Brighton SEO and more, and has been presenting at conferences for over a decade.
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Latest posts by Jennifer Slegg (see all)

  • 2022 Update for Google Quality Rater Guidelines – Big YMYL Updates - August 1, 2022
  • Google Quality Rater Guidelines: The Low Quality 2021 Update - October 19, 2021
  • Rethinking Affiliate Sites With Google’s Product Review Update - April 23, 2021
  • New Google Quality Rater Guidelines, Update Adds Emphasis on Needs Met - October 16, 2020
  • Google Updates Experiment Statistics for Quality Raters - October 6, 2020

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