How to Properly Use Heading Tags in WordPress

adminSEO Tips

Last week, we talked about how to use emphasis to improve your Website copy in under 10 minutes. This week, we’re going to talk about how to properly use heading tags within WordPress.

If you’ve used WordPress, you’ve probably seen the “Heading” formatting in the post creator:

What are these for? How do you use them correctly? That’s what this post is about.

What are heading tags for?

You might think that these headings serve just to make text bigger and bolder. While they do this, that isn’t their primary purpose.

The primary purpose of heading tags are to create a “hierarchy” on the page…to organize your content.

How to use Heading Tags in WordPress:

Think of your “Heading 1” as the main idea for the entire page. It’s the biggest heading, so it’s the biggest topic.

There should only be ONE heading 1 on your page – and this is usually created by your WordPress theme and inputted into the page automatically as the “Page Title”.

DO NOT place more than one H1 on a page.

“Heading 2” are for the next biggest ideas on the page. You can use as many as you want, and they are used to present these ideas and organize them so that it’s easy to tell when a new topic is being presented.

“Heading 3” and so-on are for further breaking down these ideas and keeping things organized.

So, for example, you might have:

  • <h1>Page Title</h1>
    • <h2>Main Idea</h2>
      • <h3>Supporting Detail</h3>
        • <p>Your regular paragraph copy goes here.</p>
      • <h3>Supporting Detail 2</h3>
        • <p>Your regular paragraph copy goes here.</p>
    • <h2>Main Idea 2</h2>
      • <h3>Supporting Detail</h3>
        • <p>Your regular paragraph copy goes here.</p>
      • <h3>Supporting Detail 2</h3>
        • <p>Your regular paragraph copy goes here.</p>
    • <h2>In Conclusion…</h2>
      • <p>Regular paragraph copy goes here.</p>

Using Heading Tags Properly is Great for Google

Not only does using heading tags properly make your pages easier to read and skim, but Google looks to heading tags to better understand what is on your page. If you want to more clearly describe to Google what your page is about and increase your rankings, use keywords within heading tags, when it makes sense.

If you want more Google tips, I recently wrote a post titled How Can I Rank Higher on Google? The Top 5 Ways to Increase your SEO.

This is just one tip for improving the copy on your Web pages, and it’s an easy one. I have 10 other tips for rating and improving your Website copy that I would love for you read and download. Just tell me where to send it and I’ll get it out to you!

If you need help implementing anything or want me to do it all for you, I invite you to check out my no-contract website maintenance plans.

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