Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Same H1 tag in header across entire site
-
Should I have the same H1 tag in my header through out my entire site? Or is this considered to be self canalization for my main keywords.
For example right now I have an H1 tag with my main targeted keywords on every page on my site, even if the pages content doesn't necessarily match the keywords in the H1 tag.
-
Thank you for the responses!
The reason why I thought it may be effective is because I had seen it done on a few sites. Specifically when a CMS is used to manage the sites content. If you place a h1 tag into your header file it's going to care through every page of the site.
I will definitly be changing that strategy ASAP!
Thanks for the help.
-
Just in case you don't already have enough feedback: No, don't do it! The h1 is not the most powerful onpage element .. I think the title tag gets that award -- but it can be a useful factor. It should be written for the user - think newspaper headlines!
And just as each page should have distinct content, and a distinct tile, meta description, etc, so it should have a distinct, effective, h1 tag.
-
Hi Brandon,
I would only use keywords relevant to the page in the H1 tag. The reasons for this are that it is
a) not very descriptive for the end user if all the pages have the same H1 text regardless of page content (unless the text is hidden) and
b) it will have an impact on your other keyword rankings as you could make better use of the H1 tag to contain keywords which ARE relavant to the page.
The general rule of thumb is that each page should target only 1 or 2 unique, specific keywords or phrases, meaning that all of the on-page optimisation should incorporate these into the various tags and elements, such as the H1.
I don't think Google would give you a massive penalty for this but I know that you could target your keywords much more effectively by not duplicating your H1s across each page.
Hope that helps
-
For example right now I have an H1 tag with my main targeted keywords on every page on my site, even if the pages content doesn't necessarily match the keywords in the H1 tag.
Most likely, you will be able to improve the search engine traffic of most pages by making the H1 text match the topic of your PAGE.
-
Absolutely a bad idea. You should be using that h1 tag to promote the current page only, not the same keywords over and over.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Anchor Tag around a Div
Just Curious if this is an SEO No-No! I have set up the box to do some cool SEO transitions but am curious if I am loosing on a signifigant amount of internal linking considering anchor text or if Google recognizes the h2 as anchor text. Thanks. [ Article Title Article Synopsis Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.](internal-page.html)
On-Page Optimization | | Vspeed0 -
Less Tags better for SEO?
I am currently reviewing my strategy when it comes to categories and tags on my site. Having been no-indexed for some time, and having many tags with just one entry I am thinking that this is not optimal for SEO purposes. This is what I am planning: Categories - Change these to Index, but only after adding a hundred words or so by way of introduction (see this example - https://www.besthostnews.com/news/hosting/a-small-orange-news/). With the categories I am thinking of highlighting key articles as well to improve link juice distribution to older articles that are important. Tags - About half my tags have only 1 entry, with a few more just having 2 entries. I am thinking of deleting all tags with just one entry, and trying to merge those with just two or 3 entries where it makes sense to do so. I will keep these as no-index, but I think this will mean more optimal distribution of link juice within the site. I would appreciate your thoughts \ suggestions on the best practices here.
On-Page Optimization | | TheWebMastercom0 -
How to peroperly use h1 , h2 and h3 tag on your website.
Is it better to have different h1 for each page or have the same h1 across the site. I am using h1 fin wordpress for beside that I have 4 more h1 in the same page how to properly use h2 and h3 can we have muliple h2 on a page. what would be an ideal hx tag order be ? h1
On-Page Optimization | | conversiontactics
h2
h2- h3 h3 If anyone can provide some answers Many thanks0 -
Tags vs. Categories? What should I use?
I'm starting with a blog (self-hosted wordpress) and I'm thinking of the following content structure so that the readers are easily able to locate relevant content: Background: It's a blog which gives people relevant info about government jobs. To start with we will just be publishing information about these jobs but over a period of time also intend to post content that helps readers prepare for these jobs. In other words, right now it's just about detailed job notifications but in the coming months, we shall also post about preparation-related information. Typically, each of the job notifications can be bifurcated like: Jobs basis industry Banking Railways Clinical, etc. Jobs basis company ABC co. DEF co. XYZ co. etc. Jobs basis State / City City 1 City 2, etc. Jobs basis educational qualification Graduation Post-Graduation, etc. Now, I'm seriously confused how should I structure this data from the perspective of Categories & Tags such that it's reader as well as SEO-friendly. Do note that each of the government jobs post ideally falls in a couple of above mentioned categories. Thanks..
On-Page Optimization | | Shalin.TJ0 -
Break in H1 tag - big, small or no problem?
Hi, I've just taken on a new ski client who offers ski instructor courses. The landing page for the keyword [ski instructor courses] was created by the web agency but with no heading tags... http://www.snowrehab.com/ski-instructor-courses Subsequently they've put them in but I've noticed the H1 tag has a break in it where 'ski' is on a separate line to 'instructor courses' Is this an issue that need to be addressed? Also I can't look up the page in the Moz on-page grader - any ideas why? Many thanks! Richard
On-Page Optimization | | richardpatey0 -
Are H1 tags important or influential?
We are in the process of correcting our site in hopes that Google will rank us higher in the SERP. We have many pages that have multiple H1 tags or no H1 tag at all. How important is the H1 tag? Will it help us increase our ranking on Google? Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | WebRiverGroup0 -
Rel canonical tag back to the same page the tag is on?
Very simple, Why would a website (and I have seen tons doing this) link the rel canonical tag back to the same page the tag is on? Example: somepage.htm has a canonical tag linking to somepage.htm I thought the idea of this tag was to tell google if 2 pages are similar, this page is the original, and it's this page which should be indexed and the page with the tag on should pass all PR to the original. Maybe im wrong and someone can help me out to understand this.
On-Page Optimization | | activitysuper0 -
Sister Sites or Joint Family?
A large News Media Group has a Tv Channel, print newspaper, radio channel (for music primarly) and an online website that includes the newspaper content and other original content in different media. My question is, is it better to have independant websites for these different mediums or have all the content on one big website. Currently the newspaper and blog are online as one whereas the radio channel has its own website and the television has its own. So should we maintain sister sites and cross link to each other or have one big happy family under one house? Best, Rishad.
On-Page Optimization | | RishadShaikh590