Can I format my H1 to be smaller than H2's and H3's on the same page?

[Crumpled_Dog]

I would like to create a web design with 12px H1 and for sub headings on the page to be more like 24px. Will search engines see this and dislike it?

The reason for doing it is that I want to put a generic page title in the banner, and more poetic headings above the main body.

Example:

Small H1:

Wholesale coffee, online coffee shop and London roastery

Large h2:

Respect the bean...

Thanks
Scott

[theLotter]

H1 tags should be the largest text on the page.  Search engines want these to be the actual header on the page.  If you want the biggest item on the page to be "Respect the Bean"  but it is not any of your keywords, how about making it into an image?

I would also second Aran's remark that your current H1 seems like keyword stuffing.

[MassivePrime]

You're trying to stuff too many keywords on one page, also the H1 tag will not make or break your on-site SEO so don't obsess about having to put your keywords as an h1 header .

Why don't you split the keywords on 2 or 3 different pages and do the following:

Keyword + Catchy heading

I've copy and pasted this from Rand's post of a few weeks ago. This is mainly about the title tag but is also valid for the H1 tag in my opinion

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/6-changes-every-seo-should-make-before-the-over-optimization-penalty-hits-whiteboard-friday

your titles need to be authentic. They need to sound real. They need to sound like a human being wrote them that was not intending necessarily simply to rank for phrase after phrase. I'll give you a good example. Bad: web design services, web design firm space brand name, whatever your brand name is, web design. What does it sound like? It sounds like all you're trying to do is rank for keywords, not show off your brand name, especially if this is your home page or those kinds of things. You're repeating keywords three times. Web design is in this title three times. Think about whether a normal human being would read that title and think, oh yeah, that sounds legitimate. No, they'd think to themselves there's something fishy here, something spammy, something's wrong, something manipulative. Try instead, probably equally effective, if not more, brand name web design Portland Spiffiest Design Services. Now look, I've got the word "design services," which you wanted to get in here. I've got the city where you are that you're trying to target, got brand name web design, right, sort of branding myself as the product and the keyword. Much, much better.

[Crumpled_Dog]

Thanks Aran, I appreciate your response and suggestion. Listening to all the talk about good content, I think I need to revisit all the H1's in my site.

Best
Scott

[Aran_Smithson]

I very much doubt you'll get and problems with that, though i would possible look at revising your H1 content, reads kind of like a keword list.

"Suppliers of Wholesale Coffee from our Online Coffee Shop and London Based Roastery"?