Header Tag Question

jfeitlinger

While reviewing code on a site, I found the following:

<h1 class="<a class="attribute-value">logo</a>">  <a id="<a class="attribute-value">logo</a>" href="[http://siteexampleh1.com](view-source:http://dmbinc.com/)"><span>Example of most important content on this page- Companyspan>a>  h1>

Is this the correct way to place code for an h1 tag? The content is cached within the page and is hidden to the viewer. The content that is assigned as the h1, is a logo. Majority of code I have been reviewing does not use this setup. The code would instead read as (

This is heading 1

). Can anyone provide insights on this?

Thanks!

Christy-Correll

I agree with Garrett in that I would use the H1 tag to mark up a heading (e.g., an article title, not a link or image.) H1, H2, H3 tags (and so forth) are (textual) header tags, after all, by definition, and are meant to help crawlers understand how pages are organized. They are also very important in helping screen readers (often used by the visually impaired) understand how a page is organized. Not properly marking up pages can result in a very frustrating, and confusing experience for those who rely on screen readers to navigate the web. The WC3 explains how to mark up textual content in HTML very well.

While including the keyword in the H1 tag has little, if any value in terms of SEO, I think including it is good for usability -- for all users, not just those that use screen readers. When a user performs a keyword search, the search results show the keyword in the page titles. I think it confirms (for the user) that they are on the correct page (and have found what they are looking for) when one of the first things they see after clicking through to a page (from a search result) is a prominent headline containing the keyword in it.

Greg_Gifford

You need the H1 to be visible for it to "count" - sure, you've got text here, but it's being hidden by the CSS, which is replacing that text with your image file.

You'd be much better off with a visible H1 headline containing text AND with your logo image being embedded with a standard image embed tag that ALSO has alt text for that image.

eWebify

Hmmmm.

I wouldn't make an H1 tag a logo. I also wouldn't make the h1 tag a link. The h1 tag is one of the most important on page factors for targeting a keyword.

My suggestion would be to follow the example you gave in the paragraph,

This is a heading

Hope this helps,

~Garret

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