H1 tag mandatory?

[juanmiguelcr]

Hi there! Is a mandatory to fullfill the H1 tag in order to improve SEO? I mean I'm in the case where the keyword selected is appropiate to optimize the page but not appropiate to be in H1 tag 'cause it probably "doesn't sound good" to the user. Is it enought to be present in the url, title and description?Any suggestion?

Thanks in advanced.

[Webrevolve]

Hi Jesse,

Now your talking! I'd say I agree with you know on this - it may not have much value in terms of aiding a sites rank, but then again it may have some slight advantage in terms of rankings - as long as its played by the book, is relevant, not stuffed and is in line with all the other on-page 'best practices'.

It certainly wont hurt.

[jesse-landry]

That is simply untrue, though. In the quote you provided the SEOmoz stance even says "it does appear to provide some slight value." Yet you then said it does not add value... This post is contradictory at best.

Now what IS debatable is HOW relevant the H1 tag is and exactly how powerful it is in terms of optimization. What I know for certain is that it won't hurt to include your target keywords in your H1 tag and this can be done anywhere on your page, not necessarily at the very top in a title format.

Now of course this doesn't mean overusing the tag by any means. Never would I suggest such a thing. I use one H1 tag per page, period. No exceptions. But I always make sure my primary targeted keyword sits in that tag.

While it may not be the most powerful optimization technique, it is a piece of the puzzle and the SEO world is made up of a billion tiny edits that build one giant glorious page-1-search-ranking.

Voila.

[Francisco_Meza]

Here is SEOMOZ's outlook on the h1 tag:

"Appropriate Keyword Usage in H1 Tag

<dl>

<dt>Explanation</dt>

<dd>Although employing targeted keywords in the H1 tag does not correlate well to high rankings, it does appear to provide some slight value. It's also considered a best practice for accessibility and to describe a page's content, hence our recommendation.
However, keyword stuffing may be perceived negatively by the search engines and can impact rankings. Thus, we suggest keeping keyword usage in the H1 to 2 or fewer uses."</dd>

<dd>Also the question was "H1 tag in order to improve SEO?", He is asking if it gives higher rankings. My answer, no. BUT it can help convert higher. It's like the meta description. It has zero ranking effect, but it can help convert. </dd>

</dl>

[jesse-landry]

In a world where on-page optimization is more and more deminished it's hard to say exactly how much weight an html tag carries. Perhaps my "lot of weight" statement was a bit overboard, but it definitely is worth using and not just as a way of "letting the user know they've arrived." Because that is ridiculous. The user doesn't know what's tagged with an H1 and what's not. Again, formatting is all up to you and your CSS. I can have an H8 tag let the user know where they are, or just a straight up font tag. It's all in the styling.

H1 tags do register importance, just as bolded or alt text do. My suggestion of how you could technically bury it in a sentence was just to illustrate the point that you don't have to have some giant bold text at the top of your page to utilize the H1 tag. It can be stylized however you want. This is all I was trying to say and is certainly not a spammy suggestion.

[Webrevolve]

Although I agree with the bulk of what you mention, and indeed it would seem there are some spam notes in the post, I would not go as far as to say 'it gives no ranking benefit'.

I say this as a few sites i've amended the h1 on, have seen very slight improvements, not this could also be down to the fact i'd also looked at the content on those sites at the same time, however, I would not discount the fact the h1 'might' of helped in some small way.

I also point to a video, a couple of years old I know, by Matt - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgy3Oc9zfOw

Who suggests they may still help, again, the video may be outdated - but perhaps worth noting.

The jury is out on whether they add much benefit, however, I would not discount them altogether and categorically state they have no benefit. Based on the tests I've run, and a number of others have run, such as http://cbutterworth.com/do-h1-tags-still-help-seo/, then i'd say it could still help, even in a small way.

The more things you do correctly, the better?

[Francisco_Meza]

H1 tags do NOT carry a lot of weight for SEO. It gives no ranking benefit. Also, this sounds like a spam tactic:

"...drop an H1 tag into the middle of a sentence and the user would be none the wiser... just a hint."

Use H1 on for the user experience. I use H1s to make a clear indication to the visitor that they reached the right page.

[jesse-landry]

If the keyword "doesn't sound good to the user" then why would they type said keyword into Google?

That's my first question. To answer your question H1 tags are definitely important and carry a lot of weight for on-page optimization. Do you realize you can format your H1 tag using CSS or HTML to look however you want? You could, by all rights, drop an H1 tag into the middle of a sentence and the user would be none the wiser... just a hint.