Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Home
      • Compare SEO Products
      • Moz Data
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Link Explorer
      • Competitive Research
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • SEO Q&A
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • Case Studies
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

      • Moz Local

        Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

      • STAT

        SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

      • Moz API

        Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

      • Compare SEO Products

        See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

      • Moz Data

        Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

      • Keyword Explorer

        Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

      • Link Explorer

        Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

      • Competitive Research

        Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

      • MozBar

        See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

      • More Free SEO Tools

        Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

      What is your Brand Authority?
      Moz

      What is your Brand Authority?

      Check yours now
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

      • SEO Q&A

        Insights & discussions from an SEO community of 500,000+.

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
      Moz API

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

      • Case Studies

        Explore how Moz drives ROI with a proven track record of success.

      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. SEO Tactics
    3. Technical SEO
    4. Title Tag vs. H1 / H2

    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.

    Title Tag vs. H1 / H2

    Technical SEO
    5
    8
    7769
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • ChristianRubio
      ChristianRubio last edited by

      OK, Title tag, no problem, it's the SEO juice, appears on SERP, etc.  Got it.

      But I'm reading up on H1 and getting conflicting bits of information ...

      1. Only use H1 once?
      2. H1 is crucial for SERP
      3. Use H1s for subheads
      4. Google almost never looks past H2 for relevance

      So say I've got a blog post with three sections ... do I use H1 three times (or does Google think you're playing them ...)

      Or do I create a "big" H1 subhead and then use H2s? Or just use all H2s because H1s are scary?  🙂

      I frequently use subheads, it would seem weird to me to have one a font size bigger than another, but of course I can adjust that in settings ...

      Thoughts?

      Lisa

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • RNW_Media
        RNW_Media last edited by

        Let me add that

        • In many cases the title tag will also contain the website's name, as in
          <title>Awesome Cool Headline | website name<title></li> <li>A good CMS will let you differentiate between headline in title and headline on the page (the H1)</li> <li>If your website is indexed by Google News the shown headline will be the H1, not the title tag</li> </ul></title>
        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • twitime
          twitime @ChristianRubio last edited by

          <title>Awesome Cool Headline<title></p> <p><H1>Awesome Cool Headline<H1></p> <p>This looks correct.  Then use H2 for subheadings.  The title won't get printed on the page so "Awesome Cool Headline" will only show once on the page content.</p></title>

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • ChristianRubio
            ChristianRubio last edited by

            OK, getting more information ... I think the issue here is this is for a blog and I'm thinking the Title tag usurps the H1.

            For a blog, it would be:

            <title>Awesome Cool Headline<title></p> <p><H1>Awesome Cool Headline<H1></p> <p>which would look redundant.  So I think I could use the first subhead as an H1 if it was written in a way that was relevant to the story, but I'm guessing best practices are H2.  Although if I did that, I'd NEVER have an H1 on my pages unless I was doing a landing page promotion of some sort ... hmmm.</p></title>

            twitime 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • ChristianRubio
              ChristianRubio last edited by

              Ah, so ...

              • Title (duh)
              • H1 header (use as first subhead after lead graph to set the tone for the piece?)
              • H2 for all other subheads
              • Set H1 and H2 at the same font style so no one knows the difference.

              Can someone give me a good example of an H1?  I don't know why I'm a bit stuck on the H1 application, but a few in the wild examples should help.  This is truly appreciated guys!

              Thanks!

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • twitime
                twitime last edited by

                Like others have mentioned you should only have one H1.  This should appear on the page before any other headings such as h2, h3 etc.

                The styling shouldn't matter so the h1 doesn't need to be in a larger font size than the h2's.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                • Lumina
                  Lumina last edited by

                  Of the 4 points you mention you've seen, I'd say the only one that's entirely incorrect is #3.

                  1. Only use H1 once: True. Think of it like a book title. That's the most important thing, so nothing else should share that prominence.

                  2. H1 is crucial for SERP: **True. **This is what Google looks to, after your title tag, for information about your page and the content therein. This reaffirms that your metadata, keywords, title, content, etc. are all related - while also showing visitors what this page is about (Google values visitor experience more and more with each update).

                  3. Use H1s for subheads. False. Think back to #1 - H1 should be reserved only for the 1 absolute most important thing (which should be your title).

                  4. Google almost never looks past H2 for relevance. Kind of true. Google DOES look beyond this (and even parses your body-text), but with each lowering of prominence / heading, Google gives it less weight. #4 is true in the sense that this weight is lessened significantly, but it's incorrect generally - your content is still very important.

                  I hope this has been helpful to you! Good luck!

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                  • hammadrafique
                    hammadrafique last edited by

                    Just use H1 one time, matt cutts said in a video that he would like to see only 1 H1 tag on a page.

                    Create content for better user experience, use headings just for your readers, and don't follow these on page tactics very much. Now everyone knows these techniques, and I don't think Google gives higher weight to these things.

                    Create content for readers

                    Use H1 as your Page's Heading(Just one time)

                    Use H2 where you think it's essential

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                    • 1 / 1
                    • First post
                      Last post

                    Got a burning SEO question?

                    Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                    Start my free trial


                    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.

                    • See all categories

                    Related Questions

                    • kevinpark191

                      Can a H1 Tag Have Multiple Spans Within It?

                      H1 tags on my client's website follow the template [Service] + [Location]. These two have their own span, meaning there are two spans in an H1 tag. class="what">Truck Repair near class="where">California, CA How do crawl bots see this? Is that okay for SEO?

                      Technical SEO | | kevinpark191
                      0
                    • aj613

                      Do H2 tags carry more weight than h4 tags?

                      Of course H tags are key signals for relevance in search.  Does an h2 tag send a significantly "louder" signal than an h4 tag?

                      Technical SEO | | aj613
                      0
                    • Houdoe

                      CNAME vs 301 redirect

                      Hi all, Recently I created a website for a new client and my next job is trying to get them higher in Google. I added them in OSE and noticed some strange backlinks. To my surprise the client has about 20 domain names. All automatically poiting to (showing) the same new mainsite now. www.maindomain.nl www.maindomain.be
                      www.maindomain.eu
                      www.maindomain.com
                      www.otherdomain.nl
                      www.otherdomain.com
                      ... Some of these domains have backlinks too (but not so much). I suggested to 301 redirect them all to the main site. Just to avoid duplicate content. But now the webhoster comes into play: "It's a problem, client has only 1 hosting account, blablabla...". They told me they could CNAME the 20 domains to the main domain. Or A-record them to an IP address. This is too technical stuff for me. So my concrete questions are: Is it smart to do anything at all or am I just harming my client? The main site is ranking pretty well now. And some backlinks are from their copy sites (probably because everywhere the logo links to the full mainsite url). Does the CNAME or A-record solution has the same effect as a 301 redirect, from SEO perspective? Many thanks,
                      Hans

                      Technical SEO | | Houdoe
                      0
                    • GregB123

                      Canonical tag for Home page: with or without / at the end???

                      Setting up canonical tags for an old site. I really need advice on that darn backslash / at the end of the homepage URL. We have incoming links to the homepage as http://www.mysite.com (without the backslash), and as http://www.mysite.com/ (with the backslash), and as http://www.mysite.com/index.html I know that there should be 301 redirects to just one version, but I need to know more about the canonical tags... Which should the canonical tag be??? (without the backslash) or (with the backslash) Thanks for your help! 🙂

                      Technical SEO | | GregB123
                      0
                    • Branden_S

                      Page titles in browser not matching WP page title

                      I have an issue with a few page titles not matching the title I have In WordPress.  I have 2 pages, blog & creative gallery, that show the homepage title, which is causing duplicate title errors.  This has been going on for 5 weeks, so its not an a crawl issue.  Any ideas what could cause this? To clarify, I have the page title set in WP, and I checked "Disable PSP title format on this page/post:"...but this page is still showing the homepage title.  Is there an additional title setting for a page in WP?

                      Technical SEO | | Branden_S
                      0
                    • PioneerServices

                      Can you have a /sitemap.xml and /sitemap.html on the same site?

                      Thanks in advance for any responses; we really appreciate the expertise of the SEOmoz community! My question: Since the file extensions are different, can a site have both a /sitemap.xml and /sitemap.html both siting at the root domain? For example, we've already put the html sitemap in place here: https://www.pioneermilitaryloans.com/sitemap Now, we're considering adding an XML sitemap. I know standard practice is to load it at the root (www.example.com/sitemap.xml), but am wondering if this will cause conflicts. I've been unable to find this topic addressed anywhere, or any real-life examples of sites currently doing this. What do you think?

                      Technical SEO | | PioneerServices
                      0
                    • netviper

                      H1 Tag as Logo on the Homepage.

                      So I was working on a Genesis theme website where they have the H1 Tag as the Logo on the homepage.  I wanted this changed because I always use my H1 tag to include a keyword I want to rank for.  I was told by the Genesis Forum Manager that Yoast said the Logo should be the H1 tag on the homepage.  (Yoast has a WP SEO Plugin that is very popular) That makes no sense to me, so I was looking for Opinions. Thanks,

                      Technical SEO | | netviper
                      0
                    • jotham2

                      Img before or after h1 tag?

                      I like images to align right at top of content page.  img tag before h1 tag looks better on page, but wondering if h1 tag before img tag is preferred by spider.  Irrelevant? or possibly matters?   thanks for any thoughts.
                      All about Stuff or All about Stuff or even
                      All about Stuff

                      Technical SEO | | jotham2
                      0

                    Get started with Moz Pro!

                    Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                    Start my free trial
                    Products
                    • Moz Pro
                    • Moz Local
                    • Moz API
                    • Moz Data
                    • STAT
                    • Product Updates
                    Moz Solutions
                    • SMB Solutions
                    • Agency Solutions
                    • Enterprise Solutions
                    Free SEO Tools
                    • Domain Authority Checker
                    • Link Explorer
                    • Keyword Explorer
                    • Competitive Research
                    • Brand Authority Checker
                    • MozBar Extension
                    • MozCast
                    Resources
                    • Blog
                    • SEO Learning Center
                    • Help Hub
                    • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                    • How-to Guides
                    • Moz Academy
                    • API Docs
                    About Moz
                    • About
                    • Team
                    • Careers
                    • Contact
                    Why Moz
                    • Case Studies
                    • Testimonials
                    Get Involved
                    • Become an Affiliate
                    • MozCon
                    • Webinars
                    • Practical Marketer Series
                    • MozPod
                    Connect with us

                    Contact the Help team

                    Join our newsletter
                    Moz logo
                    © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                    • Accessibility
                    • Terms of Use
                    • Privacy

                    Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.