H1 overload
Are you disenchanted by the results of your SEO campaign? When you started out it seemed like you had the perfect plan, but now your rankings are lower than ever. You may think that you need to start from scratch, but your campaign may simply need a few small tweaks your H1 tags to ignite your SEO strategy.
H1 tags help identify key headings in your website’s content, and they’re one of the most important and commonly overlooked elements of SEO. If you feel that your rankings recently took a hit, or that your web visibility could be better, you should consider adjusting your H1 tags.
There’s a right way to utilize your H1 tags, and several wrong ways to use them. If you want to improve your SEO strategy, please don’t make these common tagging taboos.
Same Tag, Multiple Headings
There’s one keyword that you want to rank for, so you decide to use it in your H1 tag. Since you’re so determined to rank, you use the exact same keyword in another H1 tag. Eventually you decide to put it in your H2 tag, then your H3 tag, and you shoehorn it into your content as much as possible. Google doesn’t look favorably upon any kind of duplicate content, and H1 tags are no exception. If you have a keyword that works, use it once, and only once in your heading tags.
Over-Use of H1 Tags
You know that H1 tags are important, so you decide to put as many headings in your website content as possible. “More” doesn’t necessarily mean “better” when it comes to H1 tags, and multiple H1 tags rarely make sense. Too many H1 tags have the potential to seriously zap away your site’s SEO power, because …..(I would include a small blurb about how it impacts SEO). Some marketing experts argue that a second H1 tag strategically placed on pages won’t do any harm, but if you’re just starting out stick to one.
Very Long H1 Tags
Certain long tail keywords make sense in content, but long H1 tags have very little SEO value. The golden rule for H1 tags is to not exceed 70 characters. However, short H1 tags can also have a negative impact on your campaign. Which leads to our next point…
Very Short H1 tags
Brevity is important in SEO and tagging practices, but a one word tag may be a little too short to make any a meaningful impact. Think about adding a location to your short tag, or another word that you’d like to rank for.
H1s can make or break your SEO campaign. If you avoid making these mistakes, and ensure that your tags are relevant, you’ll be on your way to better SEO!
