The #TagLife: Why SEO H-Tags Matter Now More Than Ever

Content writing is an exciting and often creativity-sucking thing. It’s the best of both worlds. But in order for you to be seen with what you write, you have to know how to be visible. Optimization is always the key, especially when writing blogs and content for websites, videos, social media posts, and the like.

This is where the relationship between SEO writing and content creation comes into play. For you to be able to have your piece recognized by search engines, you have to optimize the way you write. It’s not that you have to change your writing style; it’s more of adapting certain code elements that are easily recognized by search engines.

Before you start writing, you have to live the #TagLife.

Heading tags (H tags). That’s what they’re called. You can also refer to them as subheadings, with these elements used to break your paragraphs down to chunks based on it’s objective or topic. In standard SEO practice, H tags are what can help your content be recognized as something that supports a particular search engine query.

NOTE: Most content management systems like WordPress include the use of headings in the writing menu. But for the uninitiated, it’s the <H> tag in the HTML code (try hitting ctrl+u on a webpage to access this).

H1 Tags Will Lead the Charge

The H1 tag is commonly seen as your headline or blog title. After all, this is the first thing that search engines will look at to see if it answers a query. Therefore, it’s best to include your keyword/s in an H1 tag. But you can also play around with it. A normal article structure would compose of the H1 tag on top of the content. However, you can also place it anywhere in the paragraph, and it can also be another heading that would support your title. Again, H1 tags don’t necessarily have to be your blog title.

Content Marketing Institute lists down a couple of tips when writing your H1 tag:

• Use only one per page.
• Include the primary keyword for your content.
• Avoid populating the tag with too many keywords.
• Ensure that your target audience can easily read the H1 tag.
• Use up to 70 characters in the tag length.
• Make the tag unique.
• Use the highest volume and critical keywords in the title tag.
• Use the next most important keywords in the H1 tag.

For the best tools to help you plan and craft the proper tags, CMI offers the following tools: Ahrefs, Serpstat, and SEMrush.

Supplement Your Stuff with Enough H2, H3, and Other Relevant Tags

After coming up with your H1 tag, make sure that your content supports it with enough H2 and H3 tags as you see fit. But make sure that you use these tags contextually, as too many H tags will give search engines an impression that you are only offering spam content. This would decrease your blog’s value and have it less likely to appear for a query.

A few things you need to consider when writing H2, H3, and other tags:

• H tags (sans the H1) should have brief but well-articulated content (preferably with the keyword, but don’t overdo it).
• Don’t use unnecessary tags in your content unless needed. Make sure that you don’t have bold (<b>) or italics (<i>) tags when you are encoding your content. For those that write their articles in Google Docs/Microsoft Word, transfer everything to a .txt file before importing to the CMS. This will strip your content of any unnecessary tag.
• Avoid placing links on your headers not unless you intend it for your readers to click on.
• H tags don’t have to have a specific order when writing. You can jump from having an H2 to randomly placing the H1 tag somewhere within the content. What’s important is having the right H tags that are also used to complement the content.