What is the truth about h1 tags?

Shall I add them or not!

[dazz]

Could someone please tell me wether it is completely safe to use h1 tags?

I use Frontpage to do my websites as I do not know HTML all that well and cant hand write code! I noticed that when you put h1 tags in front of a sentace the writing goes bold and very large, now I can reduce the size and font and the h1 tags stay in the html. Is this spamming? Are h1 tags allowed? Do they make any difference in SE positions? Do they have to be on the 1st line of a page?

Sorry but im completely new to h1 tags and know absolutely nothing about them. :)

I did a site search with little success on how or wether to use them or not.

Thanks in advance!

[korkus2000]

H1 tags are weighted very well. They are worth adding. It is not considered spamming to use H1s.

[ritch_b]

Use of the <H1> tag is quite handy when used in conjunction with a CSS & I use them for page titles - keeps the code clean and tidy - with <H2> tags for paragraph titles and so forth.

AFAIK, it shouldn't be spamming if you use them to highlight certain (keyword rich) text and may indeed add some weighting to the page. Don't be too tempted to put the entire page in the tags though - it still needs to look clean and presentable to the end user!

R.

[Nick_W]

Yes you should use them.
No, it's not spamming.
Yes, they make a difference.

Is changing the appearance of h1 tags spam? [webmasterworld.com]
The worth of h1 tags in Google [webmasterworld.com]
Modifying h1 tags with CSS [webmasterworld.com]
How do I make my <h1> tag the first line of a paragraph without a line break? [webmasterworld.com]

Great theads all of them, happy reading! ;)

Nick

[creative craig]

They help me a great deal as well.

Craig

[dazz]

Thanks alot guys, ill work on adding them tomorrow!

So just to clear it up in my head, say I have 1st of all my meta's at the top of the page, then the company logo and another piccy. Under the logo I have a description of "Buy discount widgets at low rates at company name".....is that ok to put in H1 tags?

Thanks

[korkus2000]

If it is the most important content on the page then yes. Thats what h1s are for.

[g1smd]

The <h1> tag is for major headings, and by default is rendered in very big text. Progressively smaller text is shown by using <h2> to <h6> inclusive.

You should use these tags for headings. You can see the result by running the page through the code checker at [validator.w3.org...] but do make sure you tick the boxes for show source and for outline. You might also be interested in the parse tree for the document. On the results page, scroll down past the error list and inspect the document outline listing. If it doesn't include what looks like a summary of the main points of the page, then you are abusing the tags.

[SethCall]

and, when you use w3g's validator, one of its 5 tips that it cycles through (when you get a validated page) is

"Use H1 tags"

Need I say more?!?!

[tigger]

>The <h1> tag is for major headings, and by default is rendered in very big text. Progressively smaller text is shown by using <h2> to <h6> inclusive

Read the link about CCS, that will resolve that problem

[g1smd]

>> and, when you use w3c's validator, one of its 5 tips that it cycles through (when you get a validated page) is <<

>> "Use H1 tags" <<

>> Need I say more?!?! <<

And, on the results page, where the outline is presented it says:

>> Outline

>> Below is an outline for this document, automatically generated from the heading tags (<h1> through <h6>.)

>> If this does not look like a real outline, it is likely that the heading tags are not being used properly. (Headings should reflect the logical structure of the document; they should not be used simply to add emphasis, or to change the font size.)

Don't just use <h1> tags, use all of the others from <h2> to <h6> as well.
Use them in a logical manner, to collect information.

[Hefner]

is there a sample webpage/url someone can stickymail me please? as i keep reading on, i still feel confused without seeing how it's been done. thanks!

[Nick_W]

[webmasterworld.com...]

Nick