The worth of H1 tags in Google

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The worth of H1 tags in Google

mikeD

8:25 pm on Jan 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

I have been designing a new site and was trying to find a way to add h1 tags to it. I have found this impossible, because they are too big and just destroy the look of a page. If I decided to go with h2 or h3 tags would this still help with ranking in Google. What kind of worth does a h1 tag have compared to a h2, h3 or h4 tag.

Ove

8:27 pm on Jan 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

You can use font size of the <h>
<h1><font size="2">test</font></h1>

/Ove

[edited by: Ove at 8:28 pm (utc) on Jan. 27, 2003]

digitalghost

8:28 pm on Jan 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

Use CSS and you control the size and the look of your header tags.

I can't think of any reason to have an H2 tag on the page unless you have an H1 tag. :)

I think the new specs are deprecating numbered headers though and replacing them with an <h> tag.

mikeD

8:28 pm on Jan 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

Hi ove, I heard altering h1 tags with css or other techniques can lead to problems with Google.

digitalghost

8:32 pm on Jan 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

>>Hi ove, I heard altering h1 tags with css or other techniques can lead to problems with Google

I hear many things, including the old saw about meta tags being important. I have yet to have a problem with Google or any other engine over header tags that have been styled. Over 600 clients and counting...

[edited by: digitalghost at 8:32 pm (utc) on Jan. 27, 2003]

mikeD

8:39 pm on Jan 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

deleted post

CoreUnderneath

9:22 pm on Jan 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

Can more than one <h1> tag on a page be bad? Or should I have one <h1> tag and numerous h2 tags?

core

Nick_W

9:27 pm on Jan 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

You're best off structuring the page logically.

<h1> mirroring your <title>
<h2>'s breaking up sections of text that require headings
<h3>'s etc as sub headings for sections of text

The value of almost any on page stuff gets less and less as time goes by but an <h1> has both G value and user value.

Structuring your page logically will help your users and do you no harm with google. Multiple <h1>'s make no sense at all semantically and will probably have little or no effect in Google...

Nick

mfishy

10:02 pm on Jan 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

well said, Nick :)

annej

6:08 pm on Jan 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

You can use font size of the <h>
<h1><font size="2">test</font></h1>

Thanks OVE,

That really makes a big difference. Now I can have my H1 titles while making an appealing page.

I like to use graphics for the titles of a site or subsite but quit doing it because of the need for H1 titles. Can you put H1 titles in a ALT tag and would Google see it the same? Has anyone tried that?

Anne

mikeD

6:17 pm on Jan 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

what i am wondering annej is what Google will think of your code. It definitely works and looks good but if it gets you penalised or banned from Google, whats the point.

Nick_W

6:21 pm on Jan 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

I find that a nice small logo and an h1 on the right of it works nicely. Even better is to put the logo as a bacground image in your stylesheet which means the h1 is the very first element after the <body> tag.

I wouldn't mess with sticking h1's in alt tags, i rather doubt you'd get banned but, it's a little absurd ;)

Compromise is somthing we have to live by as webmasters I gues... ho hum...

Nick

Robert Charlton

8:06 am on Jan 30, 2003 (gmt 0)

You can use font size of the <h>
<h1><font size="2">test</font></h1>

Ove - I've read that you should not use font tags to control <hn> tags, and I've read it often enough, and from trustworthy enough sources, that I believe it.

It's easy to use css, and there seems to be general agreement that it's not a problem with the engines.