I was asked the other day what i knew about the proper use of "header text" in terms of se optimization. My response was as follows... Headings are generally the larger print on a page used to emphasize
or introduce new topics. A heading often appears at the very top
of the page. Headings come in various sizes represented by tags
like <H1>, <H2>, <H3>, etc. Some of the search
engines give extra relevance to keywords that appear within a heading
tag. So, be sure to try to use your important keyword phrase in
one or two heading tags on each page.For more information on using
heading tags, read this article. <H1>Blue and Green Widgets</H1> It may be thought that if one H1 tag helps your search engine rank, then several H1 tags is better. Well, not exactly! Header tags are great when it comes to defining document structure and to emphasize keyword phrases, but beware... this is an area you do not want to over do or you could end up diluting the importance of your header text instead of emphasising it. Header text defines web page structure similar to how an outline displays document structure, and because header text are structural tags, they're important to both site accessibility and se optimization. Use just one H1 (title) per page.... ! Your H1 defines the title of the page, and every page on site should only have one title, right? In the case of a page with enough content that you need more than one H1 tag it's simply time to break up the content and start a new page. This will actually allow you to target your kw optimization more specifically anyway, so why not? SE algorithms assume H1 tags to be the page title and to describe the page's main purpose or what the page is all about. By using multiple H1 tags, you're actually diluting the value of the keywords in those tags. Other Header Tags can be used more freely... Header tags do outline document structure, so having more than one H2, H3, etc won't be as much of a problem. Use your H2, H3, and other header tags appropriately to define the page structure and you should be ok. Use them inappropriately to spam the spider algorithms and you'll end up in a heap a trouble. Dividing large pages into two or more smaller ones decreases page download time and gives you more opportunities to target the smaller pages to particular keywords. Remember, a large page with 12 targeted keyword phrases is less effective than 3 pages that each target 4 different phrases. It may be tempting to try and trick the search engines using header tags, but don't do it. Header tags' specific purpose is to define page structure. Too-aggressive search engine optimization defeats that purpose and may actually hurt your search resutl position, so don't take the chance! And Finally... Header text may be the logical place to include keywords, but don't neglect your page content. Even search engines that don't place more weight on keywords in header text use keyword frequency as part of the page's overall score. Sprinkle keywords and their synonyms liberally throughout your text and inside many HTML codes... but be reasonable too. Don't make your content sound too repetitive or spammy. Remember, too much repetition can get your page penalized both
by your visitors and by the search engines!
The Web page Title tag is the single most important mechanism we have available with which to describe what our pages are really about... not just to the end user performing the search query, but to the various search properties out there as well. When it comes to search engine optimization and positioning, your page Title tag is given the most weight of any single "on page" element of optimization, and remains one of the most important elements we have to work with for achieving good search engine position (sep)... if we do them right. was asked the other day what i knew about the proper use of "header text" in terms of se optimization. My response was as follows... It may be thought that if one H1 tag helps your search engine position then several H1 tags is bette. Well... not exactly! Header tags are great when it comes to defining document structure and to emphasize keyword phrases, but beware... this is an area you do not want to over do or you could end up diluting the importance of your header text instead of emphasising it. Header text defines web page structure similar to how an outline displays document structure, and because header text are structural tags, they're important to both site accessibility and search engine optimization. One H1 (title) per page.... ! Your H1 should define the title of the page, and every page on site should only have one title, right? In the case of a page with enough content that you need more than one H1 tag it's simply time to break up the content and start a new page. This will actually allow you to target your kw optimization more specifically anyway, so why not? SE algorithms assume H1 tags to be the page title and to describe the page's main purpose or what the page is all about. By using multiple H1 tags, you're actually diluting the value of the keywords in those tags. Other Header Tags can be used more freely... Header tags do outline document structure, so having more than one H2, H3, etc won't be as much of a problem. Use your H2, H3, and other header tags appropriately to define the page structure and you should be ok. Use them inappropriately to spam the spider algorithms and you'll end up in a heap a trouble. Dividing large pages into two or more smaller ones decreases page download time and gives you more opportunities to target the smaller pages to particular keywords. Remember, a large page with 12 targeted keyword phrases is less effective than 3 pages that each target 4 different phrases. It may be tempting to try and trick the search engines using header tags, but don't do it. Header tags' specific purpose is to define page structure. Too-aggressive search engine optimization defeats that purpose and may actually hurt your search resutl position, so don't take the chance! And Finally... Header text may be the logical place to include keywords, but don't neglect your page content. Even search engines that don't place more weight on keywords in header text use keyword frequency as part of the page's overall score. Sprinkle keywords and their synonyms liberally throughout your text and inside many HTML codes... but be reasonable too. Don't make your content sound too repetitive or spammy. Remember, too much repetition can get your page penalized both by your visitors and by the search engines! If you have anything to add or have comments on this topic I look forward to your response. Here's one of the powerful search engine positioning tips found in this month's WebPosition Gold Knowledge Base update: Some search engines will give words found in the "H1" tag a boost in relevancy. The H1 tag is used to specify page or topic headings. The problem with the tag is that it's often too big and ugly to use very much. In most browsers H1 is an oversized font that often looks out of place on a page. The good news is that there is a clever way you can get the best of both worlds by using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). With CSS, you can specify that the browser display the H1 tag or other tags on your page anyway you please. This is great since you can get both a boost in relevancy and get better control of your page's appearance in one easy step. How? In the <HEAD> area of the page, put the following STYLE lines: <STYLE TYPE="text/css"> H1 {font-family: arial,helvetica; font-size: 12pt; color: black} </STYLE> The above will force all H1 tags on the page to use a 12 pt Arial or Helvetica font in black text. You can adjust the point size or font to whatever values look best on your page. By using this CSS tag, you are free to use the H1 tag on ALL your pages to gain extra relevancy WITHOUT sacrificing the look of your pages. Since many engines give more weight to keywords that appear within H1 heading tags versus the regular body text, this is one tip you'll definitely want to implement today! You'll find more powerful tips like this one in WebPosition Gold's
Page Critic: For more information on Cascading Style Sheets and other ways you can use them to customize the look of your page, see: General Cascading Style Sheets Info: Some examples of CSS1 and H1 tags: TopStyle: A Cascading Style Sheet Editor: Caution: Some CSS tags do not work in both Netscape and IE, particularly
older versions of the browsers. However, the example I gave above
should work in both Netscape 4.0 and higher and IE 4.0 and higher.
That covers probably 99% of the users out there. Any browsers that
don't support the tags will simply display the headings at their
default style and size. colin, from http://www.marketposition.com/mp-1001.htm#FOUR Web Page Title Tag
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