Question Do headings still play a big role in SEO ?

[Super Mike]

In 2017 do you still consider headings to be a vital part of your overall on-site SEO ?

I would assume h1 is still massively relevant, h2 also used to play a significant part but does it play as big of a part now we have so many other aspects clouding the basics ?

 

[Optimize]

Without a doubt, there is still weight in title and H1 especially in less competitive marketers and long tails. Id say h2 isn't one that is as obvious but it still plays a role, especially for long articles where the headings can make a big difference to how an article is targetted.

 

[Mr Lucky]

I think these days they may well be important (not so much for keywords) in the way Google analyses the content and recognises a coherently put together article with clearly labelled sections and subsections.

I have also noticed that the distinction between actual SEO and useability is blurred a bit, in that as we know Google now tracks behaviour.

If a person lands on your page and sees a whole wodge of text, they may well just bounce away (even if the info is god). If theye see clearly laid out headlines, subsections etc. they are more likely to stay on that page and actually read it and maybe see what other good stuff you have on your site.

I've noticed this from checking out my competition where I see pages that are inferior to mine on the same topic, but are laid out in way I previously would have called dumbed down, e.g. prolific use of big bullet points. Wikihow as good example of how to grab peoples' attention and get them to read the page, even though the content is often a bit amateurish and simplistic.

 

[DaviSP]

HI and H2 still play a major role in seo. Content is becoming more and more important ranking factor and H1 and H2 tags are the ones that define the content in the website. So their value has not diminished.

 

[RjMaan]

Yes, title and headings play an important role in SEO. The google uses them to check what the article about.

 

[JohnyPaul]

I think Google likes it. Its a symbol of well organized website .I have never created a website without headings and i follow all small things for a better seo friendly website.

 

[onebasemedia]

Yes, definitely headlines play a major role in seo as it defines the website's content to the viewer as well as Google.

 

[EthanR]

For better SEO ranking H1 and H2 tags plays a vital role. Targeted Keywords must be there in H1 and H2.

 

[Bradwell]

Yes, putting important keywords closer to the beginning of a title does help SEO. SEOmoz's ranking factors survey agrees, as do other sources.

 

[Aleeza William]

Yes H1 & H2 play a major role from SEO view point

 

[Mr Lucky]

Yes H1 & H2 play a major role from SEO view point

If you think about it, any heading (ie including h3,h4,h5) will play an important role if it means your are using headings intelligently and rationally to organise your content into heading, subheadings, sub subheadings etc. This can help the user to follow what your are presenting ands also see at glance the way it is laid out (helps search engines all!) Of course that is not always approriate, but does often make sense to do it when it is.

 

[Aleeza William]

If you think about it, any heading (ie including h3,h4,h5) will play an important role if it means your are using headings intelligently and rationally to organise your content into heading, subheadings, sub subheadings etc. This can help the user to follow what your are presenting ands also see at glance the way it is laid out (helps search engines all!) Of course that is not always approriate, but does often make sense to do it when it is.

Agreed!

 

[Mr Lucky]

There is a good Wordpress plugin that uses your headings to create a Wikipedia style table of contents Easy table of Contents.

So this is an extra user friendly way to have headings with anchor links to each heading:

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