The use of headings within your content is an often-overlooked part of SEO strategy. Using subheadings to break up your content can have a real impact on your rankings, and it is worth it for any site owner or content creator to learn how to use H1, H2, and H3 tags for SEO.
We’ll break down how subheadings can improve user experience, accessibility, and how they can improve your SEO performance so that you can utilize them effectively and boost your site’s performance.
Why Subheadings Matter (More Than You Think)
Subheadings matter enormously when making your content clear and user-friendly. Providing subheadings in your content is like giving your audience a map to navigate their way around. It allows them to break down the information your content contains and jump to the most helpful information for their needs.
Subheadings also offer visual breakpoints in your content. They help you avoid the dreaded “wall of text” and break your content up so that you can provide a comfortable and clear reading experience.
The use of subheadings also creates an information hierarchy, breaking down your content into more general points as well as signposting more detailed and specific points. This can help to give your content a clear and user-friendly structure.
The SEO Benefits of Subheadings
When learning how to use H1, H2, and H3 tags for SEO, it can be easy to assume that Google ranks you directly for the way you use subheadings and what subheadings you use. While this isn’t necessarily true, Google does reward great structure, which can be easily achieved through the use of subheadings.
There are also many indirect SEO perks to including subheadings, thanks to the way they impact user behavior. The use of subheadings can bring you a lower bounce rate due to increasing ease of comprehension for your site users, which has an impact on your SEO performance.
Finally, the use of keywords in subheadings can have an influence on your SEO performance. This flags to Google exactly what information is covered in your content, as well as providing a natural way to include relevant keywords throughout your content instead of engaging in damaging practices like keyword stuffing within the text itself.
Subheadings and Accessibility
Understanding how to use H1, H2, and H3 tags for SEO can also help you to improve your site’s accessibility, which is a great bonus when it comes to how Google ranks sites for SEO.
Screen readers used by people who are blind or visually impaired use HTML heading tags like H2s or H3s to understand the structure of a page. Don’t worry about understanding HTML tags too much, as most CMS on the market include user-friendly functions that can help you create headings simply and easily. All you need to know is that including this information can help people who rely on screen readers to easily navigate your page and jump to the relevant information they want to know.
Google recognizes sites that are set up for accessibility, as they are more helpful to a wider audience of people. Focusing on this can make sure your site is both primed for SEO and easier to use for a wider range of viewers.
How to Structure Your Headings Like a Pro
It can be helpful to think of headings like chapters in a book, each containing a specific type of information. Let’s break down the practicalities of how to use H1, H2, and H3 tags for SEO so that you can use them in your content like a pro.
How To Use H1 Tags
The golden rule is that you should only use one H1 tag per page. Your H1 tag is your title, placed at the very beginning of your content. This covers the entirety of your page’s topic and should be thought of as an overview of what you’ll be covering.
How To Use H2 Tags
H2 tags can be thought of as the chapters of your book. They break up your content into its main topics and sections that you will be exploring in depth throughout the page. This is a great place to use your SEO keywords.
How To Use H3 Tags
Think of H3 tags as the subheadings for the subtopics within your chapters. These are for the really specific sections of your content that break down the information in detail. Use these when you have a large section that needs to be broken down into a clear structure.
How To Use H4, H5 and H6 Tags
While these tags are less common, they are useful if you are producing highly technical or long content. They are another way for you to break your content up into a clearer structure and prevent large walls of text that may come up when writing about specific topics in lots of depth.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
While using subheadings can be a great benefit for your content’s SEO and readability, there are some common mistakes you should avoid.
The first is overusing vague or clickbait headings. These can flag to Google that your site is not as reliable or authoritative as it would like. Make sure your headings are clear and specific.
Secondly, make sure not to engage in keyword stuffing in your headings. This is when you overuse keywords in a way that feels unnatural or out of place. Only use keywords in your headings when it is appropriate and accurate for the content that follows.
Make sure not to use subheadings without enough supporting content. While it can be tempting to use as many subheadings as possible to flag your content information to Google, you should make sure to only use them when appropriate, as overuse can be a red flag and make content even more confusing for readers.
Finally, don’t skip heading levels. Do not follow an H2 heading with an H4 heading, without using an H3 heading in between. All subheadings should be sequential. Think of each subheading level as breaking down the previous level even further.
Why Should You Work With SEO Baguette?
As you can see, learning how to use H1, H2, and H3 tags for SEO can be a huge benefit for your site’s performance. However, it can feel like a lot to learn, especially if you’re a small business owner who is just beginning to learn the ins and outs of SEO.
At SEO Baguette, we understand exactly how to work with subheading tags in order to get the best results. We can work with you through on-page SEO or our content creation services in order to make sure your subheadings are working for you to boost your SEO rankings and improve your site’s overall performance.
When you book in for one of our free SEO audits, we can take a look at your site and let you know how you can improve your SEO strategy, including how to improve your subheading usage in all areas of your site.
