Site Audit Checklist #1: Headers

We’re going to start a series of blog posts to build up the perfect checklist for you to use in your next SEO site audit as you fix your crawl errors. We thought we give you some basics on each element and some input from technical SEOs who do this every day for some new insights.

What Are Headers & How Should They Be Used

While many casual users may be familiar with the header element because it makes your text larger. But this element is not meant strictly for design purposes. You should know that  you should use header to present quickly accessible topics for each part of your text, not just to improve readability but also to give search engines clues as to the topical relevance of your content.

Technical SEO Opinion on Headers AKA (H tags)

Martin Harris Head of marketing at Evolve

“H tags while they are basic SEO, seems an up in the air topic over the past few years. Whilst Cutts has suggested it carries some (all be it little) weight many SEO’s have suggested it carries none, I think the key point to think about when implementing H tags is providing relevancy to both user and bot.  

The bot couldn’t care less about styling but it will take note if you suggest a particular keyword is important… in this case <title> or <h1> being the indicator.  Just don’t start thinking it’s going to be a massive ranking factor…because it won’t.

The way I normally structure a page is a H1 followed by a standard paragraph…. that’s it. Other than styling I don’t know why you would bother with H3, H4 ect. So long as there keyword consistency through URL’s, meta, and content your page will be optimised just fine.”

 Share Your Header Tag Insights

Next up on the checklist: Meta Titles & Descriptions so stay tuned for our next post. If Have an additional tip or advice for using h tags properly or metas? Add a comment, or drop us an email to include your insights.