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Online businesses and site owners need a good SEO content strategy when writing headings for their product pages. In a Google Office Hours hangout, John Mueller was asked about using heading tags on product pages. It’s an excellent question because Google’s SEO Starter Guide gives insights on creating heading tags for SEO content in general, but not for product pages specifically.

The person who asked the question enquired about SEO Optimisation vs HTML Semantics, which is more related to e-commerce product pages. The person asked whether or not they should mark up the products’ title as a heading.

Mueller said that it is completely up to the publisher or site owner. From a technical standpoint, the product could indeed be mentioned in the product page’s heading. There are also many situations where an online business may have their company’s name as a heading, which seems to make total sense from a semantic point of view.

So, rather than forcing semantics into what works well for SEO, Mueller suggests that one should aim to do what makes sense from a semantic HTML standpoint. And, in most cases, that seems to correlate with search.

Google Developer Pages On Headings

In an SEO Starter Guide, Google has published a helpful explanation about the proper usage of headings. The main thing Google emphasises is that the heading should describe what a block of material is about. The block of SEO content in the first heading at the top of the page, for example, might be the entire web page, with subsequent headings describing each section of that page.

To make one’s content easier to understand and navigate, Google advises online businesses and site owners to employ meaningful headings to label important topics and build a hierarchical structure for their content, making it simpler for customers to browse through.

Google also recommended writing headings as if they were the page’s outline. Excellent writing should begin with determining what a web page is about, including the various sections of the article. Then, writers should develop an outline of everything that will be discussed. The headings for each section may be based on this outline.

It’s a lot like preparing an outline for a large paper. One should think about the major points and subpoints of their content page and where to use heading tags properly.

Going back to learning how to utilise the title for a product page, one may use the name of their product as a heading. For example, if a potential customer wants to buy a specific product, say an Acme umbrella, placing the brand name as the heading makes sense.

There are many ways for one to include the brand in the heading, too. If the page’s title tag is “Acme umbrella,” one can write “Acme umbrella (variety of colours)” or repeat what’s in the title tag. It is ultimately up to the publisher.

The goal, however, should be to describe the section of content covered by the heading accurately. The aim should never be to write a heading just for the sake of inserting keywords.

Background On Heading Tags For SEO

In the early 2000s, Google used heading elements as a primary ranking factor for web page content in their search results. If one wanted to rank higher, it was necessary to stuff keywords in the headings.

In a previous Hangout session, Mueller also explained how Google perceives headings. Let’s say, for instance, that a page has a huge chunk of text or an image below a heading. The heading should apply to this chunk of text or image.

So, when Google looks at the heading and sees five different keywords in it, their system would not automatically rank the article for these key phrases. Instead, Google will view them as additional information about the text or picture.

That also aids in how Google frames text and pictures contained within those blocks of content. As a result, finding the appropriate queries is much simpler, leading the readers to the right content.

Use Heading Tags To Emphasise Important Text

Writing heading tags is one of the most basic web design techniques, but this practice is often overlooked or misused by people new to creating websites. Google Search Central gives insights on what to avoid when using heading tags to emphasise important text.

Avoid:

• Using heading tags to highlight words instead of like <em> and <strong>
• Putting words in heading tags that make it hard to understand the page’s structure
• Erratically changing the heading tag sizes

Instead, imagine writing an outline.

Avoid:

• Lengthy headings
• Excessive use of heading tags on the content page
• Using heading tags for the sake of styling text instead of presenting the structure

Instead, use headings sparingly across the page. When a publisher uses a heading in their content, they should ensure its relevance. Users may have difficulty scanning a page with many heading tags because they can’t distinguish the first topic from the next.

Create Better Content Headings With Webmix Networks SEO

You want to make sure that Google’s algorithms clearly understand your content pages and rank them higher than competitors. Therefore, you must use relevant headings because they tell Google’s search engine what your content is about.

 We understand how important it is to fully optimise your site so that it ranks higher on Google’s search engine. Our team will help you get on the first page of Google with our expertise in SEO best practices, keyword research, URL structure, content creation, and more.

We also work with our clients to devise the best SEO content strategy for their business goals, whether it’s increasing visibility on Google or decreasing bounce rates on web pages. Webmix Networks SEO employs a no-stone-unturned approach to your online marketing needs, so you can see results quickly while keeping your company safe from Google penalties.