The structure of your web pages is important for organic search. It helps search engines, like Google, understand what your pages are about and plays a major role in their ranking.
The <h1>, <h2>, <h3> up to <h6> tags are used to structure your content. If you outsource your web writing, as on Redacteur.com for example, you can ask to have your texts delivered directly in HTML format with those tags already set up.
But how check whether your pages follow the correct structure ? Let's find out together how to do it.
Title, subheadings and page organization
You know this if you read our articles regularly, a page must be correctly structured technically to rank well on search engines. The structure of a page is where technical and semantic elements blend.
Indeed, the organization of your page allows Google to structure the content of a web page. As if reading a book, the search engine will understand the page title (H1), how your content is organized (H2) and its possible subsections (H3, H4, H5, H6).
How should Hn headings be organized?
Like a book, a dissertation or a thesis, a web page must be organized in a logical way.
H1: the page title
We expect a single H1 title on a web page. It is literally the title of your page. Why have two? It is essential and it is obviously recommended to include the main keyword of your article or web page that you hope to rank for.
H2: main subsections
Next come the H2s. They are, in principle, also mandatory, sincethey help organize the content. A page rarely has only one H1, except in the rare cases of a page that is not intended to be indexed, such as a contact page or a form.
However, you should think about having at least two. As with a thesis, it is obvious that you will not develop only one point to argue. In SEO, it’s the same! Think about structuring your points into several parts.
H3 to H6: organize your content into subsections
Depending on the depth of the subject, you may want to create sub-sections. Nothing complicated, then, but remember to organize your content as you would for a Word document. Again, avoid placing isolated headings, meaning a single lower-level title on its own.
For example, if your article contains an H1 and four H2s, you can then go into detail to develop the content of your H2s with H3s. But there is no reason to place a single H3 under an H2. In that case, the H2 title is sufficient on its own.
A picture is worth a thousand words and the diagram below visually explains the steps to follow:
Things to avoid in your page structure
Here is the list of different elements to avoid in your page structure.
Multiple H1s
A book has only one title. Your web pages do too. Also remember to differentiate your title tag from your H1. title tag can have a more "marketing" tone to encourage users to click on your site. Include a date or superlatives to boost the click-through rate!
Isolated Hn tags
Unlike the H1 tag, the other tags should appear at least in pairs. As in the example image above, do not put a single H3 tag under an H2. To return to the book comparison, can you imagine a book with only one chapter?
Heading skips
You should also avoid skipping heading levels at all costs. For example, if you have an H2 tag and need to segment the content, you will need at least two H3 tags. Do not jump directly to H4 tags.
Sometimes, for aesthetic reasons, incorrect markup is used. It is essential to respect the order of tags. Do not hesitate to contact your web developer or web agency if the layout of your title does not suit you.
How to verify if the title tags on your pages are properly organized?
We offer three methods to analyze this.
Check the page source code
When browsing your site, you can right-click with your mouse and then select “View page source”. If you're comfortable with code, you can easily identify the HTML tags corresponding to your headings. But this method isn't the easiest, as it's rather hard to read.
Use the Chrome headingsMap plugin
The free plugin for Google Chrome HeadingsMap allows you, with one click, to get the list of Hn headings and their structure. In the example below, you can roughly see the title tag, followed by the H1 and the H2s. We note that the first H2 is followed by five H3s. So in this case, we have a properly organized article.
If there are issues with your page's organization, problematic headings will be shown in red. In the example below, you can see that the H5 heading is identified as an error. It should indeed be an H3 heading.
Note that the following H5 headings are not highlighted in red, but should also be corrected. Also note that the H3 highlighted in white (because we clicked on it) is not flagged by the tool as an error. However, it's an isolated heading and it's recommended to avoid having isolated subheadings.
Use a crawler like Screaming Frog
Finally, it's possible touse a crawler. This tool lets you crawl all the pages of your site and report errors. It specifically includes heading analysis. The tool is free for crawling 500 URLs, but even a modest site can have more URLs to crawl (images and external links count toward the total). In the paid version, these tools are expensive (€239 for a 1-year license with Screaming Frog).
So, if you have few pages or if you're just starting out, we recommend you start by reviewing your pages with the Chrome plugin, which has the advantage of being free. The crawlers are more complex to use and give you information that goes well beyond a simple analysis of a page's Hn structure.
Optimize your Hn headings
You now have the keys to correctly organize your Hn tags from a technical perspective.
Also remember to optimize them semantically for organic search. To do this, include your primary keyword and your secondary keywords in them.
To make your life easier, you can also entrust your web writing to Redacteur.com by placing an order in a few clicks directly on our site!
The article How to check the Hn structure of your pages? first appeared on Redacteur.com.
