so in the last few months, i have unselfishly been testing out the so called H1 H2 tags to see if they really do rank a page higher,,,,because on one of my websites which is ranked on the first page of google, i did NOT use any H1 or H2 tags and i was still ranked on top, so this made me wonder, all this H1 talk and high ranking, i decided to place some of these tags on my main keywords and see how google handles it on the next index session.... so i placed on the very fop of my website my main keyword... ( take note that i already had #8 ranking on google, first page )....now i waited a few days and i noticed i was no longer on the first page of google, in fact my site could be found on the 4th page....i did NOT change anything on the site but only added a single H1 tag for my main keyword........so my next step was to remove the H1 tag and see if my site will go back to the first page...and sure enough, after a few days, my site was back at #8 in google........... now this clearly is an indication that google is no longer sugar coating sites with this H1 tag, and that their algorithm in fact deranks websites that use the H1 tag.... maybe this is old news and i just figured it out but thought i would post this for anyone having issues with ranking to remove their H1 or H2 tags and see how you rank or if your ranking goes up.... please do post your findings for all of us or if you have heard this news somewhere maybe from Matt Cutts himself, i would love to read the article. thanks guys
I think,H1 and H2 tags are very important as part of onsite SEO. You will have to put these tags to all WebPages of your website
Only removing and adding main keywords in H1 H2 tags can not affect ranking. There are lots of things like your keyword in domain/url, keyword in title, prominence of keyword in title, description, url, image alt, anchor titles and most important in content. Also density of main keyword in your page is important and can put impression on your google ranking. Google said in its own pdf document named "Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide" that "Use heading tags to emphasize important text" here text means you can place your main keyword. So always use Heading tags(H1,H2...H6). Thanks
We can't underestimate the usage of H1 tags by just considering your case. In order to meet the good keyword prominence your keywords should be placed on H1. But note that your content should relevant to your H1, don't stuff keywords unnecessarily there.
H1 tags are not as important as they used to be but it is vital to have pages fully optimised before launching a SEO strategy.
yes, they use to be very important but my guess is google has taken this ranking down because of over use and H1 tag spam....im only trying to open some doors for you guys who are using these tags, try to take them out for a few days and see where your ranking goes....so far on 4 of my sites all h1 and h2 tags have been taken out and my ranking has risen up a good 5 pages in google, you will not know if you do not try
H1 tags are very important... I wonder why it didn't goes right to you... how long you've been doing that? maybe it will work out just wait and continue getting good back links.
Give it some more time. My site had similar effects. I basically "changed" the keyword I was attempting to rank for. I looked through my on-page SEO and realized the wrong keyword was in my h1 tags. Even though I was ranking on page 2 for a relatively simple term, once I changed it, I was thrown back to page 7 or 8 if I remember correctly. It took a couple of weeks and then with a little bit of link building effort on top I shot back up to #7 overall. The h1 tags are important for relevancy. You don't have to take our word for it, look at other more successful SEO experts. One important thing to remember though is that you don't need to keyword stuff your pages. A 1 - 2% keyword density is enough to rank well.