Headings as Links

Discussion in 'HTML & Website Design' started by LucianoFigallo, Oct 13, 2009.

  1. #1
    I need some advice...is it recommendable the using of headings that are links to other pages at the same time?...I mean, would it be SEO friendly?...I've tried placing one in a page and no problem with the W3C validation?...if yes, how many of them (h2 or h3) could I use in a page of approximately 700 words?...thanx
     
    LucianoFigallo, Oct 13, 2009 IP
  2. Stomme poes

    Stomme poes Peon

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    #2
    The answer depends on what your content is. Generally there is no problem with having a header also be a link... usually you see this in blogs where the main index page is just a list of the blog posts' first paragraph, where the title of the blog post is a clickable header.

    <h2><a href="how-to-use-mod_rewrite">How to use mod_rewrite</a></h2>
    <p>First paragraph of the article, where the user may try clicking the header to get to the entire article.</p>
    <p><a href="how-to-use-mod_rewrite">link to the article because lots of people don't realise you can click on the header</a> <a href="thetags">a tag referring to this article</a> <a href="anothertag">another tag</a></p>

    This is fairly common.

    Have a good reason for making the header a link. Remember it's not legal to wrap an anchor around a header.

    How many headers you have depends on your document structure. How many rooms should a house have? Well, that depends on the house, and strange crazy rich people sometimes make a house with like 40 rooms but we all look at that and say, whoa, dude, you're like Howard Hughes or someone? Cause you cwaaazy.

    Think of your document like a college paper, and structure it accordingly. Your document might only have one or two headers. If it's a small document and has hundreds of them then likely you're doing the Howard Hughes thing.
     
    Stomme poes, Oct 13, 2009 IP
  3. alldaylinks

    alldaylinks Active Member

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    #3
    Within reason (not too many), I think using a h tag as a link is fine.

    However I would rathe use a list, if the headings did not make semantic sense.
     
    alldaylinks, Oct 13, 2009 IP
  4. LucianoFigallo

    LucianoFigallo Peon

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    #4
    I have a HOME page text with 14 links to internal pages, below those links are descriptions (40 - 50 words each) of the 14 internal pages...what I want is to convert these 14 links in 14 h2 headings+links...I'm trying to make the HOME content more recognizable for search engines robots (for a better categorization)...is this valid?...are 14 h2 headings too much?
     
    LucianoFigallo, Oct 13, 2009 IP
  5. Stomme poes

    Stomme poes Peon

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    #5
    It's valid as far as HTML is concerned. It can be valid as far as SE's are concerned. 14 h2's aren't necessarily too much. Possibly a list as alldaylinks mentioned would make even more sense (it would be a definition list most likely, since the term is also heading the "definition").

    Some people believe definition lists may only be used in dictionaries but the W3C doesn't say its use must be limited to dictionaries. Conversely there are developers (like me) who will jump at using one for any list of key-value pairs. It's not our fault nobody made an <array> tag.

    Example might be
    <dl>
    <dt><h2><a href="cats">Earn More Money By Herding Cats!</a></h2></dt>
    <dd><p>Herding cats is hard, but if you are the only guy in town who can do it, you'll get all the customers!</p>
    <p>Just remember to always wear your claw- and teeth-proof clothing when out there on the range!</p></dd>
    <dt><h2><a href="#">Next header</a></h2></dt>
    <dd>If there aren't going to be multiple paragraphs in here but just plain loose text, the dd tag alone will suffice.</dd>
    </dl>
     
    Stomme poes, Oct 14, 2009 IP
  6. LucianoFigallo

    LucianoFigallo Peon

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    #6
    ...in <a href="cats">, cats is any URL?...to internal or external pages?...thanks Stomme poes
     
    LucianoFigallo, Oct 14, 2009 IP
  7. Gungz

    Gungz Peon

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    #7
    Yes, I think it's fine.
    Even, some SEO experts suggest it.
     
    Gungz, Oct 14, 2009 IP
  8. forextrendalerts

    forextrendalerts Guest

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    #8
    If you want to generate an anchor - I assume you're talking about <a name...> you should use the id attribute, because an element with an id is automatically seen as an anchor...

    In all my web designs, I am quite happy using the id attribute as you sugges, however, some older browsers don't perform as expected. In those cases, and HTML Document Type Declaration should be used, along with the good old <a name...>.
     
    forextrendalerts, Oct 14, 2009 IP
  9. speakeasy602

    speakeasy602 Active Member

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    #9
    Only use H1 once per page, and aside from that you're ok. Wordpress uses H2 with linked titles and it's the most SEF platform around.
     
    speakeasy602, Oct 14, 2009 IP
  10. Stomme poes

    Stomme poes Peon

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    #10
    Yes, "cats" there is the href, which can contain either internal or external pages, either relative or absolutely linked. You said your main page is linking to other pages on your site. I didn't bother making realistic-looking urls, although in a certain case, that could be a valid url (depends on your server settings).
     
    Stomme poes, Oct 15, 2009 IP