Heading Tags Matter More Than You Think: A Quick SEO Lesson

One of our clients, a passionate and hardworking small business owner, built their own website from scratch. It looked great!  It had a clean layout, good visuals, and an attractive design. I’m sure they spent many hours getting it just right.

When we peeked under the hood, we spotted a common DIY hiccup: they were using <h3> tags for their main headlines instead of <1>. Even worse, heading tags were being used as design elements rather than structural cues.

So Why Does This Matter?

Search engines don’t just scan your site for beauty; they scan it for clarity. Heading tags create hierarchy. They tell Google (and other engines) what’s most important on your page.

• <h1> should declare your page’s main topic—and ideally include strong keywords.

• <h2> and <h3> break down supporting points and subtopics.

A Simple Fix

Every page should have one <h1>, and it should pack a punch. Think of it as the headline on your storefront: what do you want Google and your customers to see first? Include keywords that reflect real searches your customers might use.

From there, organize supporting content with <h2> and <h3> tags. It’s not just good practice, it’s a visibility strategy.

Want help making sense of SEO?

Whether you’ve built your site from scratch and want an SEO lesson, wrestled with email marketing, or feel stuck on what, when and how to post on social media, your questions are welcome.

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