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Bethers and I constantly hop on a topic I haven't seen here, and that's using H1, H2, H3 tags in the body of your pages, and even tho most search engines don't use meta tags in the same way they used to, they still come up.
Occassionally you will see in search results a site that has a bunch of words as their description, and thats because they have incorrectly spammed their meta tags with nothing but keywords even in the description, while it might get them recognition in the short term, spamming IS NEVER good for anybody very long. Some search engines still pick the first 200 words for a site they come across, and generally its whats in your meta tag. Some PAID services now rely more on the d.c. meta ( ie:<meta= d.c. description, or d.c. keyword) as opposed to just a plain ole meta tag. Either way, it still doesn't hurt to use your meta tag descriptors on every page. Make sure descriptions are COMPLETE sentences and not jumbled keywords. Use keywords found only on that page and recommended is under 256 characters. Generally you need no where near that many.
H tags, or H1, H2 headings should be exactly that. Just like what a newspaper does. What they do for you is HILIGHT your content so that a visitor can glean the information to be found on your website at a glance. These tags should also not be spammed. They should not be the SAME as your title of your pages, but should be relevant to your content. Use them in the same order as numbered. An H2 heading shouldnt come before the H1 and so on. Generally, you should only use one h1 tag per page, as thats your main heading. There are exceptions to every rule and I have seen H1 tags used several times on a page to span a seperate topic not related to the the first one. Search engines do give credence to these headings as well. Personally, I work on using an H1 tag on each page of my stores as much as possible. Sometimes the title suffices and there just isnt one available or that wouldnt be a repeat of the title, and thats ok. This is just ONE more tool to use. Not a requirement.
Dont confuse headings with introductions, like, "Welcome to our site" as those arent keywords, or heading up a topic. Mimic newspaper headlines to get an idea of how to do it. For instance, If i were to write an h1 for this topic, my heading might be: "Using H1 and Meta Tags Correctly."
My h2 for this topic might be; H1 Tags Explained, and ; Meta Tags Explained. I used two h2 as they were equal in value in my opinion, but did not supercede the page title or the h1 title.
If you are selling, you also need to use good keywords on your products, and good meta tags on your product pages if they are available to you. I cant promise you that the search engines actually use these, but good clean content NEVER hurts you.
Lastly, content, well written and not spammed, and as original as possible on every page and as professional as possible is MOST important. So use a spell checker. I am very guilty of internet typing and forgetting to capitalize and punctuate and I am constantly having to check and recheck my pages. Proper use of H1 tags and meta tags can help you achieve that, along with all the other posts here.
Hope this isnt clear as mud! but clear to understand, and If not please ask for clarification or if I can help in anyway.
Karen
Occassionally you will see in search results a site that has a bunch of words as their description, and thats because they have incorrectly spammed their meta tags with nothing but keywords even in the description, while it might get them recognition in the short term, spamming IS NEVER good for anybody very long. Some search engines still pick the first 200 words for a site they come across, and generally its whats in your meta tag. Some PAID services now rely more on the d.c. meta ( ie:<meta= d.c. description, or d.c. keyword) as opposed to just a plain ole meta tag. Either way, it still doesn't hurt to use your meta tag descriptors on every page. Make sure descriptions are COMPLETE sentences and not jumbled keywords. Use keywords found only on that page and recommended is under 256 characters. Generally you need no where near that many.
H tags, or H1, H2 headings should be exactly that. Just like what a newspaper does. What they do for you is HILIGHT your content so that a visitor can glean the information to be found on your website at a glance. These tags should also not be spammed. They should not be the SAME as your title of your pages, but should be relevant to your content. Use them in the same order as numbered. An H2 heading shouldnt come before the H1 and so on. Generally, you should only use one h1 tag per page, as thats your main heading. There are exceptions to every rule and I have seen H1 tags used several times on a page to span a seperate topic not related to the the first one. Search engines do give credence to these headings as well. Personally, I work on using an H1 tag on each page of my stores as much as possible. Sometimes the title suffices and there just isnt one available or that wouldnt be a repeat of the title, and thats ok. This is just ONE more tool to use. Not a requirement.
Dont confuse headings with introductions, like, "Welcome to our site" as those arent keywords, or heading up a topic. Mimic newspaper headlines to get an idea of how to do it. For instance, If i were to write an h1 for this topic, my heading might be: "Using H1 and Meta Tags Correctly."
My h2 for this topic might be; H1 Tags Explained, and ; Meta Tags Explained. I used two h2 as they were equal in value in my opinion, but did not supercede the page title or the h1 title.
If you are selling, you also need to use good keywords on your products, and good meta tags on your product pages if they are available to you. I cant promise you that the search engines actually use these, but good clean content NEVER hurts you.
Lastly, content, well written and not spammed, and as original as possible on every page and as professional as possible is MOST important. So use a spell checker. I am very guilty of internet typing and forgetting to capitalize and punctuate and I am constantly having to check and recheck my pages. Proper use of H1 tags and meta tags can help you achieve that, along with all the other posts here.
Hope this isnt clear as mud! but clear to understand, and If not please ask for clarification or if I can help in anyway.
Karen
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