Understanding HTML Headings

Introduction

HTML Headings are a crucial part of any web page's structure. They provide the page's content with a hierarchy of importance, making it easier for users and search engines to understand the main topics and sub-topics covered on the webpage. Headings also help visually impaired users improve accessibility to navigate the content using screen readers.

In this article, we will cover all the important information you need about HTML headings, including how to use headings properly and how headings can help with SEO optimization.

What are HTML Headings?

In order to organize the content of a web page, HTML headings are used. HTML headings are used to structure the content present on a web page. Headings are used in organizing the entire web page text into different sections with different levels of importance. There are six different levels of HTML headings ranging from H1 to H6. The heading inside H1 is considered the most important, and the heading inside H6 is considered the least important. 

Each heading level - H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, and H6 has a different font size and font weight for the text written as the heading, where H1 is the largest and boldest and H6 is the smallest and lightest in size and weight of the text. Headings are generally used hierarchically, starting from H1 for the web page's primary title and then H2, H3, and others being used for subheadings and other important sections of the content.

What is the Importance of HTML Headings?

Several factors make HTML headings important. First and foremost, they help to organize the content of a web page clearly and logically. This increases the readability of the web page and helps the users traverse through the web page so that they can find the relevant data they are in search of quickly and efficiently.

Secondly, HTML headings are also important and active in SEO optimization. The headings on a web page help search engines like Google understand the main topics and subtopics covered in the content. Proper use of headings in the web page while designing the content helps the search engines to understand the structure of the content and helps to improve the rankings in the search results.

How to effectively use HTML Headings?

Proper use of HTML headings is essential for both usability and SEO optimization. The HTML headings should always be utilized correctly like,

• Use the H1 heading tag level for the main title of the web page. The page's main title should always be included in an H1 tag. The heading inside the H1 tag should be the most important heading on the page and should appropriately describe the page's content. 
• Use the H2 heading tag level for subheadings to divide the page's content into several parts. Each section should have a descriptive subheading that can appropriately describe the content of that section particularly.
• Use the H3-H6 heading tag level for the subheadings inside sections. If there are subheadings inside a section, using H3-H6 headings to indicate the significance of each subsection is appropriate.

Implementing HTML Headings using Code

HTML headings play an important role in defining web page structure and help optimize SEO to improve rankings in Google searches. Headings are also beneficial for visually impaired people to help them navigate through the content using screen readers. But implementing headings to perform such tasks in our web pages uses HTML coding, which follows a certain syntax.

In HTML, there are six headings ranging from H1 to H6; all these heading tags are implemented in our HTML document just by including the appropriate heading tags around the text we want as a heading. 

Like. <heading tag> Text that we want as heading</heading tag>

Tags used as heading levels are - <h1> , <h2>, <h3>, <h4>, <h5> and <h6>

Heading tag used	Heading tag level
<h1>.....</h1>	Level 1
<h2>.....</h2>	Level 2
<h3>.....</h3>	Level 3
<h4>.....</h4>	Level 4
<h5>.....</h5>	Level 5
<h6>.....</h6>	Level 6

Syntax 

<h1> This is Heading Level 1</h1>

Code showing all types of heading levels in HTML Document

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>Levels of Heading Tags</title>
</head>
<body bgcolor="black" text="white">
    <h1>This is Heading 1</h1> <!--Heading Level 1-->
    <h2>This is Heading 2</h2> <!--Heading Level 2-->
    <h3>This is Heading 3</h3> <!--Heading Level 3-->
    <h4>This is Heading 4</h4> <!--Heading Level 4-->
    <h5>This is Heading 5</h5> <!--Heading Level 5-->
    <h6>This is Heading 6</h6> <!--Heading Level 6-->
</body>
</html>

Output 

As you can see in the above output, all the heading levels have different font sizes and font weights. This difference helps a reader to differentiate between the heading levels used in a webpage. 

Different font sizes of all heading levels are, 

Heading tag	Size(in pixels)
<h1>	32 pixels
<h2>	24 pixels
<h3>	20.8 pixels
<h4>	16 pixels
<h5>	12.8 pixels
<h6>	11.2 pixels

Note. All the heading tags are represented in bold and have different font sizes.

The above table shows different font sizes in which the heading levels are represented in pixel format.

Implementing Headings on a Webpage: Best Practices

• Use heading to structure the web page content hierarchically, with the level 1 heading being the most important and moving down to the level 6 heading being the least important.
• Headings should be descriptive; each heading should appropriately provide adequate information about the content of that particular section.
• Only one Level 1 heading should be used inside per webpage to reduce confusion to search optimization engines and improve the content's readability.
• Using keywords in headings can help improve search result rankings during SEO optimizations.
• It is a good practice to avoid using too many headings on a web page; this sometimes confuses the user and the search engines and makes the content difficult to read.
• Heading used just for formatting in a web page to increase the font size is not advised, rather than use headings to mark a particular section and to increase the readability of the content using the points mentioned above.

HTML Headings and SEO Optimization

HTML Headings are important for Search Engine Optimization. Headings are used to structure the content available on a web page. Search engines like Google use headings to understand the major topics and sub-topics a webpage addresses to better index and rank the web pages during searches. 

Ways how headings can help in SEO optimization are,

• Headings help to understand the structure of the entire webpage. Search engines like Google use these headings to understand the web page's structure and which type of topics the webpage's content covers. Effective use of headings increases the understanding of the web page's structure to the search engine, resulting in an increase in rankings of the webpage in searches.
• Headings increase readability; using headings to arrange our material makes it simpler for readers to scan the page and find the information they are in search of; this increases readability, which can eventually increase the time spent on the webpage and lower the bounce rate.
• Targeting keywords, including relevant keywords in headings, can help the webpage rank higher in the search results for those keywords.
• Supports highlighted snippets; featured snippets are a type of search result that prominently shows an extract from a web page at the top of the search result.. Using headings in a webpage can make it easier for the search engines to recognize the most crucial parts of the website, which can increase the chances of the webpage being featured in a snippet.
• Headings can help make the website more accessible to visually impaired individuals. Screen readers and other assistive technologies use headings to help users navigate between text sections on a web page.

Conclusion

HTML headings are an important part of a web page's structure. They help structure the web page's content clearly and logically, which increases the readability of the text and helps visually impaired persons navigate through the content using screen readers easily.

Structuring the content also helps the search engines for better search rankings, and effective use of keywords increases the search ranking more. The heading should not be used just for formatting purposes and should be effectively used to design the important sections of the webpage.