Using Headings

People are always keen on organized websites. When pieces of information in your pages are clearly and properly divided, people will generally like your site. This results to more traffic from visitors, both old and new.

There are quite a number of ways for you to make your site more organized. And one of the best options for you is to use headings. As you may know, the heading tag consists of an “h” followed by the numerical value of the heading level, either 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6.

Why Use Headings?

Headings help you organize your web pages. This element lets you clearly indicate where a particular section ends and where a new one begins. Also, when you are working on your page, headings can help you quickly find the section you wish to add to or modify.

In addition, if your page’s content is divided into headings, people will find it very organized and well thought-out. Your site’s visitors would then be able to understand the overall structure and get the information they need at once.

Headings also benefit users of assistive technology. For instance, one of the most convenient options for a screen reader user is to navigate through web content by moving from one heading to another. If a page has headings, the screen reader user can take advantage of this feature. If the page does not have headings, the user may have a hard time going through the page’s content.

Headings can contribute to Search Engine Optimization. Search engine robots will determine the specific topic of your page if you placed its title in a heading. As a result, Search engines can place your site in the appropriate category. This lets your potential visitors find your site more easily.

Things to Remember When Using Headings

The headings in your page should tell a story. When people go through your page just by reading its headings, they should have a clear idea of the page’s overall content. In other words, use your headings in your page as you would use the table of contents in a book.

The main purpose of headings is not only to break up content visually. Instead, headings are there to help the visitors decide if they want to read the page. Headings should also help your visitors determine and find the specific section they want to read.

All your pages should have a heading level 1. This heading should be the page’s title. It should be able to tell the user what the page is all about. Ideally, you should have only one heading level 1 in your page. However, there is nothing wrong with having multiple level 1 headings in your page. Make sure though that if you do have more than one heading level 1, there is a clear need for it and that the layout is consistent in the site.

You need to follow the correct hierarchy of headings. After creating a heading level 1, a heading level 2 should follow it. Then after 2 comes 3, and after 3 comes 4, and so on. You can go as deep as you wish, as long as it still makes sense.