Do Heading Tags Matter in Google Anymore?

This is a test to determine if Google considers H1 Heading tags anymore and to what extent.

It has long been accepted that heading tags such as H1 are fundamental to On-Page Optimisation. Due to recent algorithm changes there is a shift away even further from on page factors with SE's relying more on the authority given to a site from off page factors.

I have set up a test page. Please link to it so that it gets indexed.

Please see the Heading Tag SEO Test

The code to use is as follows



What I have done here is create an entry page which should be the page that is linked to. The entry page links to two different test pages. This way there is no unfair influencing of link proximity of different keywords or any dis-jointedness between linking.

The links to the two test pages are at the bottom of the document (to reduce proximity effects) and do not contain keyword specififc anchor text. A point to note here is that the first page (without the H1 tag) might be given slightly more weight due to it being the first link in the document. This should be minimised though.

The pages are similar in length code and density of keywords.

One page has the keyword in the heading only, the other in the body only.

This will be interesting to see which page ranks the highest for the term Heading Tag SEO Test .

It is ok to link to the following page



With any other link text and to mention this test on any other site. Please DO NOT link to the test pages Page1 and Page2.

Any thoughts or suggestions on this test?

Good stuff, look forward to seeing results.

A great idea.

I`m not sure if Google treats pages with no links the same as pages with links. You may want to link back to http://www.theseofiles.co.uk/test/heading-tags.html

If I know Google, the test may not be enough to prove anything. They could treat the H1 differently if they have there are few other effects like headers, bolds, underlines...

Just my 2 cents.

Yes that's always a possibility.

Thats why I have tried as much as possible to make the two pages controlled with similar on page factors and linking weight other than the factor that is being tested.

Any links to http://www.theseofiles.co.uk/test/heading-tags.html would be appreciated as the test page has not yet been indexed.

The page mentioned above had bow been indexed, however the two pages it links to have not yet been indexed and these are the actual test pages.

If I could get some more links to

http://www.theseofiles.co.uk/test/heading-tags.html

that would really help speed up indexing of the two test pages and hopefully produce an answer.

In theory, once they are ranked and have stabilised, I should be able to add an H1 tag to the page without and rmeove the H1 tag from the page that has it and see the positions change.

Page 2 of the two test pages has now been indexed.

This is the page that has the Keyword in the H1 tag and it is currently ranking higher than this forum thread and the landing page for the test as it has the keyword in the H1 tag.

It will be interesting to see what happens when Page 1 is also included. Once this has happened and results have been stable for a while I will switch the H1 tag between Page 1 and Page 2 of the test pages.

Something to bear in mind here is that Page 2 has been indexed first and also that it was the second link in the page so link proximity, it appears, did not play much of a role here.

Today both pages are indexed.

Heading Tag SEO Test Search

Test Page 2 with the keyword in the H1 tag only is ranking above Test Page 1 with the keyword mentioned in the body text only.

This is what I thought would be the case.

I will let this stabilise for a while, then I will switch the H1 tag and keyword in body around and see if the SERPs jump.

After this I will also add the keyword to the boy of the page that has the H1 tag.

There's nothing ground breaking here, it did what I thought it would do but I think that the initial results show that Keywords in an H1 tag are still important.

Further testing of this could involve linking to the pages - ie get a link to the page without the H1 tag and see if it over take the page with the H1 tag but no direct keryword related link.

Watch this space......

Observation

site:www.theseofiles.co.uk "Heading Tag SEO Test"

When I viewed all results from the test site, the test Page 2 with the H1 tag but no external links, ranks higher than the landing test page which has the keyword in the body and external links with the keyword in. I think this shows even further that the H1 tag is still important.
This may change with the age of the links to it and is something I will watch for.