Using Multiple Header Tags for SEO
There is an old WebmasterWorld thread on the topic of how many header tags (i.e. H1, H2) you should have on a page and how you should use it. The thread was revived yesterday when Matt Cutts of Google answered a question on that topic on video. Here is the video:
So there you have it. Don't wrap all your content in the H1 tag. You can use it multiple times on a page but use it for page heading above paragraphs of content. Don't over do it.
WebmasterWorld's Tedster disagreed a bit with Matt, he said:
Even though Matt say s it's "OK" to use more than one, I'm still a big fan of using only one H1 element. If it seems like two are really required, I almost always make that content into two pages. Or if the content is too thin to support two pages resonably, I'll figure out a single over-arching headline that can be the H1 to support multiple H2 tags.I find that approach also "packages" the semantic signals more effectively. That's kind of the way I understand websites, pages, and even code. They are all ways of "packaging" data and information, and we are all packagers.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
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rustybrick in Google Optimization at March 20, 2009 8:19 AM
Comments (6)

Comments
Perfectly sensible advice. Write your website just like your high school Journalism teacher taught you to do and you'll be fine.
I'm serious! The well-established conventions of newspaper journalism are a proven model of communicating with masses of people seeking information. Follow them and Google will give you no trouble, rather they will prefer your site.
Posted by Chef Dennis Coats at March 23, 2009 09:55