Not so many blog writers know the true importance of headings and subheadings. While many believe they are only there for the easy screening and general organization of the texts, it’s actually much more. If you want to run a blog that Google loves, then you should know how the blog’s headings and subheadings affect SEO. There is actually more than one way, so be sure to read the text below to find out more about them. This will help you improve the way your blog posts look, but also improve your ratings and attract more readers. Let’s dive into headings and subheadings and the tips to write them properly!
First things firsts – the reader’s experience
One of the main reasons to write good headings is for your readers to have better visibility on your blog. This way you’ll improve their experience, which is very important for search engines – and this means more traffic. User experience is one of the ways you can improve your rankings if search engines recognize users enjoy staying at your pages. And if a reader finds it easy and enjoyable to read your texts – you should definitely work on the structure.
Keywords
One of the ways headings and subheadings affect SEO is that they contain keywords, as headings carry more weight than the normal text. Of course, it is not necessary that all of the headings include the keywords, but at least one will surely help the engines find your text according to the topic. So, headings and subheadings include your text in the relevant topic – if they are well-written and contain the keyword or its variation.
General organization and structure of the blog posts
Structured content is much easier to read and scroll through, and find the information you need in a second. And headings and subheadings are a way to do that. They will divide a huge chunk of text into meaningful pieces, which will make the content look more organized and more attractive to the readers, as well as search engines.
Proper headings help HTML
If you want to make your blog posts accessible to everybody, it’s necessary to structure them by using headings and subheadings. The reason is that some of your readers can’t read easily directly from the screen, but use screen readers. These use HTML to help them understand the structure of a text so they can read it aloud. That’s how blog’s headings and subheadings affect SEO – readers will a well-structured rather than the one without headings.
How to help blog’s headings and subheadings affect SEO positively?
You probably understand why headings are an important part of your blog post structure now. However, if you need more precise tips on how to become a master of headings and subheadings – continue reading.
Pay attention to the headings levels
Every level of headings (from H1 to H6) is different in size. But that’s not everything – they are also different in the importance of the information they carry. That’s why you should structure your text in a way where H1 represents the title. It’s easiest to notice, and therefore should contain the keyword. The H1 heading doesn’t necessarily need to be the title, but it should be the most important heading in the text representing the topic.
Next is H2 – it’s a lower-level subheading that’s also quite important and should contain the keyword. However, as there are probably more than one H2 subheadings – you don’t need to use your keyword in each of them. Other lower-level subheadings (h3-h6) should be used when you need to add some details or explore the topic further. It’s usually something you mentioned in the higher-level heading before.
When to use subheadings
Another question people ask is when to use subheadings and what is the correct number. Usually, it’s after 300 words. Yoast will check if you used it and notify you – it will suggest you use a subheading after a chunk of text longer than 300 words. So, as you write, decide the levels of the headings and way to distribute your text according to this ‘rule’.
Separate topics
Apart from actually using the subheadings and avoiding Yoast going orange or green, try to distribute them in a way they separate topics and explanations. Every longer paragraph probably has more two or three ideas, topics, or explanations, you can easily divide by using lower-level subheadings.
Adding keyword/keyphrase
We already mentioned that the blog’s headings and subheadings affect SEO by ‘promoting’ the keyword. However, you shouldn’t add the keyword randomly just to fulfill this requirement. Yoast will suggest the changes if you’ve added your keyphrase too many or only few times. That’s why you should try to add it naturally, in a way it really represents the topic written below. Unnatural headings that don’t represent the topic look bad and mislead the readers, so be sure to avoid them.
Keep it simple
Headings that are too long or go too deeply into the topic may diverse readers from continuing with the text. Keep it simple and be specific about the topic you will write in the text below.
Questions are a way to write an interesting heading
Posing a simple, yet intriguing question in a heading will surely attract the reader to continue and find out more. However, be sure not to overdo it, and give the answer right at the beginning of the paragraph.
Conclusion
We’re now sure that you understand how blog’s headings and subheadings affect SEO and you are ready to write some high-quality structured blog posts! Also, be sure to take a look at your older posts, too, and see if they need a tweak or two.