One of the more fundamental tools for both SEO and readability of web pages is to use titles and headings. Search engines scan your page for titles and headings to see what is the important information on the page. Your readers do the same: their eyes quickly scan the title and first heading or two before deciding whether to read the rest of the page.
Titles are in one of two places: in the <title> tag at the top of your code and in your <H1> tags. Each have a different purpose and meaning to search engines.
The <title> tags tell search engines the overall content of the page. As you know, you may have several articles with different titles on a single page. Use the <title> tag information to specify the general contents.
The <H1> tag is the way to tell search engines the content of an article. The search engine assumes the information following one set of <H1> tags is only a single article until the next set of <H1> tags are present. Use the <H1> tag information to define the contents of a single article.
Headings give your readers and search engines information about the contents of sub-sections of your articles. Never underestimate the power of headings for improving readability AND improving search ranks. Headings should be enclosed in the <H2> and <H3> tags.
You can use as many sub-heading tags as you want. I’ve seen up to <H6> in longer articles. Anything beyond <H3> is usually an exception on most sites as this would be a single sub-heading.
SEO is about two important goals: improved search engine rankings and improved user experiences. Titles, headings, and even sub-headings should be used to give search engines and customers valuable information. Never use these to fill in fluff or “load” a page with extra keywords.
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