Headings & SEO: The simple fix that can improve your website’s ranking
Why your website headings matter more than you think
Search engines like Google have one job: to deliver the best possible results for a user’s search query. To do that, they need to quickly understand what your website is all about. One of the simplest ways to help them (and your readers) is by optimising your headings and subheadings. This simple fix, that can be done by anyone editing text on a website, can make a remarkable difference to your SEO results.
Here’s what you need to know.
Headings: the secret sauce for SEO success
There are reportedly over 200 ranking factors that Google considers when evaluating your website. But let’s be real—bots don’t have all day. Crawling your site takes time, and time is money (even for bots). That’s why search engines rely heavily on headings and subheadings to get a quick snapshot of your content.
Think of headings as road signs. They guide both search engines and human readers, helping them skim and understand content efficiently. A well-structured page = happy bots and happy visitors. Win-win!
Headings that work for search engines
Search engines scan headings first to grasp the main topics of your content. If your headings are clear and well-structured, bots can categorise your site more accurately, leading to better rankings.
But there’s more to it than just stuffing in keywords. Your headings need to be structured properly, formatted correctly, and written in a way that makes sense for humans too.
Headings that work for humans
Let’s face it—no one wants to read a giant wall of text. Users scan content before they commit to reading, and well-placed headings make that easy.
Good headings help visitors quickly find the information they’re looking for, keeping them engaged and on your site longer. And guess what? Google notices when people spend more time on your page and sees it as a sign that your content is valuable.
More time on page = better rankings.
How to format your headings correctly
1. Headings need to be ‘tagged’
A common mistake I see is that businesses simply use the type tool on their website to increase the size, change colour or bolden text to indicate headings and subheadings. This works for a website visitor but search engine bots need a bit of code to help them understand that a particular bit of text is a heading. They are looking for ‘title tags’ which are bits of code (H1, H2, H3, etc.) that indicate a heading and its hierarchy. The code also styles or formats the heading automatically – more on that later.
Don’t be put off about the idea of ‘code’. Every web design platform—WordPress, Wix, Squarespace—lets you assign headings easily from a dropdown menu. You’ll find the same option in your word processing software. When you do this, your web platform will insert the appropriate bit of code, the title tag, behind the scenes for search engines to find.
2. Heading hierarchy matters
Just as with your work report, you should use hierarchy to help a reader and bots understand your content.
H1 (Main Title): The big boss. This is usually your page or post title. You should only have one H1 per page.
H2 (Subheadings): Major sections. These break up your content into key themes.
H3 (Sub-subheadings): Supporting details under H2 sections.
H4, H5, H6: Only use if you have deeper layers of content.
Pro Tip: Your URL is often auto-generated from your H1/title tag but you may want to edit your URL to keep it clean and, because you shouldn’t change your URL once published, make sure it is evergreen. It doesn’t need to match your title exactly, but it should not be too different as that might cause confusion to humans and bots. My personal tip, avoid including dates unless absolutely necessary as this will age your article. You can put a date in the title and change it every year, ibut keep it out of the URL. For example, avoid “best-music-festivals-2024” if you plan to update the article annually. Keep the the URL to “best-music-festivals”.
3. Changing the look of your headings the right way
The styling of your headings – the size, font, colour – is usually set in your website’s template to ensure consistency and to save you time so that you don’t need to style each headline manually. Some platforms (like Wix and Squarespace) let you adjust template styling easily, while others (like WordPress) might require a web designer’s help. Either way, know that template changes will change the look of those headings across your whole website.
On some platforms you will also have the option to customise the styling of the tagged heading on the page, customising individual headings as you please. However, while this should still keep the title tag in place, random style changes across different pages can easily lead to a messy, inconsistent unprofessional look.
“I’ve updated clients’ blog posts – correctly formatting their headings –and seen the post climb search rankings almost overnight.”
Big results: the magic of fixing headings
Here’s the exciting part—just optimising your headings can give you an instant SEO boost. I’ve updated clients’ blog posts – correctly formatting their headings – and seen the post climb search rankings almost overnight.
For even faster results, set up Google Search Console so you can request priority indexing after making changes. If not, don’t worry—search engines will eventually crawl your updated content.
This really is a simple SEO fix that has the potential to give big results and it is a taks that is totally do-able for most website owners.
Quick recap: fixing your headings means more web traffic
Use proper heading tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.)
Follow a logical heading hierarchy
Make headings user-friendly and informative
Avoid inconsistent or random styling
Check your URLs before publishing
This is one of the easiest SEO wins out there. If you need help with your website’s SEO, whether it’s fixing your headings, setting up Google Search Console or a full SEO audit and overhaul, I’d love to help.
Let’s get your website ranking higher today: 📅 Book a quick chat through my scheduler here.