Is html structure important for SEO

Hi. There are opinions that html tags don't affect on SEO. In my opinion for better SEO result it worth to make good html structure and have one H1 with keyword. But should I worry about H2 duplication or it's doesn't matter? And should I add keyword to H2? I've seen many websites with high organic traffic and they don't care about html. They have 5 H1 on homepage (some of them are empty) duplicated H2, for example "Product description" on every product page. That's why I wonder is it worth to make good html structure.

EricCartman69 said:

Hi. There are opinions that html tags don't affect on SEO.

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Where did you hear/read this?

EricCartman69 said:

In my opinion for better SEO result it worth to make good html structure and have one H1 with keyword. But should I worry about H2 duplication or it's doesn't matter?

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Subheadings are a ranking factor

EricCartman69 said:

And should I add keyword to H2?

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Yes!

EricCartman69 said:

I've seen many websites with high organic traffic and they don't care about html.

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What is the authority of these sites?

I highly doubt a 1-2 year old site will generate any decent organic traffic with these types of on-page issues.

EricCartman69 said:

They have 5 H1 on homepage (some of them are empty) duplicated H2, for example "Product description" on every product page. That's why I wonder is it worth to make good html structure.

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If you are an authority within your industry/niche you no longer need to worry about SEO.

Like, CNN or the BBC don´t have to spend time thinking "I need to add my target keyword into the headline" in order for Google to index their pages literally minutes after they publish them.

Roger Marquez said:

Where did you hear/read this?


Subheadings are a ranking factor


Yes!


What is the authority of these sites?

I highly doubt a 1-2 year old site will generate any decent organic traffic with these types of on-page issues.


If you are an authority within your industry/niche you no longer need to worry about SEO.

Like, CNN or the BBC don´t have to spend time thinking "I need to add my target keyword into the headline" in order for Google to index their pages literally minutes after they publish them.

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I've read the article on Moz's blog, "Are H1 Tags Necessary for Ranking? [SEO Experiment]"
Those are pretty high authority sites. And what about h3-h6? Is it necessary to add keywords to h3-h6?
And last question. What do you think about HTML structure? Do you place h1 on the top of the page, below h2-h6, and do not add, for example, h4 if there is no h3.

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EricCartman69 said:

I've read the article on Moz's blog, "Are H1 Tags Necessary for Ranking? [SEO Experiment]"
Those are pretty high authority sites.

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I am fairly familiar with Moz

EricCartman69 said:

And what about h3-h6? Is it necessary to add keywords to h3-h6?

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Yes

EricCartman69 said:

And last question. What do you think about HTML structure? Do you place h1 on the top of the page, below h2-h6, and do not add, for example, h4 if there is no h3.

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Headings follow a hierarchy, you can´t use an H3 without an H2 nor an H4 without an H3 or an H2.

One of their main purposes is to add a logical and linear flow to the idea/topic behind the content of a page.

Kind of like this...



The Search Engine Journal has a great article about this topic. There, they explain the following...

• H1 tags are used to denote the most important text, such as the main theme or title of the content.
• H2 and H3 tags are commonly used as subheadings.
• Finally, H4, H5, and H6 tags may be used to provide further structure within those subsections.

Full Article

Lastly, you need to understand the following, just because something is considered a ranking factor (like headings and subheadings) it doesn´t mean that by optimizing a page for those it will automatically take a page that is stuck on page 2 or 3 and place it in page 1 of Google.

It´s a ranking factor but it´s a SMALL ranking factor.

But the fact that they are a small ranking factor doesn´t mean you will start to ignore them because, in the great scheme of things, the way you improve a site´s SEO health is by optimizing as many elements as possible on that page for has marginal as they might be.

Also, we need to optimize pages based NOT only on Google´s Webmaster Guidelines and on SEO best practices but also to enhance our visitor's user experience (UX) and, headings and subheadings provide that.

It's not structure per se but what structure can lead when it comes to user experience.

Google has been clear that it factors in user experience when it comes to ranking.

You want to maximize your chances of ranking well.

Accordingly, you should set up your headings to be as simple as possible.

Your main points should be H2.

Your subpoints should be H3.

If you're going to be putting in any bullet points, make them as simple as possible.

You may be thinking that there's less room to move when it comes to user engagement.

Not necessarily!

You can bold, italicize as well as add pictures to your pages to make them more engaging.

Just because you are stuck with a certain basic HTML structuring doesn't mean that your pages have to be boring.

Schema struct is more important