Proper Use of HTML Tags

HTML tags are many so we will cover the ones used for the purposes of SEO.

Formatting an HTML page for SEO is really pretty simple. The basic HTML tags to use are the h1, h2, h3, alt and strong tags. The h1, h2 and h3 tags are heading tags used for the heading of your page. See the big heading that says HTML Tags at the top of this page? That is the h1 tag in use and it is used for the main heading text of the page. It looks like this <h1>HTML Tags</h1>. It tells the search engines and users exactly the main topic of the page. The h2 and h3 tags can be used for sub headings which would follow lower in the page as seen below.

Proper use of h2 tags

So we started the page with a main heading using the h1 tag followed by a paragraph and then have a sub heading using the h2 tag. H2 tags appear a bit smaller then the h1 tag and so on. H tags go all the way up to h6 but I have never personally used anything beyond h3 and don’t know of anyone else using anything beyond that either. It’s good to keep your pages focused around one main topic and then breaking down the info into sub sections. And this is where you would use the h tags to properly define the hierarchy of sections.

Proper use of h3 tags

Using the h3 tag is not necessary but is used above as an example to show size decrease. Unless you have a lot of information on the page that is broken up into more then 2 sections you can get away with using just the h1 and h2 tags.

Using ALT tags

ALT tags describe images to search engines as well as people with disabilities that use screen readers to describe objects in a browser. If ALT tags are used on images users will know what they are about if they don’t load properly.

When images don’t load properly or are seen by search engines and use proper ALT tags this is what they see.

Describing images properly helps users and search engines get a better idea of what your page is about.

It is important to use ALT tags for your navigation graphics. If you use graphics as your main navigation then it is extremely important that you use ALT tags to describe the graphical link. This tells search engines where the link is pointed in turn describing the destination page.

Using the Strong tag

The bold tag used to be <br> but now it is <strong>. Bolding text gives readers a visual cue or visual emphasis when scanning text. It’s plays a role in readability of a web page and should be used diligently. Also, some search engines pay attention to this tag letting them know what words should stand out.

HTML Tag Resources

• HTML tag reference – w3.org’s HTML reference page.
• HTML tag examples – Examples of HTML code and tag usage
• Barebones Guide to HTML – Barebones guide to HTML