Will the presence of multiple heading tags (say H1, H2, H3 or even H4) cause any problems with respect to search rankings?
The short answer is No, it won’t. The presence of multiple heading tags does not affect your search rankings, it neither helps nor it hurts. It is recommended to keep only one H1 tag on a page as the main article headline but if your page somehow ends up having multiple heading tags in different order, it is not much of a problem.
Hi there GrumpyYoungMan,One H1 per section in a funny way does make sense, but I agree using a H2 would be better and then just leave using H1 for the main body content of the page.
personally, i prefer to use/see just one h1 in the document, but
I am, of course, very old and in my heart an HTML4 strict sort of
guy.
But with the introduction of the <section> element in HTML5 it
appears that adding an h1 to any number them is OK. Why the
creators of this abomination allowed this in favour of the h2 is
beyond my comprehension. :o :-[
coothead
I guess they think allowing H1 in the section gives the emphasis to the section title?
Oh I agree with you, but I was just trying to understand and sound out there logic/thinking?Quote from: GrumpyYoungManI guess they think allowing H1 in the section gives the emphasis to the section title?
Believe that, and you'll believe anything. ;D
<h1> is the HTML element for the first-level heading of a document.
Source:-
https://www.w3.org/QA/Tips/Use_h1_for_Title (https://www.w3.org/QA/Tips/Use_h1_for_Title)
I can see no good reason for the dip shits who created HTML5
to play silly buggers with it and ignore it, other than they could
and did. :o
coothead
... but I was just trying to understand and sound out their logic/thinking?
Unfortunately, the creators of HTML5 appear to have had a differentWhich is why HTML validation is now pointless pedantic rubbish, with so many valid and/or even essential things now being invalid because... they have no huffing clue what they're even doing or why certain things were created.
agenda, one which excluded both logic and rational thought. :o
TS: 2021-02-25
TITLE: The struggle with the headings.
For years I've been struggling with all this and have never come
to a conclusion. I have a feeling that the source of the problem
lies somewhere else. But I'm not sure.
NOTE: I've read many theories on it, but never was satisfied with
the result. Not just for HTML. For example markup has the
same problem.
The problem:
We have a document structure and want to catch that in numbering sections.
Where does one start the numbering?
Structure:
What does a document structure look like? For that we first have to look
at the kind of document. They are not all the same. A magazine is not a book.
A book can be a single story or a collection of short stories or papers.
The best way to see structure is to write in outline style. This is what I've been
doing for decades. First on paper at school, then later on digital tools.
Common:
What all documents have in common is a title.
A book has a title but does not need to have chapers (Terry Pratchett). A
magazine has a title and each article has a title. There may be headings. A
technical paper has a tile and there may be headings.
There's someting else in common. Books have an ISBN, papers a doi: Digital
documents have a filename. A (unique) identifier.
And a website?
Website:
A website has a uri/url. It has no title. There are one or more files on a site. A
file can be one or more documents. Many files can form a single document.
A webpage has a title. What is a page? What a mess.
[skip a lot here]
Title:
By writing outline style thing are made more obvious imo. It annoys that the title
is pushed to a tab. Even though is perfectly possible to put it on a page with
proper mark up.
If we use the title as a website title, as in book or magazine title, It prevents the use
of H1 as a title replacement and thus all strange H2&H3 schemes. H1 must become
a document title then. But that feels strange.
Look at this little document. It has a title. It has four sections that start on the first
level, one even without a heading. Assuming TITLE is on level 0, these four should be H1.
When this little document is part of a bigger thing, levels change.
[skip even more]
<title>
The struggle with the headings - Site Title
</title>
<h1>Site Title</h1>
<h2><time>25 Feb 2021</time> The struggle with the headings</h2>
<p>
For years I've been struggling with all this and have never come to a conclusion. I have a feeling that the source of the problem lies somewhere else. But I'm not sure.
</p><p>
<strong>NOTE:</strong> <em>I've read many theories on it, but never was satisfied with the result. Not just for HTML. For example markup has the same problem.</em>
</p>
<h3>The problem:</h3>
<p>
We have a document structure and want to catch that in numbering sections. Where does one start the numbering?
</p>
<h3>Structure:</h3>
<p>
What does a document structure look like? For that we first have to look at the kind of document. They are not all the same. A magazine is not a book. A book can be a single story or a collection of short stories or papers. The best way to see structure is to write in outline style. This is what I've been doing for decades. First on paper at school, then later on digital tools.
</p>
<!-- assuming common and website are subsections of "structure" -->
<h4>Common:</h4>
<p>
What all documents have in common is a title. A book has a title but does not need to have chapers (Terry Pratchett). A magazine has a title and each article has a title. There may be headings. A technical paper has a tile and there may be headings. There's someting else in common. Books have an ISBN, papers a doi: Digital documents have a filename. A (unique) identifier. And a website?
</p>
<h4>Website:</h4>
<p>
A website has a uri/url. It has no title. There are one or more files on a site. A file can be one or more documents. Many files can form a single document. A webpage has a title. What is a page? What a mess.
</p><p>
The above paragraph makes no sense. Websites have a title, its' in the TITLE tag and should contain the page title, a hyphen, and then the site title. Just as the site title should be the H1, and the page title (if any) should be the first H2.
</p>
<hr><!-- change in topic equivalent to H2 -->
Footer / disclaimer here
Get it? This was 4th and 5th grade English class in the late '70's in Taxachusetts. I don't get why people find this so hard.<title>
The struggle with the headings - Site Title
</title>
<head>
<site-title>
Site Title
</site-title>
<title>
The struggle with the headings
</title>
</head>
<head>
<site-title>
cutcodedown
</site-title>
<site-section>
forum
</site-section>
<title>
The struggle with the headings
</title>
</head>
PS. What I really like is that your logo on a forum page points to the front page of the site instead of to the forums as is mostly seen.Yeah that's a pet peeve of mine as well. Laugh is either way you do it, you tend to get the same number of likes/dislikes. As silly as it is annoying.
[...]
And it's not silly for them to be called that, as that's what they're called in English. The "heading 1" describes the document, whilst heading 2's describe major subsections of that document.
[...]
Did you not learn this in grade school? 'Cause it seems like nobody else learned this in grade school. HTML was quite literally created as a 1:1 of proper grammar/structural rules of the English language as used in things like scientific papers, whitepapers, technical documents, legal documents, and business letters. The five heading depths being a part of that, with H6 thrown in as "overkill". (If your content itself actually hits H6, there's probably something wrong with your document)
[...]
I'll dig up some English grammar books then. English is not my mother tongue, it's the third language I learned. School was many decades ago.Well then you at least have a valid excuse to not know it. Sad part is I'm reasonably certain that this stuff stopped being taught here in the colonies sometime between 1980 and 1990, and upped to college level for things like legal documents and scientific papers -- again, TBL's target audience.
scientific papers
<title>Preliminary microbiological and chemical analysis of two historical stock ales from Victorian and Edwardian brewing - Thomas - - Journal of the Institute of Brewing - Wiley Online Library</title>
, JIBD? The parent / nearest ancestor.<h1>Wiley Online Library</h1>
<h2>
Preliminary microbiological and chemical analysis of two historical stock ales from Victorian and Edwardian brewing
</h2>
<h3>Abstract</h3>
<h3>Introduction</h3>
<h3>Methods</h3>
<h4>Samples</h4>
<h4>Yeast isolation from bottles and artefacts</h4>
<!-- etc, etc, etc. -->
<h3>Results</h3>
<h4>Wallachia Ale: McEwan's Stout, 1895</h4>
<h4>Kings Ale 1902</h4>
<h3>Discussion</h3>
<h3>Author contributions</h3>
<h3>Acknowledgements</h3>
<h3>Conflict of Interest</h3>
<h3>Supporting Information</h3>
<h3>References</h3>
<h2>Information</h2>
<h3>Metrics</h3>
<h3>Details</h3>
<h3>Keywords</h3>
<h3>Publication History</h3>
<h2>About Wiley Online</h2>
<h2>Help & Support</h2>
<h2>Opportunities</h2>
<h2>Connect with Wiley</h2>
<hr>
<!-- legal disclaimer here, HR === topic change without heading depth -->
<div class="doi-access-container clearfix"><span class="primary-heading"><span class="primary-heading">Research article</span></span>
<div class="doi-access-wrapper"><div class="open-access access-type"><i aria-hidden="true" class="icon-icon-lock_open"></i><div class="doi-access" tabindex=0>Open Access</div></div></div><div class="doi-access-wrapper"><a target="_blank" class="access-icon-wrapper" aria-label="Creative Commons license information" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"><span aria-hidden="true" class="access-icon icon-cc"></span><span aria-hidden="true" class="access-icon icon-by"></span></a></div>
</div>
<h1 class="citation__title">Preliminary microbiological and chemical analysis of two historical stock ales from Victorian and Edwardian brewing</h1>
<div class="rlist--inline loa comma visible-xs mobile-authors loa-authors-trunc">
<div class="accordion-tabbed__tab-mobile accordion__closed"><a href="/action/doSearch?ContribAuthorStored=Thomas%2C+Keith" class="author-name accordion-tabbed__control" data-id="am1" data-db-target-for="am1" aria-controls="am1" aria-haspopup="true" id="am1_Ctrl" role="button"><span>Keith Thomas<i aria-hidden="true" class="icon-mail_outline"></i></span><i aria-hidden="true" class="icon-section_arrow_d"></i></a><div class="author-info accordion-tabbed__content" data-db-target-of="am1" aria-labelledby="am1_Ctrl" role="region" id="am1">
But the structure SHOULD go like this:
I thought multiple h2's etc were allowed...
My problem often is that people/websites tell a lot but explain nothing on a subject.That pissed me off way back when I was first starting with web technologies, as all the programming I'd done in the two decades prior it was all clearly and well laid out with good documentation.
...it is soul destroying the feedback you get
Totally I agree - But sometimes it’s hard separating the two and sometimes you need to take a step back and regroup before you realise that! But as I said I like the approach around here and as I’m still here I think that proves I’m thick skinned! 😂...it is soul destroying the feedback you get
Critique of code no matter how harsh, is just that, a critique of code and not a personal attack and should be welcomed and sought out. As you said, you become better a better programmer as a result.
Now, if you insist "your way is better" and it is clearly not, "it doesn't matter", "as long as it works", "you may be right but I don't care", "It's OK, I haven't been hacked yet" and the like, then it is likely to turn to a personal attack.
As much as it is soul destroying the feedback you get -
[...] predatory scam-artist BS like "front-end" frameworks [...]