How to Use Headings (H1-H6) to Structure your Blog Post

Blogging Became One of the Most Required Skills on Web These Days

Blogs are platforms for creativity and free information where writers can publish their ideas, views, in addition to latest news and updates about certain topics.

Whether you are writing for personal or business purpose, structuring and optimizing your blog post will be one of your top priorities.

Mess! No one likes it, even search engines. You may write a great, informative and unique content. However, if it wasn't introduced in a well-organized structure, it will be disregarded.

One of key elements to construct, arrange, and optimize your article's content is Headings Tags (H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H6).

Headings help you to divide your content into small pieces, and distribute your ideas into sections in a hierarchy form. By default, this will reflect on both Readers and Search Engines.

For Readers – using of headings tags improve the visual readability by providing the visual cues that help readers to quickly scan your blog post and find the information they want.
For Search Engines – John Mueller, Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google, said: “We do use H tags to understand the structure of the text on a page better”.

So, let's agree that Heading Tags is an essential element for blogging readability and SEO.

What are Headings Tags from the Technical Perspective?

Headings (H1 - H6) are HTML Tags used to divide and organize webpages' content into sections, topics and levels.

Headings need to be informative and specific, without going into as much detail as the text that follows them.

Now let's get to know more about each of those tags…

Heading 1 <h1>

Level 1 heading considered the most important heading tag which involves the sentence or keywords that describe the whole page's content.

It should be used only once per blog post.

Typically, it's the largest font on the page.

In many blogging platforms, the "Title Section" in "New Post" page is actually the H1 tag for this certain blog post. So, beware of duplicating or adding an extra H1 tag.

Syntax/HTML Code:

<h1>Text of Heading 1</h1>

Heading 2 <h2>

Level 2 headings are the subheadings which involve the main topics or sections of the blog post.

It can be used many times in a single blog post.

Typically, it has a bit smaller font than H1 Tag.

Syntax/HTML Code:

<h2>Text of Heading 2</h2>

Heading 3 <h3>

Level 3 headings are used to divide each main topic or section into more focused points.

It also can be used many times in a single blog post under each of H2 tags.

Typically, it has a smaller font than H2 Tag.

Syntax/HTML Code:

<h3>Text of Heading 3</h3>

Heading 4 <h4>

Level 4 headings are used to divide each focused point into smaller pieces.

It can be used many times in a single blog post under each of H3 tags.

Typically, it has a smaller font than H3 Tag.

Syntax/HTML Code:

<h4>Text of Heading 4</h4>

Heading 5 <h5>

Level 5 headings are very minor headings, rarely used in blog posts.

It can be used many times in a single blog post under each of H4 tags.

Typically, it has the same font normal text or the P tag.

Syntax/HTML Code:

<h5>Text of Heading 5</h5>

Heading 6 <h6>

Level 6 headings are tiny headings, also rarely used in blog posts.

It can be used many times in a single blog post under each of H5 tags.

Typically, it has a smaller font than normal text or the P tag.

Syntax/HTML Code:

<h6>Text of Heading 6</h6>

The Model Use of Heading Tags (Infographic)

Infographic illustrates how to utilize Heading tags in a webpage consists of  2 main topics

Real Example of Headings Sequence

I prepared this example especially for my blog readers whom interested in digital marketing.

Assuming that you are writing a blog post about digital marketing techniques, your blog structure should be similar to the following:

Digital Marketing Techniques (Heading 1)
General introduction or talk about digital marketing (Paragraph)

SEO (Heading 2)
A brief introduction to SEO or its importance (Paragraph)
On-Page SEO (Heading 3)
A brief introduction to On-Page SEO (Paragraph)
Off-Page SEO (Heading 3)
A brief introduction to Off-Page SEO (Paragraph)

Social Media (Heading 2)
A brief introduction to Social Media or its importance (Paragraph)
Facebook (Heading 3)
A brief introduction to Facebook or its importance (Paragraph)
Advertising on Facebook (Heading 4)
How to advertise on Facebook (Paragraph)
LinkedIn (Heading 3)
A brief introduction to LinkedIn or its importance (Paragraph)
Advertising on LinkedIn (Heading 4)
How to advertise on LinkedIn (Paragraph)
Twitter (Heading 3)
A brief introduction to Twitter or its importance (Paragraph)

Email Marketing (Heading 2)
How to use email marketing (Paragraph)

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About Hesham Hamdy

Digital Marketer, Web Developer, Blogger and Copywriter with 6+ years of experience. Driven by his passion for digital knowledge, and inspired by top influencers on the web. Hesham is keen on developing even more skills in diverse digital fields and deliver this knowledge to all interested individuals.