We're going to use an example to explain the proper way to create an SEO heading structure for your content. This is the easiest way for it to make sense. Let's say we're writing an article to target the keyword "types of mens shoes".
The h1 heading will be "The 3 Types of Men's Shoes" because this is the title of our article. Hopefully you noticed that our target keyword is included in the h1 tag. This is important for onsite SEO. It's also important that you only use one h1 heading tag per page. Make sure that your website isn't using the h1 tag in any global elements like sidebars, navigation bars, or your footer because sometimes I see that mistake made by developers.
For our three types of shoes, we'll use dress shoes, casual shoes, and athletic shoes. These make for good h2 heading tags because they are the next more important topics. Our SEO heading structure looks like this so far:
- h1 heading: The 3 Types of Men's Shoes
- h2 heading: Dress Shoes
- h2 heading: Casual Shoes
- h2 heading: Athletic Shoes
We use the h2 heading three times because these three concepts are on the same level in our hierarchy. They are all equally important yet distinct in relationship to the h1 heading.
Most shorter articles will usually stop here, but for longer articles you may need even more headings.
SEO Heading Structure for Long Articles
To continue our example, let's pretend that we're writing a much longer article where we get into the different sub-types of each type of shoe. Here's what the structure would look like now:
- h1 heading: The 3 Types of Mens Shoes
- h2 heading: Dress Shoes
- h3 heading: Oxford Dress Shoes
- h3 heading: Derby Dress Shoes
- h2 heading: Casual Shoes
- h3 heading: Loafers
- h3 heading: Brogues
- h2 heading: Athletic Shoes
- h3 heading: Basketball Shoes
- h3 heading: Golf Shoes
- h2 heading: Conclusion / Further Reading
- h2 heading: Dress Shoes
We use an h3 for these subheadings because that is the next step down. You can continue creating even more subheadings by using the h4-6 heading tags, but I'll spare you of further examples because it will be repetitive.
I also added a conclusion with an h2 tag. We use an h2 tag for this section too because it is equal to the other sections in the hierarchy. Think of your heading structure as a table of contents in a book.
Outlining Your Onsite SEO Heading Structure for Articles
To wrap up, one last piece of advice I'll give you is to think of your headings before you start writing your article. Creating an SEO heading structure before writing your article will help to give your writing better structure and flow. Better yet, you should keyword research and map out both your target keywords and content plan first. The alternative is to try to forcing headings into your writing after the fact, which can make your content feel more fragmented.
