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Header and Subhead Tags

Header tags (for example, H1s, H2s, etc.) serve an important function for search engines and users alike. They outline the content on a page in an easy-to-read structure. 

Our SEO Office Hours notes below compile Google’s own advice, explanations, and SEO recommendations for dealing with header tags on your website. 

Learn more about SEO best practices for website content in Lumar’s Website Intelligence Academy.

Header Tag Ordering is Irrelevant

Google doesn’t care abour ordering and nesting header tags. e.g. H2 after an H1.

16 Dec 2016

Google Distinguishes Primary Content from Boiler Plate Content

Google detects boiler plate content which appears in the site in the page header, side navigation or footer and treats this separately to the primary content.

4 Oct 2016

Last Modified Header Used for 304

Last Modified Header is taken into account when using a 304 status code in response to a request which contains an if-modified-since in the request headers.

9 Sep 2016

Don’t Prevent Embedded File caching

If you prevent JS, CSS and image caching, such as a nocache header tag, Google will need to keep requesting the files for rendering, which may slow down crawling of the site.

12 Aug 2016

Put Hreflang Tags Higher Up In The Head

John suggests placing your hreflang tags high up in the section, particularly above any JavaScript which modifies the head.

12 Aug 2016

Google Ignores Noindex in Image File Headers

12 Aug 2016

Googlebot Doesn’t See Robots Meta Tags on Redirected URLs

If a page is a redirected, Google won’t see any robots meta tags on the page, although they might see a noindex in the headers.

1 Jul 2016

A JavaScript Modified Head can Break Meta Tags

If things like Hreflang tags in headers are not being picked up, it might be due to a problem with the head, perhaps modified by JavaScript. You can use the Inspect Element tool in Chrome to see the rendered page to validate the header section is correct.

1 Jul 2016

HTTP Vary doesn’t need to be used for varying mobile only pages

If your mobile pages vary by user agent, they don’t need the http vary user agent in the headers.

11 Sep 2015

Use X-Frame-Options: Deny to Prevent Pages Appearing in IFrames

You can prevent your pages from appearing inside iFrames for security reasons, by including an ‘X-Frame-Options: Deny’ in the http response header.

24 Apr 2015

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