Author Topic: Redundant <h1> tags hurting SEO (Read 5322 times)

Redneck · « **on:** July 26, 2013, 07:13 »

I've used the Bing SEO checker and it gives me a "High Severity Issue" message of redundant <h1> tags on my homepage.
Obviously Bing would like to see only one <h1> headline to clearly identify the main content of the page.

Locating the <h1> tags is not hard, one is in the "Featured Images" widget, another one in the "Menu" for instance.
But my question is where does the page pull the information to place the Featured Images caption into an <h1> tag from so I can change it into an <h2 or h3> there?

ShazamImages · « **Reply #1 on:** July 26, 2013, 07:52 »

I would check the CSS files in the CSS directory first.

If it's not in there, then it's probably in the code somewhere.

If you are using Google Chrome, you can left-click and then choose Inspect Element to try and identify where it is coming from. Firefox also has a similar feature. I'm sure IE also has something similar, but I rarely use it.

Redneck · « **Reply #2 on:** July 26, 2013, 07:58 »

Quote from: ShazamImages on July 26, 2013, 07:52

I would check the CSS files in the CSS directory first.

If it's not in there, then it's probably in the code somewhere.

If you are using Google Chrome, you can left-click and then choose Inspect Element to try and identify where it is coming from. Firefox also has a similar feature. I'm sure IE also has something similar, but I rarely use it.

I'm not sure if you understood my request. The CSS file defines how the <h1> tag looks like. I need to know which function or file tells the Featured Images widget to put the headline into an <h1> tag. It's probably super simple but I'm stuck.

plrang · « **Reply #3 on:** July 26, 2013, 08:16 »

yeah, forgot to mention to Leo and I keep editing that

68 line of header.php from <h1 class="assistive-text.... to <div...

That menu doesn't really need the H1

ShazamImages · « **Reply #4 on:** July 26, 2013, 08:51 »

Redneck: Sorry for the confusion.

plrang: Thanks for the solution.

Redneck · « **Reply #5 on:** July 26, 2013, 09:28 »

Quote from: plrang on July 26, 2013, 08:16

yeah, forgot to mention to Leo and I keep editing that

68 line of header.php from <h1 class="assistive-text.... to <div...

That menu doesn't really need the H1

Awesome, thanks a lot. That took care of the menu.
Any idea where to change the Featured Images widget <h1> tag?
I've found and changed <h1> tags in sidebar.php but it didn't change the widget.

quailrunphoto · « **Reply #6 on:** July 26, 2013, 09:47 »

Quote from: plrang on July 26, 2013, 08:16

yeah, forgot to mention to Leo and I keep editing that

68 line of header.php from <h1 class="assistive-text.... to <div...

That menu doesn't really need the H1

There is a second h1 in that line of code, do we need to do anything with that?

<div class="assistive-text"><?php _e( 'Menu', 'symbiostock' ); ?></h1>

ShazamImages · « **Reply #7 on:** July 26, 2013, 09:51 »

Quote from: quailrunphoto on July 26, 2013, 09:47

Quote from: plrang on July 26, 2013, 08:16
yeah, forgot to mention to Leo and I keep editing that

68 line of header.php from <h1 class="assistive-text.... to <div...

That menu doesn't really need the H1

There is a second h1 in that line of code, do we need to do anything with that?

<div class="assistive-text"><?php _e( 'Menu', 'symbiostock' ); ?></h1>

If you remove the first <h1> at the beginning of the line, then you should also remove the </h1> at the end of the line. One denotes the beginning of the header <h1>, the other denotes the end of the header </h1>.

If you change the first <h1> to an <h2> or <h3>, then you should also change the </h1> to the associated </h2> or </h3>.

~~But if you remove the <h1> at the beginning of the line, and leave the </h1> at the end of the line, it probably won't affect anything, it will just be bad html practice.~~

quailrunphoto · « **Reply #8 on:** July 26, 2013, 12:30 »

Thanks, that did it.

I had the same problem on the Home Page, changed it to H2 and then it was corrected it.

Will you notify Leo of this problem?

cascoly · « **Reply #9 on:** July 26, 2013, 14:44 »

Quote from: ShazamImages on July 26, 2013, 09:51

But if you remove the <h1> at the beginning of the line, and leave the </h1> at the end of the line, it probably won't affect anything, it will just be bad html practice.

if you change the <h1> to <h2> and don't also change the </h1> to </h2> then everthing will be set at H2 until the page encounters a </h2>, if ever

ShazamImages · « **Reply #10 on:** July 26, 2013, 14:57 »

Quote from: cascoly on July 26, 2013, 14:44

Quote from: ShazamImages on July 26, 2013, 09:51
But if you remove the <h1> at the beginning of the line, and leave the </h1> at the end of the line, it probably won't affect anything, it will just be bad html practice.

if you change the <h1> to <h2> and don't also change the </h1> to </h2> then everthing will be set at H2 until the page encounters a </h2>, if ever

Thanks. Lack of sleep. I have modified my post to strike out the bad advice.

anjaliaroha · « **Reply #11 on:** August 08, 2013, 02:12 »

Dear You can use only one H1 tag for a single page because a page can only have single main heading. After using H1 one time you can use sub heading tags like h2,h3,h4,h5,h6. Serach engine puts more emphasis on the content mentioned in heading tags.