What is the first thing which attracts you when you search in search engines? Most probably the Blue links in SERPs which are the titles of different web pages ranking in search engine results. So the title tag of your webpage helps to describe your webpage’s content and it’s one of the important ranking factors. Similarly, the main heading of your webpage also helps to describe the webpage’s content topic. So if both these tags help to describe your webpage then should page title and H1 be the same?
Let’s explore both Title tag and H1 heading tag and know should both these tags have the same text?
About Title Tag
Title tag is an HTML tag that helps to understand the topic of a particular webpage in short.
<title>Example Title Tag for a Webpage</title>Once you add Title tag in your webpage then you can see this Title tag in:
- Blue color link in search engine results snippet when you search in a search engine.
- In the top of the browser window when you open a webpage in your browser.
- When a webpage is shared in a social media channel then Title is shown automatically within social media snippet if open graph tags and Twitter card implemented in your webpage.
Title Tag Best Practices
- Unique Title: You should add a unique title for each webpage on your website to clearly match the content available on each webpage.
- Add Keywords in Start: You should add the main keywords of the webpage at the beginning of the title tag.
- Add Brand Name: It’s a good practice to add your brand name to all your web pages. You can add your brand name at the end of your webpage’s title. The home page of your website can have your brand name at the beginning of your title.
- Length of Title: Usually most SEO experts suggest a Title tag length of up to 60 characters. As it fits in the Google SERP snippet.
- But recently Gary Illyes from Google confirmed in a video that the title tag length can be longer than the displayable space. Gary said “Yes” when John Muller asked this in Search Central Live video:
Is there value in having title tags that are longer than the displayable space in the search snippets?
Question asked by John Mueller
About Heading Tag
Heading tags, which consist of H1 to H6 HTML elements, help to add headings and subheadings within your content making your whole content easy to understand for both users and search engines. The H1 tag is the main and most important heading on a webpage. Whereas H6 is the least important.
<h1>Example H1 Tag on a Webpage</h1>
<h2>Example H2 Tag on a Webpage</h2>
<h3>Example H3 Tag on a Webpage</h3>
<h4>Example H4 Tag on a Webpage</h4>
<h5>Example H5 Tag on a Webpage</h5>
<h6>Example H6 Tag on a Webpage</h6>Once you add Heading tags on your webpage then these can be seen only within the body content of your webpage.
Heading Tag Best Practices
- Use Single H1: Your webpage should have one main heading as an H1 tag which should be able to describe the webpage. This should be easy to understand by users and search engines.
- Structured Content: Heading tags on your webpage should be able to show the clear structure of your content. As the flow of heading tags should be consistent and structured.
- H2 should be used as main subheadings and these can be multiple in a webpage.
- Heading tags H3 to H6 should come under H2 subheadings and should not come directly under the H1 heading tag.
- Leverage Keywords: Your subheading tags (H2 to H6) should include relevant keywords to help the readers to know about the content covered under each subheading.
- But avoid doing keyword stuffing in heading tags (H1 to H6). Each heading tag should match with the content written under it to make it relevant and understandable.
Should Page Title and H1 Be The Same or Different?
If both Title tag and H1 heading tag help to describe the topic of content available on your webpage. Then why both are needed. Why either one isn’t enough on your webpage?
Both these tags are needed because both are shown to the users and search engines at different places. Let’s compare both these tags here:
| Title and H1 Tags Comparison | Title Tag | H1 Heading Tag |
|---|---|---|
| Tags are Shown | – Bluelink in SERPs snippet. – On top of the browser. – Within the Social Media snippet. | – As the main heading in your webpage. |
| Length of Tag | – Recommended length of the Title tag is 50 to 60 characters based on visible chars in the SERP snippet. – But as per Google’s Gary Illyes, it can be longer if relevant. | – Not any specific recommendation but still your H1 heading tag should not be too long and you can keep it up to 60 characters like the Title tag. |
| Ranking Factor | – The title tag is one of the important ranking factors in search engine results like Google SERPs. | – H1 heading tag or other heading tags (H2 to H6) are not ranking factors. |
| User Experience | – The title tag should be relevant and eye-catching to attract users searching in search engines. | – Heading tags help to make your webpage structured and easy to understand as content can be shown under various sub-headings. – It helps to improve user experience as well as search engines like structured content. |
So in spite of all the above-highlighted differences should page title and H1 be the same?
Yes, you can leverage the same Title and H1 heading on your webpage. But it should be descriptive enough to describe the content available on the webpage.
- Content Management System (CMS) like WordPress too automatically makes your web page’s title as the H1 heading.
- Google also recommends “Use a level-1 heading for the page title or main content heading.”
The only difference in both of these tags can be:
- The title tag of your webpage should include your Brand name. So you can postfix your brand name in the title tag like:
- Title tag example – “Example Webpage is About XYZ | Brand Name”
- H1 Heading example – “Example Webpage is About XYZ”
Summary
There’s no doubt that both the Title tag and H1 heading tag are different tags used in your webpage. But still, both help to describe your webpage’s whole content. So it’s fine to use the same title and H1 in your webpage. You should keep in mind the best practices to be followed while creating both these tags.
Both these tags help to make your webpage search engine and user-friendly. So will you keep your webpage’s title and heading tags the same? Or do you have any reason to make your webpage’s title and heading tags different? Share your views in the comments section here.