[Suggestion] Implementing H1 Headings without coding

[covoxer]

No one knows how exactly search engines work. But, based on known facts we can make some reasonable assumptions.
Fact 1. The most important goal of good SE is to provide user with correct information regarding site content.
Fact 2. The content that user sees may differ greatly from the html code.
Fact 3. Now it is almost 100% known that search engines ignore 'description' meta tag. The reason is that it's content is not what user sees. Using this tag was an easy way to fool SE and make it fail it's main goal (Fact 1.).
Fact 4. The <h1> element is not user visible. It is easy to make text within it look like a paragraph text or even be completely invisible. If SE would rely on it, it would provide another way to fool the SE just the way description metatag did.
Fact 5. The Google guide does not guarantee that anything recommended will be used by SE. Read carefully, they don't make such claims. These are just general recommendations similar to W3C. Not a single word about how SE will interpret these tags.

[aridzone]

Most importantly have a good website name. This will drive the most traffic to your site! It seems that the engines want to make developers do more and more work every day. It looks like site maps are the way of the future. If Xara could implement sitemap development into the program then all of us would be way ahead of the game

[pauland]

Do you mean stuff like www.sexy_site_without_h1.com", for example?

[covoxer]

The site maps can not directly influence site rating. However they are very useful to optimize search bot crawling over your site. Using sitemaps you can make sure that even less popular pages of your site are updated operatively, and that on search request SE will return the correct page form your site.

[Soquili]

Like I said, this is no secret. 13 years of doing this stuff has taught me a few things. What does the H in the <h> tag stand for? HEADER.

Search engines are constantly being updated. What may work to optimize your site today may be ineffective tomorrow.

At one time keywords were touted as being a way to have your site ranked high in search results.

SEO companies and individuals began padding too many keywords that were not related to the site contents.

Header tags are also being over used and will become ignored (or are already being ignored) by search engines.

Almost any information you can read about how to optimize your site is most likely already being ignored by a modern search engine.

Code to strip html tags from text are old hat and were before World Wide Web was even a commonly used catch phrase. HyperText Markup Language (HTML) predates WWW.

Richinri please stop disrupting threads by repeating your manta of <h> tags. If you continue the alternative is to be banned from the forums.

[V12CatMan]

No one knows how exactly search engines work. But, based on known facts we can make some reasonable assumptions.
Fact 1. The most important goal of good SE is to provide user with correct information regarding site content.
Fact 2. The content that user sees may differ greatly from the html code.
Fact 3. Now it is almost 100% known that search engines ignore 'description' meta tag. The reason is that it's content is not what user sees. Using this tag was an easy way to fool SE and make it fail it's main goal (Fact 1.).
Fact 4. The <h1> element is not user visible. It is easy to make text within it look like a paragraph text or even be completely invisible. If SE would rely on it, it would provide another way to fool the SE just the way description metatag did.
Fact 5. The Google guide does not guarantee that anything recommended will be used by SE. Read carefully, they don't make such claims. These are just general recommendations similar to W3C. Not a single word about how SE will interpret these tags.

Maybe I can make a contribution by relaying an actual recent experience I had with SEO. This is a little long winded but may help some people who are interested in real world practical experiences.

Background:
I have been doing some work on our Company website to update content. (we are 30 employees and we all "do what it takes"). As head of business development with programming experience, that fell to me. The website was developed in php and is css based (partially implemented). - I say "partially" because no header tags were utilized to manage the content - just p tags and div tags.

Searches to find our site would only find us if the actual Company name was keyed in and we could not be found (via Google and Yahoo) via key phrases - other than specifically one of our product names. ie. Only our existing customers could find us!

Goals:
1. Add new product information to the site.
2. Try to get search engines to find us and our new "killer app".

What I did:
I added a couple of new software product pages and updated the home page to reflect our new initiatives.

I modified the code using Expression Web2 which supports php. Incidentally, as an aside, there was no benefit in our case of the code being in PHP using javascript and arrays and the like, so making the changes was very difficult and involved getting an outsider to modify Photoshop images etc. Anyway - enough technical stuff.

As I was learning EW2 and also preparing to build some new sites myself I was submerging myself in books - including "Search Engine Optimization - Your Visual Blueprint for Effective Internet marketing." Wiley.

Here's what they say about SEO and h1 tags. - page 44.

"beyond using header tags to highlight text on your pages, you can use them to logically format your content into hierarchial topics and subtopics".

"placing a selection of text within a header tag tells the search-engine spider that the text is of a certain level of importance".

"Do not expect drastic increases in rankings for keywords and phrases highlighted by header tags, but always try to use them wherever appropriate in your web page creation. You are providing a service to both the search engines and your visitors by visualizing the important topics."

As a result of my reading and the generalities made towards the methods used by SEs to crawl and rank sites, I decided to make SEO changes in steps.

First I decided to get a more meaningful title to the home page and then make sure the meta description and meta keywords all reflected the key attributes of the new software initiative. Secondly I made sure the home page content utilized the same expressions - sometimes in bold - and that the content clearly supported in great detail the words used in the tags. i.e do the emphasizing stuff but not via header tags at this point. Each of these things can of course be done via the web properties tab in WD!

At this point I decided to re-launch the site and come back later and start using h1 tags etc. I had no idea if my efforts would help with SEO.

Results:
2 weeks after re-launch our site can now be found on the first page of Google and Yahoo (#1 hit) using a number of the expressions I put in the title, description and keyword tags and the also the content!!!

Next Steps:
I will modify each of our pages so that can be individually found, rather than just the home page.

To be continued -

[richinri]

Thanks Catman - it is posts like those that will take XWD forward despite the arrogance of some that think their knowledge is everything. One can design web design software but not develop good websites. People like us have been developing websites for years. Personally I know little to nothing about developing web site software. In any business it is important to know both what you know and what you do not know.

[V12CatMan]

Continued:

It is interesting to see that a search for WYSIWYG Web Design Software does not yield a Xara hit - even if preceeded by Xara . A quick look at the page source and the general meta tag descriptions and the page content seems to suggest why there is no direct hit.

Text Tags (h1 or otherwise):
SEO aside I agree wholeheartedly with the original poster. There can be no argument against making text content easier to manage - so long as its done within the context of a user friendly wysiwyg environment. Who knows - Google may tomorrow change the rules of the game and they become mandatory. Easily managing multipage site business sites (not necessarily huge ones) is critical where consistency and periodic refreshes are required. Being easy to develop, looking good and also being easily found are all important aspects of web site management.

WD is a terrific product and should be eating up market share at its price point. It's a hidden secret and I only knew about it because I found and had a license for Xara Extreme. This site is terrific and I thank everyone for their contributions which are awesome. I look forward to every new feature in the product.

[richinri]

Search engines are constantly being updated. What may work to optimize your site today may be ineffective tomorrow.

At one time keywords were touted as being a way to have your site ranked high in search results.

SEO companies and individuals began padding too many keywords that were not related to the site contents.

Header tags are also being over used and will become ignored (or are already being ignored) by search engines.

Almost any information you can read about how to optimize your site is most likely already being ignored by a modern search engine.

Code to strip html tags from text are old hat and were before World Wide Web was even a commonly used catch phrase. HyperText Markup Language (HTML) predates WWW.

Richinri please stop disrupting threads by repeating your manta of <h> tags. If you continue the alternative is to be banned from the forums.

I will be banned for wanting to assist more seasoned developers better use XWD and expand it's use in the marketplace? I will be banned for saying to people, "this feature isn't available now but may be in the future" instead of NO?
Every executive in Xara will get my posts in their hands within days of my banning. We will see if they think what I am doing is wrong.

[handrawn]

V12CATMAN - ok, but where is the link to the site [or did I miss it?] - without that it is all just words and opinion

RICHINI - you too have not provided any proof, and frankly sound like a vested interest defending its pitch

I am willing to be convinced either way as I do not come with any preconceptions here, but lets have some actual case work and stats please..
not diatribe