SEO - Proper Use Of The Headings Tags (H1, H2, H3, Etc) In Your Joomla Site

The first part of any search engine optimization has to start with quality content that is organized properly. Gone are the days of sprinkling keywords throughout your articles in the vain attempt of catching the eye a roving search engine spider.

Today's complex algorithms which control how and where your site is indexed has more to do with human readable, quality content, organized with proper HTML semantics with title tags that accurately describe what's on the page than just drivel with keywords dropped like fairy dust.

The improper use of heading tags within your content is one of the most easily overlooked search engine optimization mistakes.

But what is the proper use you ask? It's pretty simple actually. First of all, you have to use the tags H1, H2, H3, H4, etc. The next important step, you have to use them in order.

Joomla makes it simple to do. Templates are typically built on CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) which basically specifies font, size, color etc. for each different tag. Within the content editor area of your Joomla site, you see two drop down's, first is Styles & the second is Format. Typically "Paragraph" is the default format.

To change a line of text from paragraph to a H style, highlight that row, click the Format drop down & select which H heading you'd like.

What if you're not sure you're going to like what your headings look like? My suggestion is if your template didn't come with a Style Sheet, is to create your own. Create a blank article, and type out the words Paragraph, Heading 1, Heading 2, etc. Highlight each word & change the format. Save your article & print it out for a reference. This becomes important because sometimes what you see, isn't always what you get. The look can vary from your Joomla content editor to when it's posted live on your site.

One more important note, don't use the default article titles. When you're editing your article look to the right of your content box and you'll see Parameters (Article) and Parameters (Advanced) Click the green triangle by the Advanced heading to expand the options. Your first option is - Show Title - Choose "No". The reason this is necessary is because by default Joomla adds the title to the top of your article when it's posted to your website. Which, while it make look OK, it's not embedded into your article using the correct Heading Tags.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=JJ_Stroobants

Source: Ezine

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