[Hamilton Taylor]

Hi all,

How important is the content of h1, h2 tags to seo?
My site is built using templates, as a result the h1 tag on the homepage is used as a header for the sidebar, not awfully useful.
As an aside, I have recently done what I can in an uneducated kind of a way to optimise my site (thanks in part to Mike Seddon), how long should I reasonable wait for any effect on google listing position before I realise I'm not working hard enough, and have to devote far more time to this thing?
In short, How do I measure effectiveness, or otherwise, of the changes I make?

Thanks in advance,

Sean

[RedEvo]

You may find this SEO checklist of some use. As for the effectiveness of your efforts I'd suggest monitoring your analytics package would be of more use then your position in the SERPs. Remember, it's about getting a good position in search engines for search terms people are using and analytics will help you with this.

From a keyword point of view this info might help a little.

From a link building point of view this info might also shed some light.

d

[RayB]

Originally Posted by Hamilton Taylor

Hi all,

How important is the content of h1, h2 tags to seo?
My site is built using templates, as a result the h1 tag on the homepage is used as a header for the sidebar, not awfully useful.

Sean

Hi Sean,

You've correctly identified that this is hot helping:

 <h1 class="sideHeader"></h1>

The <h1> text should ideally be a keyword related header that appears on the page itself, supported by associated <h2> and ,h3> tags if there is a lot of text on the page to break into sections.

Using a <h2> called "sideHeader" is hindering you - not only because it's not relevant to the page - but also because those words do no appear on the page - which may confuse the search engines as to whether to trust the page/site content as relevant.

If at all possible I'd look into getting the site amended accordingly