Should headings h1, h2, h3, h5, h6 be without a class for SEO-friendly purposes?
It's quite ridiculous that there is no information available online regarding this matter, as I was recently asked about it.

I'm not an authority, but I believe that including a class in the title has no impact on SEO.
Regarding styling headlines, are you planning to use the tag? What approach will you take if there are multiple variations to consider?



By the way, it's important to consider the overall design and readability of your headlines.

When it comes to the significance for search engines, only the initial, well, perhaps the subsequent heading is of importance. In reality, it's not about the class itself, but rather about appropriate formatting and organization of the text. Therefore, if I were in your position, I wouldn't be concerned about it.

SEOs are now unsure about the strategies they should employ to promote web pages effectively. To me, this seems illogical as it goes against the essence of markup. It is not possible to insert any content into a class that can manipulate the output.

It is worth noting that if multiple classes are assigned to a single element, it may increase the page's weight (because the styles are not optimized). In theory, this could affect the quality of the layout, but it is not a significant factor to worry about.

In conclusion, focus on creating a clean and high-quality layout initially, and don't stress too much about the classes in the H tag.

There's no direct evidence to suggest that having or not having a class on your headings (h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6) would significantly impact SEO. The class attribute in HTML is mainly used for styling purposes using CSS and for manipulating HTML elements through JavaScript or similar technologies.

However, factors that play a significant role in SEO for headings include:

Hierarchical use of headings: Using heading tags in a hierarchical manner (h1, then h2 as subheadings, then h3 as sub-sub-headings, and so on) is good for SEO because it gives structure to the document and helps search engines understand topic coverage and page organization.

Keyword relevance in headings: Including relevant keywords within your headings is a well-known SEO strategy because it helps search engines understand what the content is about.

Uniqueness of headings: Make sure that content under each heading is relevant to that heading. Also, each page on your website should have a unique h1 tag.

Number of h1 tags: It is generally recommended that you only have one h1 tag on each page. This is because the h1 tag is often seen as the most important heading tag on a page.

In summary, while the use of classes on your heading tags doesn't directly impact SEO, a semantic and relevant use of heading tags does. Use heading classes for their intended purpose - styling and scripting - and focus more on the content, structure, and relevance of your headings for SEO purposes. However, this information is current as of my last training, which is until September 2021, so kind of check with the latest best practices consistent with the changes in search engine algorithms.


Here are some additional factors to consider when utilizing heading tags for SEO purposes:

Consistency: Your H1 should reflect the main subject matter of your page. Ideally, it should be consistent with your title tag and meta description in terms of topic and keywords used to ensure the signals you're providing to search engines and users are consistent.

Non-duplication: If you have multiple pages on your site, each should have a unique H1 tag. This helps search engines understand that each page offers something different.

User Experience: While optimization for search engines is important, never forget that the actual users, humans, should find them useful and readable. In other words, don't just stuff keywords into your headings; make them useful and engaging for actual people, too.

Avoiding Over-Optimization: As a general rule, you should keep your heading tags as natural as possible. Over-optimizing tags (e.g. keyword stuffing) can potentially make search engines perceive your website as spam.

Lastly, it's worth mentioning again that HTML classes don't directly affect SEO. They're put there for your convenience, helping you style your webpage better or to mark elements for JavaScript functions. On the other hand, semantically correct and user-oriented usage of headings can significantly contribute to your SEO efforts.

Here's a bit more detail on the use and importance of headers for SEO purposes:

Header tags and user readability: Headers are not only important for SEO, but they're critical for the readability of your content. A well-structured page with clearly defined headings and subheadings helps guide users through the content. By breaking the text into manageable sections, readers can quickly scan your content to find exactly what they're looking for.

Long-tail keyword use in header tags: While your h1 heading should include your primary keyword, the other heading tags (h2, h3, etc.) provide great opportunities to use long-tail variations of your keyword. Long-tail keywords are multi-word phrases that are typically very specific. Despite having lower search volume, long-tail keywords can signal very strong intent and conversion likelihood.

Accessibility: Proper use of headings is also an essential factor for accessibility. Screen reader users navigate pages through headings. By correctly structuring your headings, you can ensure that your site is easier to use for these visitors.

Avoid Keyword stuffing: As essential as keywords are in headings, it's extremely important not to 'stuff' keywords where they don't naturally fit. Google is very good at understanding when this is happening, and it can result in your website being penalized.

Relevance: Maintaining the relevance of your content under each header is equally important. For example, content under a header discussing 'the health benefits of apples' should strictly be focused on that topic. Irrelevant content can mislead both crawler and users.

In terms of using the class attribute for your h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, and h6 headers, there are many reasons you might do this from a web design perspective. However, it's important to remember that 'classes' should not influence how a search engine rates the relevance of the content to the headers. It's all about the content and the correct use of the header tags which will help search engines understand your content better.

They help organize your content for both people and search engines. Now, giving them a class or not—it's not a big deal for SEO. What matters most is that you use these headings properly, making your content clear and easy to read. So, whether they have a class or not, focus on using the right headings in the right order. That's the real secret sauce for SEO-friendly content!

Include relevant keywords.
Write for the user.
Try long sentences, but pay attention to length.
Don't be repetitive or stuff keywords.
Don't put your company name at the front.
Be specific.
Get some help.

Using headings without classes is a lazy approach that can actually harm your SEO efforts. Search engines like Google are sophisticated enough to understand the semantic meaning of headings, but they also rely on contextual information to determine relevance.

By not using classes, you're missing out on an opportunity to provide additional context and specificity to your headings, which can negatively impact your search engine rankings.