How to handle headers, ie h1, h2, h3, and so on, is something that I’m being asked a lot. The most common question by far is “should I have my logo in the h1 tag, or my post title, on my blog?”, and it is a good one. In fact, I’d reckon not all of you will agree on the answer.
The reason I’m bringing it up now is this post on the topic, over at Webmaster-Source. I’ve gotten several emails asking if Matt’s conclusion is the right one. Basically, this is what Matt says about it:
Here’s the best way to handle headings on blogs:
On the index and archive pages, h2 tags should be used for post titles. On permalink pages, use h1 instead. You can then use h2s, h3s, etc in your post content, for subheadings. I suppose an h2 would work for the “x Comments” and “Leave a Comment” messages as well.
Personally, I don’t do it that way. The way I see it, the h1 should be the site’s name, even if it is a logo, since that is the highest item in the hierarchy. For me that goes on both listing pages and single pages. Like so:
Website Title → Post title
I think this is true because you’re on a website, reading something that is located on this website. That means that the actual website name (usually a logo, as I said) should be the first header, ie h1, while the story you’re reading should have its title in h2, and then sub-titles in h3, h4, and so on.
That’s my take.
However, I’d love to hear how you guys do it! How do you arrange your headings on your blogs and websites, and why do you do it the way to do it? Share in the comments below.
