Unravel the mystery of SEO matching H1 & title tags: Know all about what Google has to say about it and learn the history concerned!
Meeting SEO requirements is quite a task when it comes to a layman. Beating the competition and cracking a perfect code to rank on the first page is everybody’s goal. To achieve this goal, everybody is trying hard. But forming a perfect strategy is not everybody’s cup of tea. In the ocean of this, there are too many tricks and tips claiming themselves as SEO hacks. Recently, a big question has been trending. A question which has shaken many of the SEO experts is, “Is Matching H1 & Title Tags Necessary?”
To put everybody’s ambiguity at ease, Google’s Office Hours podcast has answered this important question. In its unique way as Google always does. SEO strategies have always been a revolution. While shifting from traditional SEO to modernization, keeping yourself updated is a perfect key to cracking the listings on SERPs.
What SEO Expert Has to Say About the Same?
To answer this short yet extremely important topic, Google’s Gary Illyes has taken up the responsibility to clear this out. He further added evidence linking documentation. This documentation presents how Google produces the “title links” while creating rankings on search engines.
Additionally, Gary clarified a negative sentiment towards the matching. He specifically announced that this is no more a requirement in SEO to rank your content. To further know more about it let’s start with the history of how this one became an issue.
To be exact he said, “No, just do whatever makes sense from a user’s perspective.”
History Concerned!
Back in the 1990s, when traditional SEO was in the picture there were other search engines too. It was mandatory to use the same keyword you wanted in the title tag as well. Many of the tools even Yoast SEO, RankMath etc still follow that rule. But to be real, this is no longer an obligation. Even earlier in this decade too, it was crucial to be a part of higher listings on SERPs.
Recently, ranking factors got a drastic shift embracing a revolution. Change is the new constant, you know. Accepting this change Google has natural language processing with neural networks. Moreover, with growing technical upgrades like AI and Machine learning to understand concepts and topics Google is transforming consistently.
To make it simple and understandable, take a scenario. Take it like the title is a heading for your target audience to understand what your content is about. And not for tweaking SEO with keyword embedding. Whereas Heading tags (H1) are like section titles in the book. Well, they organise the content and tell readers what each part is all about. Both tags should describe the content clearly. In order to tell readers what your content is about.
Is It Really Important to Keep Matching H1 & Title Tags: Technical Surf!
Though Gary’s answer is quite useful, it lacks an explanation about why it’s not important to keep matching H1 & title tags.
Suppose, you are surfing the internet, and as a result, you come across a webpage. The title enclosed in <title> in the upper browser’s window or in the search results is the same as the title on a book or newspaper cover. It is a word or phrase that best describes the content or topic of the page in one or two words. For instance, if it says “Best Tips for Gardening” then it will mean that the whole page has tips for gardening that may be useful to you. And so, you find yourself clicking to discover more of the information provided.
Now, I got on the page, <h1>, <h2> and the other heading tags resemble chapter titles of a book. The most important headings often designated as <h1> are the counterparts of the main chapter title or the title of the work that points to the general idea of what is concerned on the given page. For instance, if you notice the heading such as <h1>Best Tips for Gardening</h1> then you encounter on top of the page, you already know that this particular page is all about gardening tips.
Sometimes you can get <h2> and <h3> headings if you scroll through the page. These are like subsections to the chapters, giving more specific titles to sub-topics explored in one chapter. For instance, the title such as “Choosing the Right Plants” will refer to the following section, which comes as guidelines on what plants to select for your garden. It is actually like having subtopics which are presented as headings to help you arrange content in or find more about different topics on the page.
In short, the <title> tag is a summary of the whole page and heading tags inside the page structure it further so you can navigate the page and search engines can understand and rank the page in search results.
Conclusion
Finally, let me state that in the early years of SEO, it was advisable to keep matching H1 and title tags once, which is no longer a priority now. In the contemporary world, the focus is on creating better and refreshed content that stands out and provides satisfactory results for the users. Pay importance to the naming of your page titles and headlines that you see most relevant in regard to your page content. This user-centred approach will equip you with pertinent data to stay relevant in the complex and ever-evolving world of SEO.
Also Read: Google and AI-Generated Content: A Tale of Emerging Rivalry!