H1 headings: one per page, and it should say what the page is.
The H1 is the big heading at the top of a page. Google reads it as the page's subject. A page with no H1 has no stated subject, and a page with several has too many, and both rank worse than a page that says one thing plainly.
IN ONE PARAGRAPH
Every page should have exactly one H1, the main heading, and it should say what the page is in the words a guest would search. "Cabins near Yellowstone" is an H1. "Welcome" is not. Page builders often make the park's logo an H1, or make every section heading an H1, or none at all. We check every page for an H1 count other than one and for an H1 that does not describe the page.
What an H1 is
Headings on a web page are ranked in the code: H1 is the main heading, H2 the section headings under it, H3 the subsections. Google uses the H1 as the strongest statement of what the page is about, after the title tag. Visually it is usually the largest text on the page. It is separate from the title tag, which is in the code and shows in search results; the two should agree but they are different things.
What it looks like on a park website
- No H1 at all, because the builder's template used a styled paragraph for the big text.
- The logo image or the park name as the H1 on every page, so every page claims the same subject.
- Five H1s on the homepage: "Welcome," "Our Sites," "Amenities," "Rates," "Contact," because the template used H1 for every section.
- An H1 that says "Welcome to Paradise" on the cabins page.
What a good one says
The page's subject, in the words a guest uses, once. Homepage: "Snowy Peaks RV Park, Buena Vista, Colorado." Big-rig page: "Pull-through sites for big rigs." Monthly page: "Monthly RV sites in Prescott." Then H2s for the sections under it: "Site lengths and hookups," "Rates," "Rules," "How to book." The heading order tells a reader and a machine how the page is organized.
What it costs a park
An H1 mismatch is not fatal on its own, but it compounds. A page whose title says "Cabins," whose H1 says "Welcome," and whose first paragraph is about the family who owns the park has told Google three different subjects. Google picks one, probably wrong, and the cabins page does not rank for cabins. Fix the H1 and the page starts telling one story.
How to check your own site
- On any page, right-click and choose View Page Source, then search for
<h1. Count the matches. It should be one. - Read what is inside it. If it is the park name on every page, or "Welcome," it needs rewriting.
- Check that the H1 and the title tag say roughly the same thing.
What we do about it
Every page we build has one H1 that says what the page is, then H2s for the sections. The logo is an image with alt text, not a heading. When we take over a builder site, fixing heading structure is part of the first pass, because templates get it wrong by default and nobody looks.
Questions about this.
How many H1 tags should a page have?
One. It is the page's main heading and its subject. More than one dilutes the signal; none leaves the subject unstated.
Is the H1 the same as the page title?
No. The title tag is in the code and shows in search results and on the browser tab. The H1 is the main heading on the page. They should say similar things.
Does my park's logo count as an H1?
It should not be one. A logo is an image with alt text. Making it the H1 on every page tells Google every page has the same subject.
What should the H1 on an RV park homepage say?
The park's name and town, or the park's name and what it is: "Snowy Peaks RV Park, Buena Vista, Colorado." Not "Welcome."
Want this checked on your park site?
Send us the address. We run the full check and tell you what we found, in plain words. SEO for parks starts at $250 a month.
Part of the RV park SEO guide, section: The technical check. Previous: Meta descriptions: the two lines under the headline. Next: Robots meta tag: the fastest way to vanish from Google.