Web Design - Using Headers and Footer Effectively

Website text is often broken up by titles, some of which are created by adding bold tags or increasing font size.  Other times, someone will use heading tags, more commonly referred to as Htags.  Htags are designed to be a clue to Google as to what your web page content is about.  However, Htags are very commonly misused, resulting in either a site that looks bad to the end user, or to Google.
Similarly, the footer text of a website may contain a number of pieces of information, but used incorrectly can create a muddled website and will confuse everyone who sees it.



According to SEO (Search Engine Optimization) wisdom, there are proper and improper ways to use Htags and footer text.  Here’s a very brief guide that will help you to understand when it’s appropriate to use these and when it is not.

Conventional website wisdom tells us that footer text has a limited number of appropriate uses.  Most common is to include a company’s contact information: address, phone, fax, etc.   Additionally, most website companies will include their logo or contact information in footer text.  Finally, using that to contain the site map is very common.  These are the only three reasons that footer text should be used appropriately.  Any other information should probably be included in the main website content, on a separate page, or in a sidebar or graphic fader.

The very best use for heading tags is to use keywords to describe the purpose of a website to Google.  Secondary to that is to create titles for paragraphs of text.  Using Htags to do both at once is a great SEO tactic, and makes your website look clean and easy to navigate.

When you use Htags, you should make sure that they are readable to the end users, and not just to Google.  Using keywords is preferred, but using a nonsense grouping of words is not helpful.  A good example of Htag text would be: John’s Burger Shop: Manhattan’s Finest Steakburgers.  Here, you’ve included keyword text (burger shop, steakburgers, burger shop Manhattan) but your title makes sense and is readable.  You could even extend it to say: John’s Burger Shop Has the Finest Steakburgers in Manhattan.  There you’ve included the keyphrase “steakburgers in Manhattan” which could be very handy indeed, if you want to attract customers who are looking for steakburgers in Manhattan.  Google likes this too, because it’s easy to see what your site is about.

A bad example of Htag text usage would be: Steakburger Peanut Glass of Wine Cottages Books Pencil Sharpener Pancakes Couch Fibers.  First, it’s just keyword keyword keyword keyword.  It’s also incoherent – the words don’t go together and don’t make sense near each other.  Google will find it difficult to say what your site is about and therefore you’ll rank lower in Search Engine Results.

Finally, a note about the Htags themselves.  There are different types of Htags, numbered usually 1-5, which indicated importance.  An H1 is given the most weight, and an H5 is not given much weight at all.  You should only ever use one H1 tag on a page.  To be most effective, a page will contain a mixture of H1-H4 tags, with the H1-H3 tags making up titles and the H4s used in something like a bulleted list.  Too many Htags is not only annoying to read, it is bad for search engines to read.  Be sparing and wise in your use of Htags, and your customers and Google will thank you.

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This article was written by Jonathan Martin for the team at coolblueweb cms.