H Tags? What are they?

[cinemablend]

Can someone explain to me exactly what H Tags are, when they should be used, and why they are needed?

This is the first I've heard of them, and I don't see much actual talk of what they are in this forum.

[Dave Hawley]

These "H" tags are heading tags, that is H1, H2, H3, H4 and H5. It is believed that a H1 heading, which includes the targeted keywords/phrases, helps with SERP position. An example along the line of your site might look like;

<H1>Movie Reviews - Film Reviews<H1>

These words should also be used again (as many times as needed) as visible on page text. Ideally, any links to that page, from other pages and other sites, should also use Movie Reviews - Film Reviews as the anchor text.

[cinemablend]

And H tags go in the body I assume?

[Dave Hawley]

Yes.

[g1smd]

A heading is a short piece of text (one to eight words) that sits above, and introduces, a longer item such as a paragraph, list, table, or form. Heading tags do not go inside paragraphs.

Check your usage of headings at http://validator.w3.org/detailed.html. Tick the box for "Show Outline". In the results screen scroll down past the error list (if there is one), to the section marked "Outline". If the indented bullet-point list does not look like a summary of your document then you are abusing the heading tags.