H1 & H2 tags

[theglowcompany]

thanks for the replies.

Would it add any more prominence in the SE's to add h1 or h2 to my existing title or a fragment

[harlequin]

dreamweaver template tool

hi chris, i think that contrary to popular belief the dreamweaver plugin also works with catalog and business....although im not 100% im 99%

and it is freely available from the dreamweaver site so there is no issues about having to own developer...

or am i wrong...

steve

[harlequin]

the answer is yes

hi again james, the answer is yes the search engines will respect the tag so use it...

as i said previously it is good to get your keyphrases, not repeated, into the title of a fragment...in products this happens by default really as its the product title..but in fragments you can be as i said a bit creative in order to get the keyphrases into your titles...

if you simply have two templates for brochure fragments with the heading tags around them then use them...

many people say many different things and i am always trying to be careful to not give bad advice but truth be told most of our clients are at the top of their industries in google, (sorry is there another search engine?) so i feel my advice is good...

where i was saying to specify the font size before is because using a heading tag without specifying the font size will produce 6, lessening in size titles....if you specify the font size then they should stay the same size and not look odd..

i know what chris is talking about that css overrides even your specified fonts and again its something to consider...you could write your own css heading tags to fully control the content if you wish...

personally i like to still use normal font formatting, not css simply because for someone who has bad sight for example will have their browser set to display text at a bigger size....but if you as a webmaster use css then this overrides their choices meaning they cannot increase the size of your text easily...

there is a further setting in most browsers that lets you ignore fonts AND css styles on a page but in our experience the vast majority of people (webusers) know that they can increase text size easily by going to view>text size> but they struggle to find or even know that if someone is using css (and why should they know anything about CSS) which bypasses their efforts to increase the text size that they can over-over-ride this in Tools>Internet Options>General>Accessibility>Ignore all fonts specified...

as I said, for this reason alone we like to use normal font tags and indeed for all actinic websites we usually change Actinic's normal <Font> tags on the templates for <CUSTOMVAR:FONT> which then lets us change the font at the change of a value.
Actinic still have a curious habit of using their own CUSTOMVAR:ACTCSSFONTFAMILY in Design>Options>Site Defaults>Properties which lets you specify the font throughout MOST of the site, however they still hardcode Arial font in the search pages and checkout...I dont know why....

as long as all the fonts sizes are relative to each other this should allow people with bad eyesight whose browers are set to display your text bigger to get onto your websites with the minumum of fuss and allowing them control over what they see...

just my tuppenth worth on css and traditional fonts...

James, use the heading tags, they cannot hurt and will likely do you some good..

Steve

[theglowcompany]

wow, thanks for the effort Steve, will send new keyboard!

OK, so just to clarify, I have my title - then I have the first fragment - you suggest if this is in h1 it will or could gain more prominence with the SE's?

And, using h2,h3 etc may also have this effect?

Just want to clarify that - dont want to upset the missus (google) she's moody enough at the mo!! )

Cheers

[harlequin]

i have just looked at your site for the facts

hi james, after actually LOOKING at your existing fragments i would advise this....

Keep the order in which your content is in, that is fine...

For the search engines eyes though, your third fragment/ paragraph where you say..

Our glow in the dark products include Glowsticks, Mathmos, El Wire, Glow Party Supplies, Flashing Products, Lightsticks Glowsticks, Promotional Goods, & Clubwear and have many uses from Camping to Clubbing, Glow Party, Outdoor Entertaining & offer good Party Ideas

i would say thats your most consise, efficient paragraph on the page and actually because you have used a template like Description and Image No Title, i would actually say to put the heading 1 tag around NETQUOTEVAR:BROCHURETEXT on that one and only fragment template...or preferably when you add the heading tag to that fragment, save it as Act_Whatever_You_Like.html and then on the fragment choose 'browse' for template and manually select the one you just created..

this is better because if you use the standard actinic template elsewhere you may not want a h1 tag around it..

the effect in the search engines eyes is that it will look at your page and automatically accept that the info in the h1 tag is the most important to you, therefore its what you would like to be found under..

pretty logical really, google and all the other engines are simply saying, look either I can try and work it out for myself, or you can give me some help here and tell me what your most important info is...

either way its just another part of their algorithms (rules) they use to differentiate who should be at the top..

again, in my honest opinion,they are looking at it like this, if you have bothered to work on the code/formatting of information of your site, the more likely the person who found a link to your site on their search engine will be impressed and keep using their search engine as THATS who the engines are there for, they are NOT there for you and me as webmasters.....

please call us tomorrow and i will alter your brochure fragments for free....i am not the best at explaining things and being able to touch type is sometimes a curse as its like having a mouth that runs away with itself....

[harlequin]

ppps...

if you are still up, and using a windows machine, i can connect up to your pc and SHOW you...obviously though you have to accept that we accept no liabilities but most of our customers can vouch for this method of support...it uses windows netmeeting or even if you are an msn member our hotmail address is harlequindomains@hotmail.com and you can bing bong me on there and invite me to share your desktop..

personally i prefer netmeeting direct ip to ip as its 128 bit secure and the primary method of communication for the us navy....not that i like them, but they are a paranoid bunch of people and THEY trust netmeeting to a point...

steve...

also, just look at this http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...e+optimisation

the google search for search engine optimisation...

when you get there go to the first result, then in your browser go to View>Source and you will likely get a text pad come up with that pages code on it..

if you look down, about 1/3 down, you will find a h1 tag, around guess what, the phrase, search engine optimisation.....

proof enough ??

[theglowcompany]

Thanks alot Steve,

I'm at work unfortunately - but I take it that actually from within a fragment I could write:

<h1><FONT FACE="ARIAL" SIZE="+1">all my glow text here </FONT> </h1>

& also do the same for h2 for the next fragment?

I am re-writting my text on the front page at the mo so it wont be quite the same.


Also, I take it you can have h1 & h2 etc on every page - how can I make the most of these given my current setup - ie is it per your posting on the previous page regarding product name & brochure title?

[harlequin]

'spose you could really

yep, actually its not a bad idea for folk who are a little wary of digging too much into actinic templates.

there is a method of inserting html into actinic fragments and products and this works virtually anywhere without even looking at a template...

for the any normal fragment title / description, literally as you type them for normal into actinic, you can use


!!<<h1><FONT FACE="ARIAL" SIZE="+1">all my glow text here </FONT> </h1>>>!

This is actinic's way of letting you control the content using html...

all you have to to is add !!< to the start of your code, and >!! to the end.

as i said, you can use this technique in the brochure titles, brochure descriptions, product titles, product descriptions

it it worth mentioning that using this method is one of the greatest unsung heroes of actinic..

eg..not on a search engine front now, but simple formatting of content all over the place..

in a product description for example you could have..

!!<<ul>
<li>Steve</li>
<li>James</li>
<li>Chris</li>
</ul>>!!

and this has the effect of

• Steve
• James
• Chris

useful for product features that are generally listed this way... try inserting it into one of your product descriptions/titles or brochure fragment titles/descriptions and preview the result...

...actually....truth be told it is really the way you should populate your catalog details if you have time, as all you need to do is create exactly what you want to see in any visual html editor and then copy the code generated into your product desctription (or elsewhere) and add the special !!< >!! tags at either end....

this give you almost complete control over the way in which your products/info displays...including using these elusive H1+2 tags...

Steve

please do call us though if i am being unclear...

anyway, try the above and you will see what i mean..

[theglowcompany]

steve thats ace - thanks for your time - I will apply it - probably all over my site - I'm on a mission to learn SEO & also just starting with Dreamweaver - what with Actinic as well its a right old soup!

But I will have a go at your suggestions in the posting above - it will espacially help with my first paragraph as the fragment title is 'welcome to the glow company' & I dont want to emphasise that but I do want to emphasise the text within the fragment body

Ahh my first little h1 !

Thanks again - been an interesting post (give your fingers a rest!)

[harlequin]

a little caution

just a last note, whereas you will find no hard and fast rules about heading tags and just how many characters/letters you can have in there, the standard advice is this, when writing the text to go inside, ask yourself, is it a realistic heading...i.e. dont spam the engine by putting a 100 word title in there, or even put a heading tag around a whole 100 word paragraph.....

try to keep it to reasonable proportions and all should be well..

steve

[harlequin]

footnote

Hi James, after thinking about this quite hard, I actually think you have done me a big favour in reminding me you can paste html into anywhere in actinic.

Rather than create a range of custom templates for everyone, we shall simply provide a howto document basically explaining our post here and this has two distinct advantages...

One. Customers dont need to touch the Actinic Templates.

Two. It will actually get them used to, and encourage them to use the !!< embed html >!! ability rather than simply providing templates that does the work behind the scenes but teaches them nothing.

So I am very grateful, and have got just as much if not more from this post than you !!

Steve

[theglowcompany]

hi steve, cool thats what forums are about.

I wouldnt mind a copy of the info you have discussed when youve finalised it .

My 1st H1 is now up & plans afoot for an h2 - bring on the hx stork!

Thanks

[harlequin]

looks good

a three word keyphrase, as a href, and a reasonable amount of good quality not spammed keywords next to it...

good use of h2 and 3 etc as well...youll want a job soon...

nice one grasshopper

I have already been encouraging my customers to use this method instead of tons and tons of templates....and it seems to be catching on very easily...

talk again soon no doubt...

[theglowcompany]

steve, you are mistaken h2 isnt used yet but h3 is - a few times -again within the fragment.

I dont want a job - I quit a few days ago & working my notice by learning SEO

I have actually just sold myself for a day to advise on SEO on a site - £200 - my time is paying off well

[harlequin]

ooooopppppssss

you shouldnt use repeated heading tags...

h1 to h6 once only on each page and the rest of the content just as it is using <b> etc... if you spam the tags the engines hate it as much as anything....i did say amongst the confusing posts before...

best of luck in your new profession.....you snake in the grass

steve