Nowadays, it is difficult to find a blog or marketing agency that does not utilize the power of H2 headings in each and every post. With Top 10 lists dominating the Internet, including H2 headings in your blog posts is the key to success in 2015, and here's how you can make the most of this important component.
What is an H2 Heading?
H2 Headings are the bold words or phrases that separate the different sections of a blog post. In fact, "What is an H2 Heading?" is an H2 heading for this post.
These dividers are the most effective way of breaking up a wall of text into readable segments that make your post more appealing to viewers. H2 headings are also the basic outline of your post, and glancing at just the title and headings should provide people with enough information to know what your post is about.
If you've ever visited a site like Buzzfeed, you've encountered plenty of H2 headings before.
Why Use H2 Headings?
Now that you know what an H2 heading is, let's talk about why it's important to use them on your blog.
As stated earlier, H2 headings make your post more visually appealing than a wall of text that visitors will likely not read. Splitting a long post up with H2 headings will promote visitors to read through the whole post without feeling like they've just been forced to read a novel. Seeing a giant wall of text causes viewers to either immediately leave the post without reading it or read the first paragraph and then lose interest once they realize how much they'll have to read to understand what you're trying to say.
By allowing readers to go through your post section-by-section, you are providing a much more relaxed reading experience that is easy on the eyes and mind. If the first season of Mad Men had been released as a 13-hour film, no one would watch it, but when you split it into 13 hour-length episodes, it becomes one of the most popular shows on television.
Adding an H2 heading to your blog is a very simple task. Some blogging tools will format these headings for you, so all you have to do is select your text and choose "Heading 2" in the list of format options. For others, such as Wordpress, you'll need to input the HTML info yourself. This is a very easy task, and all you need to do is add "<h2>" in front of your text and "</h2>" at the end.
Additionally, visitors to your site want to know that your post is answering their questions. If you write one long post, they'll be irritated by the fact that they have to work their way through your whole post just to figure out some small issue they might have. By creating H2 headings, people will be able to quickly check to make sure they're looking at a relevant post before reading the whole thing over.
Optimize H2 Headings
Much like with anything else on your site, search engine optimization is crucial in your H2 headings. If you've already all the necessary keyword research for your post, this should be a very simple step.
When you optimize a post, you always include the best keyword in your title, but you should also include important keywords and relevant terms in your H2 headings. By doing this, you give the search engine a better understanding of what your post is about, which can help it rank higher in the search results, generating more traffic.
Notice how the above post included important keywords in the title and the H2 headings. By including these relevant terms throughout your post, you make it easier for the search engine to rank your post higher for this subject.
H2 Blogging Tips
Now that you understand what an H2 is, how to use them and how to optimize them, here are some final tips on making the most out of your headings:
- Make sure you don't have too many or too few headings in your post. Too many headings can deter visitors just as quickly as a wall of text while too few can seem forced or unnecessary. Finding this balance is the key to using H2 headings effectively.
- Include a good amount of content under each H2 heading. An H2 heading with only one or two sentences beneath it will not be visually appealing and will make your post look more like a sloppy list than an important piece of writing. H2 headings should generally include at least a paragraph each.
- Try to include photos for each H2 heading. Photos are always a great way to make a post visually appealing to visitors and including a photo with your heading will further distance your post for the wall of text approach.
Do you have any additional tips on using H2 headings in a blog post? Let us know in the comments!