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Brent C.
Brent C.
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Dear X5 - Why Do You Insist On Setting H1 And H2 Tags For Me?  en

Author: Brent C.
Visited 3918, Followers 3, Shared 34  

Hello all,

I am looking for some clarification regarding how X5 version 9 handles H-tags - H1 and H2 tags in particular.

I have read the related post on this topic here (http://answers.websitex5.com/post/5890), but I believe that this issue still needs clarification.

 

First, what I already know:

  • For general search engine purposes, H1 tags are used to describe the overall topic of a single page, while H2 tags are used to set and describe sub-topics on that page. H3 tags can be used to set sub-sub topics and so on.
  • A single page should only have one H1 tag, as multiple tags dilute the importance of the keywords. 
  • Multiple H2 tags on a single page are generally fine but one shouldn't go overboard with this.
  • Setting proper H1 and H2 tags has definite benefits when it comes to search engine rankings.

 

H1 and H2 tags *can* be set in X5. To do this:

1. Within a text cell, make sure that the "enable HTML code" is activated.

2. For a H1 tag, use the format "<h1>Your Title Goes Here</h1>"

3. For a H2 tag, simply use "<h2>Your Title Goes Here</h2>"

 

So, what is the problem?

For some reason X5 automatically sets *additional* H1 and H2 tags - whether you want them or not.

Specifically:

1) If you add a "Website Title" in Step 1, this automatically becomes a H1 tag and the site name will be added to the end of every page title on your site. Having an identical H1 tag on every page is definitely not good for SEO. Therefore, I chose to keep the field for "Website Title" empty and added my own custom H1 tags for each page using the method above. 

However, by using an online checker for H1 and H2 tags (e.g., http://www.searchengineoptimisation.co.uk/seo-tools/h-tag-and-alt-tag-checker.html) I learned that X5 still adds its own H1 tag...but with no text content. End result = multiple H1 tags and one H1 tag that is always empty. I am not sure of the exact effect this has on SEO, but I doubt it is good.

 

2) For H2 tags, X5 automatically sets whatever you assign as a page title as the first H2 tag. From what I understand this is again, not a recommended practice for SEO. Yes, you can still add your own H2 tags but it seems like there should be a way around these automatic assignments of H1 and H2 tags.

 

Questions for users:

1) Is there a way to completely eliminate the "empty" H1 tag that is assigned when the "Website Title" is left blank?

2) Is there a way to prevent X5 from automatically assigning the page title as the first H2 tag?

 

Request for the X5 development team:

If the answer is "no" for both questions above, can this be changed in a future update to X5? Although H tags are just one of many factors to consider for SEO, setting them correctly is still very important and I really think that it should be permitted within X5.

 

Thanks for any help.

Posted on the
5 ANSWERS - 1 USEFUL - 1 CORRECT
Incomedia
Samantha M.
Incomedia

Dear Brent,

the only thing that changes is your title:  <title>Page 1 - Your project title </title>

The H1 tag is always the same, it does not change. This defines your website's title that is exactly the same in each page. If you have added also the H2 tag, it will be inside, this defines the page name.
In order to use SEO correctly, you need to have your page title, and the H1 - H2 tags.

In HTML you can eliminate manually your H1 tag

(<title></title>  
<h1 class="imHidden"></h1>)

if you do not want it, and if you do not enter the page name, the H2 will not be added to your website.

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Posted on the from Samantha M.
Brent C.
Brent C.
User
Author

Hi Samantha - thanks for replying.

Further clarification:  

You wrote:

"The H1 tag is always the same, it does not change. This defines your website's title that is exactly the same in each page."

Yes, but this is the problem. The H1 tag should not be exactly the same for each page - it should change based on the primary content of the page. Like I said, I can manually add an additional H1 tag to each page, but even if I leave the "Website Title" blank in Step 1, X5 still creates an empty H1 tag. I just want to eliminate this one, not the one that I create (using "imHidden" would eliminate the tag I created - which is not what I want to do).

QUESTION: How exactly can we only eliminate the (empty) H1 tag created automatically by X5 when the "Website Title" field is left blank?  

You wrote:

If you have added also the H2 tag, it will be inside, this defines the page name. 
In order to use SEO correctly, you need to have your page title, and the H1 - H2 tags. if you do not want it, and if you do not enter the page name, the H2 will not be added to your website.

Yes, I certainly want to use page titles and H-tags. The problem is that I do not want X5 to automatically use my page title as a H2 tag. I think it is important for the user to have control over what is (and isn't) set as a H2 tag.

QUESTION: Is it possible to prevent X5 from using the page title as a H2 tag? If so, how is this done?

Thanks again,

Brent 

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Posted on the from Brent C.
Incomedia
Samantha M.
Incomedia

Hi Brent,

you can not eliminate the H1 tag and you can not prevent x5 from using the H2 tag. This procedure is all automatic therefore the code can not be removed/changed. I'm sorry.

You're very welcome!

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Posted on the from Samantha M.
Brent C.
Brent C.
User
Author

Hi Samantha,

Well, that answers it then. We cannot stop X5 from setting automatic H1 tags based on the website name and we cannot prevent it from using the page title as an H2 tag.

Can I request that an option to turn of this feature and set our own H-tags be included in an update? For example, there are many times that you would not want your page title to be set as an H2 tag.

Thanks for your help.

Brent 

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Posted on the from Brent C.
Incomedia
Samantha M.
Incomedia

Yes of course you can request this! I see you have posted a question stating this and I have changed it into an idea so that our WebSite X5 creators may read it and keep it in mind for future updates.

Thank you Brent!

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Posted on the from Samantha M.