Important SEO Tip: Essential H1 Tags Missing in vBulletin Default Templates

Are you using an essential on-page SEO tag that is missing from the default vBulletin style templates? The HTML tag we are talking about is the H1 tag, from the H1-H6 family:

• H1 - Heading Level 01 - Highest level of importance
  
  
  • H2 Heading Level 02
    
    • H3 Heading Level 03
      
      • H4 Heading Level 04
        
        • H5 Heading Level 05
          
          • H6 Heading Level 06 - Lowest level of importance

Using the H1 tag right will help your forum be more successful! Note: Please check out our H1 how to article here.

Are you using a H1 tag now?

• View the source of a thread page in your browser. Search for H1 and H2 to see if you are using them.
• If not, you need to add the H1!

What does the H1 do for SEO?

• It tells Google that your title is very important. Google can use this info to rank you better for the keywords in your title and also make your AdSense ads more relevant!

vBSEO Styles Version 1.0 and 2.0

• Forums using the vBSEO Style version 1.0 or 2.0 (soon to be released) already have H1s setup, using CSS and our Relevant Replacements to add both H1 and H2s to your forum in key locations.

What kind of SEO impact should I expect with this new setup?

Having a H1 tag on your page's important titles, will help to further enhance the optimization provided to you by vBSEO!

Basically, this means more hits from more different search terms.

Since forums have thousands of pages of user generated content, of which each can be optimized for its own title, this is why forums continue to be one of the most attractive cash generators for Web publishers.

vBSEO is designed to maximize the long tail SEO effect. The use of H1 and H2 tags on your titles can help vBSEO generate even greater results!

If you do not yet have H1 tags applied to your forum pages and you decide to do so, please let us know in 30, 60, and 90 days how your long tail search results have grown.

Great time for this reminder, as I had completely left this off of my forums for a few months now.

Gonna have to start making a checklist to follow during upgrades

How do I add the Tags?

Same here.

But h2 Tags are more important than h1-Tags!! Many wordpress and blogs use h1-Tags and they often spam.
H1-day Tags are probably less important for the ranking at Google as many years in the SEO scene adopted.
Ranking-Faktoren: H1 bis H6 im Detail - SISTRIX Suchmaschinen- & SEO-Blog (Ranking Factors in German)

h1 = unimportant
h2, and h3 = important

Originally Posted by Majora

But h2 Tags are more important than h1-Tags!! Many wordpress and blogs use h1-Tags and they often spam.
H1-day Tags are probably less important for the ranking at Google as many years in the SEO scene adopted.
Ranking-Faktoren: H1 bis H6 im Detail - SISTRIX Suchmaschinen- & SEO-Blog (Ranking Factors in German)

h1 = unimportant
h2, and h3 = important

Maybe you have a point, maybe not. Thing is we can't be sure with Google. personally I do not believe for a second that Google will make H1 less important. All Wikipedia articles have H1 for their main article title and they seem to rank pretty high.

1-3 = good to use
4-6 = I wouldn't even bother to add these (maybe 4 if really needed)

I just want toknow how to add them.

[How To] Add H1 Tags to your vBulletin Templates for Long Tail Search Optimization


Best regard,
Majora

H1 tags make your site look like Special Education...(the small yellow bus kind) I would stick with H2's..

Should I use H1 or H2?

Some SEO discussions on the Web have indicated a preference for using H2 instead of H1. Some even claim to have done comparison tests and received better results with the H2.

Regardless, a H2 should not exist on the page unless it is first preceded by a H1 tag (to maintain the hierarchy). Doing otherwise is using these tags in a way in which they were not intended to be used, and could at some stage cause possible problems with SEO.

If you want to use a H2 for your title instead of a H1, make sure you include the H1 at a higher level such as around the logo

I just changed from font size="5" to H2 in different areas of my forum. So I cant see why it would hurt.

Sometimes I create Guide's on my forums..How can we use H1 tags within our posts ?

Joe, you are the man!

I am well aware of the importance of H1 and H2 tags and never forget to use them, at least that is what I thought until I checked my forum - not one H1 or H2 tag to be found!

Although I have them on all my traditional sites, I completely missed my forum!

So, a big thank you

Thanks for this very helpful information, h1 tags are very important for seo.

Originally Posted by mikeinjersey

I just changed from font size="5" to H2 in different areas of my forum. So I cant see why it would hurt.

Sometimes I create Guide's on my forums..How can we use H1 tags within our posts ?

If you wanted to use Hx tags in your post body, then you could do so with some custom bbCodes.

However, you would not want to use H1 or H2... IF... you already had them at a higher level. Just be aware of the structure of your H1/H2s on the title, and the adjust accordingly if you want to use them in the posts.

I tried Method 1 on the this page and it produced a line underneath the h1 tag.
[How To] Add H1 Tags to your vBulletin Templates for Long Tail Search Optimization

I removed your process due to the error. I'm using version 3.8.