What are H1 tags? Do I need H1 tags on my Square Online website? How do I use them?

[dianad]

The title of this post has been edited from the original: H1 header

We recently did an SEO audit on our site that we created through Weebly via Square, and found that it is missing H1 headers.  Customer service says H1 headers are not available at this time. There appears to be some mixed messaging about whether it is critical to have those or not -- more recent articles seem to indicate it's ok not to have them. We are newbies to all of this, but of course want to make sure our site is optimized for traffic. Anyone know about H1 headers, Weebly and google ranking?

[MuseBelts · Accepted solution]

If you have a website that that is a local business serving the local community, you probably can get by without H Tags. 

But if you are a business that has a world-wide audience with clients across the globe it is highly recommended by hundreds of SEO organizations to have proper H tags. Bing and Google, also recommend H tags for the purpose of gaining in search rankings. I have read dozens of papers of SEO and all say H tags are recommended.

[isabelle]

Hey @dianad! ✨

Welcome to the Seller Community!

We can do our best to answer specific questions here about h1 tags. Are you wondering if you need h1 tags for your Square site? If so, @AdamB can answer that. 

For more technical h-tag questions, I'm actually going to go ahead and tag @MuseBelts. As you can see in this thread, they've demonstrated immense knowledge of h1 tags and their limitations with Square/Weebly.

[MuseBelts · Accepted solution]

If you have a website that that is a local business serving the local community, you probably can get by without H Tags. 

But if you are a business that has a world-wide audience with clients across the globe it is highly recommended by hundreds of SEO organizations to have proper H tags. Bing and Google, also recommend H tags for the purpose of gaining in search rankings. I have read dozens of papers of SEO and all say H tags are recommended.

[dianad]

We are mostly local, however we do some online business (US only) and hope to grow that some. While it will never be the majority of our business, we do want to make sure our website is set up to allow for both local and US growth. I suppose though the issue is that it doesn't appear that Weebly allows for H tags? So if that is correct, then the only way to add those would be to move to another provider? Am I getting that right?

[MuseBelts]

I agree with your objective in seeking US attention and growth. 

For the people that were originally with Square website and were migrated to the Weebly platform, you are out of luck as far as H tags. Theoretically, the Weebly dashboard Edit section has a code injector API, called the Embed Code Section(ECS). The idea is to place the proper syntax into the ECS and then click to publish. The problem is the ECS does not function and what data you put into comes out corrupted. The ECS adds elements to whatever data you enter such as an extra / or even \ to the code. Any additional elements to the code corrupt the code thereby invalidating the H tag. Whatever you put into it will not be recognized as a legitimate H tag by Bing or Google search. 

I began trying Sqweebly Tech support to correct the API. I get no answer. I have been trying since May 2020. Also is you try to use any of the Weebly Apps in the App store you will find NONE are available to you as well. Even the paid apps are not available to the Square/Weebly users.

To me I wasted enough time with Weebly. There are a myriad of other platforms with better platforms, with fully functioning SEO and tech support.

As soon as I return to the US from Latin America I am changing platforms. 

[dianad]

Thanks for your response. We are not very tech savvy, so I suppose it's good to know that we weren't missing something. However, Square/Weebly -- if someone is monitoring this conversation, PLEASE fix this. What good is it having a website if no one is seeing it? @AdamB, do you have any advise for those of us wanting to insert these tags?

[MuseBelts]

I would like an explanation as to why even apps in the Weebly App store are made unavailable to Square users???. I have tried many time. I am even willing to use the paid for Apps, but even those are not available either. I was told there is an app to put H tags onto pages but since you are NOT permitted to use them the whole platform seems useless? What is the selling point to use Weebly. I am curious to the response by @AdamB .

[AdamB]

Apps from the Weebly App Center were designed to work specifically with the Weebly drag-and-drop website editor. I would expect to see options for Square Online sites show up in the Square App Marketplace in the future, though.

As for H1 tags, Google and other search engines are far more sophisticated at understanding page content than they were in the past. They are able to recognize what are titles and how important they are simply by their size and placement on the page. I recommend reading this blog post on Moz.com about whether H1 tags matter for SEO. It not only includes an experiment showing no difference when using H1 vs other H tags, it also includes a quote from Google's John Mueller about it.

[MuseBelts]

Meanwhile pretty much every platform I have looked at promotes the use of H Tags. If not all.

While even the Weebly drag and Drop editor has it available, Square users are left without any option. We cannot even pay for it.

You talk about "in the future". Whens that? After I left Square for greener pastures?

Bing Webmaster tech support pointed out the need for them. Shall I post the emails I gotten from them? They were the ones (Bing Webmaster) that discovered this problem of the platform. I still read more SEO experts advising the use. Essentially what I get is a rationale to not spending any money to fix the API. That is all they have to do. Fix the API and let users make the decision. The overwhelming SEO experts supports the use of H tags. 

It seems that even letting the users decide whether to use them would be in your interest and theirs. Let THEM make the decision.

[MuseBelts]

In addition;

If you go to the Moz.com website, they use H Tags. If the article states they are basically they are no longer needed why does MOZ.com still use them??

[Tbauguss]

Thanks Muse. You have given more information on Htags than I have ever been able to get out of Square. I’m also trying to figure out how to do Google Verification. It says to follow the instructions on google search. I’ve done that but when I paste the html it says it’s not formatted correctly. Any suggestions? 

[MuseBelts]

First, Tbauguss, do you know how write a proper basic H tag? Do you know how to search for  and identify an H Tag by right click and view page source on your page or any website page?

[Tbauguss]

I am not sure if it has to be formatted a certain way or if it’s just a phrase. 

[AtBAY]

I'm looking to transfer to a different platform as well.  Square did a decent job at making their service easy to create a basic website, but what's the point if no one can find you

[MuseBelts]

The Square Online Website dashboard has a Code Injector API where the H tag is supposed to be programmed into your page. BUT, it does NOT function. Whatever correct syntax(H tag) you put into it the API corrupts the data every time. I was told that would be fixed but that has not happened and that was about a year ago. I contacted a dozen or so tech support staff at Square and no one would help me. 

There are many other website platforms that are just as easy to use and have full SEO capability. 

[SR_]

Finding this thread interesting as both Bing and Google are reporting missing H1 tags on my page, if this is affecting my search results in any way then surely that's a negative. 

[MuseBelts]

If Google and Bing are reporting missing H tags, did you attempt to write and place them on your pages using the Embed Code section in the first place? Do you know how to identify an H Tag? Do you know how to write the basic code?

It isn't that difficult and I have found articles on Weebly blogs show you how.

To answer your question more concisely I need more information.

[Ronp]

I am having the same problem with my site. Bing says im missing my H1 tag. I do not know entirely what this means,  but if there is a simple fix i would like to know.

[Valentina · Accepted solution]

Hi there, @Ronp - and welcome to the Seller Community ✨

You can add custom H1 tags under Settings > Tracking Tools > Bing Verification 🏷 

 

Follow the instructions on this page and head to your Bing Webmaster tool before following the instructions there in order to choose the Meta Tag verification. Copy and paste the full code into this space! This will add whatever code you need to every page of your Square Online website. Let us know if any questions come up!

[12eyhsdg]

I tried adding the H1 code as suggested but I get "Invalid HTML detected. Only <script> <noscript> <meta> are allowed as root HTML tags." I placed it in the body.....   Any other suggestion by chance??  Thanks in Advance.

[MuseBelts]

Until Square Weebly fixes their dashboard API that puts the tags, correctly, onto your site, you wont be able to add any H Tags.

I could not even able to buy an app that was in the Weebly App store to put tags onto y site. 

I migrated to Wix. It was full SEO capability.