thread Re: H1 header in Archived Discussions (Read Only)

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

dianad — Tue, 25 May 2021 21:43:49 GMT

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?

Re: H1 header

isabelle — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 00:44:18 GMT

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.

Re: H1 header

MuseBelts — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 01:58:55 GMT

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.

Re: H1 header

dianad — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 05:12:57 GMT

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?

Re: H1 header

MuseBelts — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 12:45:14 GMT

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.

Re: H1 header

dianad — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 14:44:58 GMT

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?

Re: H1 header

MuseBelts — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 16:12:57 GMT

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 .

Re: H1 header

AdamB — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 22:17:34 GMT

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.

Re: H1 header

MuseBelts — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 23:29:36 GMT

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.

Re: H1 header

MuseBelts — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 23:53:03 GMT

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??

Re: H1 header

Tbauguss — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 20:47:35 GMT

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?

Re: H1 header

SR_ — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 07:56:01 GMT

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.

Re: H1 header

MuseBelts — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 10:54:01 GMT

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?

Re: H1 header

MuseBelts — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 10:59:47 GMT

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.

Re: H1 header

Tbauguss — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 17:13:11 GMT

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

Re: H1 header

Ronp — Sun, 23 May 2021 02:53:15 GMT

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.

Re: H1 header

Valentina — Mon, 24 May 2021 18:06:59 GMT

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!

Re: H1 header

12eyhsdg — Tue, 15 Feb 2022 11:39:15 GMT

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.

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

MuseBelts — Wed, 16 Feb 2022 20:19:13 GMT

I will be honest with you. I had the same problem more than a year ago with the Square Online website,. You can forget about getting H tags on your website, I contacted the tech support for more than 6 months. I made more than a dozen phone calls and was ignored and told that I dont need H tags. That goes against nearly every SEO expert including Google tech support. NOT one tech support person would help me. The platform does not support and will not support H tags. Even if you went to the Square store to buy a program, you wont be able to install into the platform.

I ended up dropping Square Online Web site platform and went to WIX. Far better platform with superior SEO capabilities. I wasted far too much time dealing with this problem with Square and tech support in which they do not intend to fix this serious issue.

Re: H1 header

AtBAY — Wed, 23 Feb 2022 06:18:59 GMT

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