SEO: Semantic and Visual Optimization with Bootstrap
The SEO hierarchy plays a crucial role in improving your website's search engine ranking. By effectively organizing your page content and enhancing its visibility in search engines, it becomes a powerful asset for your online success.
This article explores the fundamental principles of SEO hierarchy and provides practical advice for optimizing the structure of your web pages.
Prioritize a Logical Hierarchical Organization
Use Semantic Tags to Structure Your Page Content
For this stage, style management is secondary. The visual organization of headings and subheadings will be taken into account later.
Semantic tags play an important role in search engine optimization (SEO).
They structure the content of your web pages in a way that is logical and comprehensible to crawlers and indexers.
For example, the content in an article tag is considered more important than that in an aside tag.
| Tag | Use of Structural Semantic Tags | Can Contain | Can Be Contained In |
|---|---|---|---|
| header | Usually contains the main title and introduction. | nav, div, h1 to h6, p, div, etc. | body, main, article, section, aside |
| nav | Encapsulates navigation links. | ul, ol, a, p, etc. | body, header, main, article, section, aside, footer |
| main | Encompasses the main content of the page. | header, nav, article, section, aside, footer, div, etc. | body, body div |
| article | Frames a standalone article that could be used independently. | header, nav, section, aside, footer, div, h1 to h6, p, etc. | body, main, section |
| section | Groups related content belonging to a similar theme. | nav, article, section, div, h1 to h6, p, etc. | body, main, article |
| aside | Used for secondary or side content, like a sidebar. | nav, article, section, div, h1 to h6, p, etc. | body, main, article, section |
| footer | Usually contains the footer or conclusion of the parent element. | nav, div, h1 to h6, p, a, img, etc. | body, main, article, section, aside |
Rules for Using the main Tag:
- Must be included directly in the body tag or in a div tag included in the body.
- Must display the unique content of a specific page.
- Must be used only once per HTML document.
- Must not include elements that are repeated on several pages, such as menus, headers or footers.
HTML Code Examples Using Semantic Tags
First Example: A Page with a Single Article
<!-- Code HTML -->
<body>
<header>
<!-- Site header -->
</header>
<nav>
<!-- Site navigation -->
</nav>
<main>
<article class="container">
<header>
<h1>Article Header</h1>
<p>Article header text</p>
</header>
<h2>Subtitle 1</h2>
<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet adipiscing.</p>
<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet adipiscing.</p>
<h2>Subtitle 2</h2>
<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet adipiscing.</p>
<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet adipiscing.</p>
<h3>Subtitle 2.1</h3>
<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet adipiscing.</p>
<h3>Subtitle 2.2</h3>
<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet adipiscing.</p>
<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet adipiscing.</p>
<footer>
<!-- Article author and date -->
</footer>
</article>
<aside>
<!-- Secondary page content -->
</aside>
</main>
<footer>
<!-- Site footer -->
</footer>
</body>Second Example: A Page with Multiple Articles
Each article could be used independently.
<!-- Using semantic tags with a container and 2 columns -->
<body>
<header>
<!-- Site header -->
<h1>Page title</h1>
</header>
<nav>
<!-- Site navigation -->
</nav>
<main>
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-8">
<article>
<h2>First article</h2>
<p>Content of the first article</p>
</article>
<article>
<h2>Second article</h2>
<p>Content of the second article</p>
</article>
</div>
<div class="col-md-4">
<aside>
<h3>À propos</h3>
<p>Information about the blog</p>
</aside>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</main>
<footer>
<!-- Site footer -->
</footer>
</body>The Art of Titles with Bootstrap: Balancing SEO, Semantics, and Design
Organize Titles and Subtitles Hierarchically and Logically
By wisely using Bootstrap, developers can create websites that are not only aesthetic and functional but also optimized for search engines, thus contributing to the natural referencing of your sites.
Use h1 to h6 tags to semantically structure the editorial content of your pages.
Here are some key recommendations to follow:
- Main Title: Use only one h1 tag which should contain the main keyword of the page.
Each page title should be unique across the entire site. - Consistency: Ensure that titles and subtitles follow a logical content organization plan.
Never skip levels, for example from h2 to h5. The logical hierarchy must be strict. - Clarity and Relevance: Choose relevant and informative titles and subtitles.
Make sure your tags accurately reflect the content they introduce. - Semantic Optimization: Incorporate appropriate keywords especially for the upper levels from 1 to 3.
Write your titles naturally and fluently for your readers. - Keyword Density: While their use is important, avoid over-optimization.
Titles should be natural and fluid for readers. - Visual Appearance: Don't let appearance influence the logical hierarchy.
Use standard classes to define a visual appearance with different styles when necessary.
The title and h1 tags are complementary, but they have different functions.
The title appears in search results and serves as the name for the browser tab.
Each title and h1 tag must be unique for the entire site.
The main h1 title is visible on the page.
Although these tags may contain similar elements, it is recommended to differentiate them slightly.
Visual Hierarchy of Titles and Subtitles
You can visually prioritize headings and subheadings by modifying the style of h1 to h6 tags, as well as paragraphs, with the following classes: .h* and .display-*, * can take a value from 1 to 6.
The .display-1 to .display-6 classes offer even larger heading styles.
These classes allow you to apply a visual style without using semantic heading tags.
They are particularly useful when you want to style a heading without an h1 à h6 tag being semantically appropriate.
By using these classes, you can maintain a clear visual hierarchy without compromising the semantic structure of your document, which is crucial for accessibility and SEO.
<!-- Example of HTML code that separates semantic hierarchy from appearance -->
<div>
<h1 class="display-2">Main title</h1>
<h2 class="h1">This subtitle has the appearance of an h1</h2>
<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet adipiscing.</p>
<h2 class="h1">This subtitle has the appearance of an h1</h2>
<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet adipiscing.</p>
<h3>Level 3 Subtitle</h3>
<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet adipiscing.</p>
<h3>Level 3 Subtitle</h3>
<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet adipiscing.</p>
</div>In summary, these classes provide great flexibility in design while maintaining a clear separation between your document's semantic structure and its visual presentation.
Conclusion
You must establish a judicious balance between logical hierarchical organization and attractive visual presentation to create an effective SEO structure. Prioritize a consistent and semantically rich content architecture by using appropriate HTML tags to structure information clearly and understandably for search engines.
Title tags h1 to h6 play a crucial role in this logical hierarchy as they define the relative importance of different content parts. However, do not neglect the visual aspect. Bootstrap offers you the necessary flexibility to adjust the appearance of titles without compromising their semantic value.
Strive to create quality content, logically structured, while providing a pleasant and intuitive user experience. By adopting this balanced approach, you will not only optimize your site for search engines but also improve its readability and accessibility for all users.
Remember that SEO goes beyond technical optimization; you need to create an overall experience that satisfies both search engine algorithms and web users.