H2 tags are the subheadings of your webpage. They help to break up your content into smaller, more manageable sections, and they also provide important context to both users and search engines. While it’s perfectly fine to have multiple H2 tags on a page, it’s important to make sure that they’re all unique. When you have duplicate H2 tags, you’re creating a confusing experience for your users and missing out on a valuable opportunity to improve your SEO. This guide will explore the dangers of duplicate H2 tags and how to fix them.

Think of your H2 tags as the chapter titles in a book. Each chapter title should be unique and should accurately reflect the content of that chapter. If you have two chapters with the same title, it’s going to be difficult for readers to find the information they’re looking for. The same is true for your web pages. By giving each section a unique and descriptive H2 tag, you can help both users and search engines to understand the content of your site more effectively. For a deeper dive into the world of on-page SEO, see our article on on-page SEO.

An illustration of two identical twins, symbolizing the problem of duplicate H2 tags.

Your Guide to a More Unique and Descriptive Website

Fixing duplicate H2 tags is a simple but important task. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Identify Your Duplicate H2 Tags: Use an SEO audit tool like Creeper to crawl your site and identify any pages with duplicate H2 tags.
  2. Rewrite Your H2 Tags: For each page with a duplicate H2 tag, rewrite the H2 tag to be unique and descriptive. Your H2 tag should accurately reflect the content of the section it introduces.
  3. Use a Clear and Consistent Heading Structure: Make sure that you’re using a logical and consistent heading structure throughout your site. For more on this, see our guide on why heading levels should only increase by one.

Duplicate H2s in Action: Before and After

Before:

<h2>Our Services</h2> <p>We offer SEO audits.</p> <h2>Our Services</h2> <p>We also offer content marketing.</p>

After:

<h2>Our SEO Audit Services</h2> <p>We offer SEO audits.</p> <h2>Our Content Marketing Services</h2> <p>We also offer content marketing.</p>

For more on the importance of on-page SEO, check out this guide to H2 tags from Moz. For another great resource, check out this article from Search Engine Journal.

An illustration of unique snowflakes, symbolizing the importance of unique H2 tags.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it okay to have multiple H2 tags on a page?

Yes, it’s perfectly fine to have multiple H2 tags on a page. In fact, it’s a good practice to use H2 tags to break up your content into smaller, more manageable sections.

Are duplicate H2 tags as bad as duplicate H1 tags?

No, duplicate H2 tags are not as critical as duplicate H1 tags. A page should only have one H1 to define its main topic. However, duplicate H2s are still a missed opportunity for SEO and can be confusing for users, so it’s a best practice to make them unique.

How do I fix duplicate H2 tags?

The best way to fix duplicate H2 tags is to simply rewrite them to be unique and descriptive. Your H2 tags should accurately reflect the content of the section they introduce.

Is your website seeing double? Start your Creeper audit today and make sure your H2 tags are unique and descriptive.