Effective subheadings for news SEO

Subheadings are an on-page optimization opportunity – for readers and search engines alike. We cover best practices and how to use search data to inform the questions you answer.

May 08, 2023

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Hello, and welcome back. Shelby here, off an extremely busy few weeks. I’m also very grateful spring finally found us here in Toronto. I was starting to worry Mother Nature was having an existential crisis.

This week: How to effectively use subheadings for search. A reader recently asked for best practices for writing subheadings, so we decided to answer! We talk a lot about on-page SEO, and subheadings are an opportunity to optimize for readers and search engines alike. We cover best practices with subheadings, as well as how you can use search data to inform the questions you answer.

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Let’s get it.

In this issue:

What are subheadings?
Best practices for subheadings
How to use search data to inform subheading questions

THE 101

What are subheadings?

Subheadings are the headings of the subsections of your article. These are nested in your content and help break up the story’s structure, provide additional context or answer specific reader questions.

Subheadings typically start with a <h2> tag and then cascade down – depending on the importance – from <h3> to <h6>. It's rare you will need anything beyond an <h4> for news, and if they are needed, use them sparingly. While there should only be one <h1> header tag on a page, there is no limit for <h2> through <h6> subheadings.

Subheadings are very useful for answering audience questions while catering directly to a phrase readers use on search. Search engines will crawl headings and determine the context of the content. You can potentially rank for these headings in rich snippets or People Also Ask boxes on SERPs.

Google’s John Mueller has also said that Google “uses headings when it comes to search. But we use them to better understand the content of the page.”

For example, if you were looking up what time the 2023 NFL Draft was, you may end up with something like below. The question, “When is the NFL Draft” is the subhead and the answer follows immediately after. Google highlights the answer for the query, “nfl draft start time.” This is pulling from within the body of the article.

Subheadings are effective because they:

Create a cascading hierarchy for readers and robots to understand importance in the story;
Break up the “wall of text” that can occur in articles;
Provide a simple response to reader intent;
Can rank on search engines in a rich snippet or People Also Ask box.

Read more: Yoast has a guide on using subheadings in the WordPress environment.

THE HOW TO

Best practices for subheadings

Best practices for subheadings will depend on your publication. Style standards are specific to an organization, and there's likely a maximum number of subheads to include in one article. Keep in mind your publication’s content focus and editorial strategy.

Additionally, it will be up to your team to decide how often you want to repeat a certain keyword in the subheadings. It may become repetitive writing “Kentucky Derby” in every subhead, but that’s an effective way to show up for a rich snippet on search while also catering to your readers who are quickly scanning for answers. Have a conversation with your editorial team to decide on style guidelines around subhead use.

Don’t be married to one structure. Subheads are effective because they are versatile. In one story, you may want to answer five separate questions on the Kentucky Derby. In another, there may only be two subheadings that break up a really long analysis on what the mayoral candidates are promising in the upcoming election. Your editorial and audience judgment are crucial here.

There are some general guidelines you can keep in mind when using subheadings for search:

Use Heading 2 (<h2>) and cascade within the section;
Write in question form (as much as possible);
Focus on one keyword/phrase per subhead;
There's no maximum number of subheads, but use your judgment. Does the subhead match the story's focus and intent or is it better in another piece?
Answer the subhead's question early in the block of text that follows it. Search engines are more likely to pick up the section as a rich snippet if the answer is provided in a clear, direct way.

How to use search data to inform subheading questions

To map out subheads effectively, first figure out the journey a reader takes when trying to understand the story’s topic. Each point in that journey can inform subheads in a variety of ways. Whether it’s background information on a sporting event, comparison shopping for a product or a breaking news situation, readers will want to know something different depending on what is happening.

For example, if you’re creating a “how to watch” guide for the Super Bowl, readers may ask questions like:

When is the Super Bowl?
How to watch the Super Bowl
What channel is the Super Bowl on?
What are the odds for the Super Bowl?
Who is playing in the Super Bowl?

However, if you’re recapping moments during the Super Bowl, readers may ask questions like:

Who won the Super Bowl?
Why did Travis Kelce cry when he won the Super Bowl?
What are early 2024 Super Bowl odds?
When is the Super Bowl parade?

The questions are pretty methodical in nature. Starting with the 5Ws (who, what, when, where, why and how), these questions can form the foundation of our keyword research. What’s important is that intent changes depending on when and how readers are looking for the information.

Start with regular keyword research

Perform keyword research with your SEO tools of choice. Start with your topic in Google Trends and other keyword research tool(s).

Normally, we’re looking for the best keywords to focus on for a headline or URL for a story, and tend to look at highest search interest. Here, we’re building the branches of the story, so we’re looking at the other components of this topic.

This means you’re looking more at long-tail keywords. These are phrases that are longer – usually more than three words – and add an additional attribute to them, targeting something more specific than a primary keyword. Questions are usually considered long-tail keywords.

Make a list of the long-tail keywords

Make a list of long-tail keywords for the topic your publication is well-positioned to provide quality answers for. Think E.E.A.T: If you can't provide an answer that delivers value to the reader, don't include the keyword.

Your list should include regular long-tail phrases as well as questions, and likely are asking the same thing (“kentucky derby start time” + “what time does the kentucky derby start?”). Bunch these together, and highlight the question as the subheading.

Questions are preferred for a few reasons:

The question is semantically connected to, and includes, the long-tail keyword.
It’s editorially cleaner to have a subheading as a question people are asking versus a shortened keyword.

Pro tip: Glimpse has a section of their extension that breaks out the questions on a keyword for you. This is a great list to use. Filter by search volume to see which questions have the most searches, but use the growth filter to see which questions are rising in interest (especially as you get closer to an event).

Focus on the 5Ws & 1H

Just like in traditional reporting, we want to focus on the basic questions of gathering information (who, what, when, where, why and how). A lot of questions around any topic will also fall under these six questions.

The 5Ws and 1H can be extremely useful when answering reading questions about a topic and should be answered first in any explainer or reader-informed FAQ.

Alternatively, they can also be extremely useful for generating new, standalone/breakout content ideas.

Use Google Trends and compare the 5Ws in your region over a preferred timeframe. Look at the related queries and flip to rising. This will show you the top questions at the time and can potentially spark some new evergreen or topic-specific articles.

Pro tip: Glimpse’s capabilities can’t be used for comparative trends, but if you look up each question individually, you can also see the top questions around the 5Ws.

Depending on your publication’s niche, this could help you build out some great explainers for your audience around a topic that you have an expert in the newsroom on, or provide a quality piece of 10x content.

Think about the news moment

People turn to search to answer their questions about a topic, event or interest. Keep the main-focus keyword for an event you're covering open on Google Trends to monitor rising trends. These are usually questions people have as an event is going on that you can quickly turn into an article directly serving that reader search intent.

For example, during the World Cup, a lot of people were asking why there was so much injury time added to games. The Athletic saw this question pop up after the first two days and decided to create an explainer on how FIFA wanted the games to be played to their full 90 minutes.

This will always happen. People want to answer their questions immediately. Stay on the pulse and you can be the one to provide it.

The bottom line: Subheadings are an underrated yet highly effective tool for reader engagement and search traffic. Consider how you can incorporate search-informed subheadings into your current stories, or build out explainers from questions readers are asking.

THE JOBS LIST

These are audience jobs in journalism. Want to include a position for promotion? Email us.

The Guardian (US) is hiring an SEO Editor (NYC) and a West Coast audience editor (Los Angeles).

🏆 SEO QUIZ 🏆

What percent of global traffic comes from Google’s Search, Images and Maps surfaces? 1

Answer at the bottom of the email.

What did you think of this week's newsletter?

Loved it 😍 | Only OK 🙂 | Needs work 😐

Have something you’d like us to discuss? Send us a note on Twitter (Jessie or Shelby) or to our email: seoforjournalism@gmail.com.

Written by Jessie Willms and Shelby Blackley .

SparkToro reports that 93 percent of global traffic comes from Google Search, Google Images, and Google Maps (via Ahrefs)

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