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up vote 15 down vote favorite
6

I am trying to use h1 tags on my blog for the post title and came across one problem. Title is hyperlinked.

so

Case 1:

<h1> <a href=""> xyz </a> </h1>

case 2:

<a href=""> <h1> xyz</h1> </a>

which one is better in terms of SEO ?

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4 Answers

up vote 17 down vote accepted

If you are using HTML5, just pick one; they're equivalent.
HTML5 does allow block-level links, but in your case there's no particular reason to do it, since there's only one block-level element. Personally, I wouldn't do it here, because having the h1 tag on the outside would make it easier to scan for in source code.

Anything else(XHTML, HTML 4, etc) and the second one is just plain wrong. It wouldn't be valid code, and on some level that's bad for your search optimization. [Insert standard disclaimer about how much any single offense really affects anything, etc.]

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I think i should go for the 1st one. Thanks. – Sangram Oct 3 '11 at 18:42
up vote 6 down vote

They're the same as far as SEO is concerned. (Usually block level elements contain inline elements and not vice-versa so you should use the first example but it won't affect SEO).

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2  
Actually inline elements must not contain block elements as per the HTML spec. – DisgruntledGoat Oct 3 '11 at 15:03
@DisgruntledGoat Not quite. Doctype needs to be accounted for. – Su' Oct 3 '11 at 16:07
@Su' which doctypes allow block elements inside inline elements? – DisgruntledGoat Oct 3 '11 at 23:17
@DisgruntledGoat HTML5 allows links (formerly just inline elements) to surround block elements like headers and paragraph tags. This is where doctype is important. If you're using HTML5, by all means use the pattern <a><h1></h1></a>. Otherwise, use the traditional pattern of <h1><a></a></h1>. Google will pay attention to both methods equally, but some browsers may not play along nicely with the non-standard pattern UNLESS you have the correct doctype (HTML5). – Tina Bell Vance Jun 20 '12 at 12:31
up vote 3 down vote

I find that with Case 2 the href insert is often out of line with the rest of my page. But that could be the way I set my margins in my .css. Thus I would favour Case 1.

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Thanks Guy Thomas. – Sangram Oct 3 '11 at 18:41
up vote 0 down vote

<h1> <a href=""> xyz </a> </h1> This example is correct.

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either are correct under HTML5 – bybe May 3 at 18:16

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