1. Yes, this is ok and Search engines would see the text as "Hello".

Reason: Drop caps, Websites likes NYC.com uses drop caps, drop caps needs special CSS codes without with div, span or class drop caps are not possible but Search engines still crawl them. You just have to make sure Search engines can crawl your site.

2. This won't hurt SEO.

3. There is no recommendation needed in this case but try referring to drop caps.

1. Yes, this is ok and Search engines would see the text as "Hello".

Reason: Drop caps, Websites likes NYC.com uses drop caps, drop caps needs special CSS codes without div, span or class drop caps are not possible but Search engines still crawl them. You just have to make sure Search engines can crawl your site.

2. This won't hurt SEO.

3. There is no recommendation needed in this case but try referring to drop caps.