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I have my document outlined in several <section>s, but according to the spec

The theme of each section should be identified, typically by including a heading (h1–h6 element) as a child of the section element.

What if I don't need a heading in a specific section? What would be a good advice, not to have a heading at all or to hide it with CSS?

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  • @Stephen Ostermiller i don't think there is any duplication here. The issue i have is that my markup consists of several <section>s and i want i.e. in the 3rd section not to have a heading title at all. However, 'typically' a section tag should have a heading child. So, the question is what is less harmfull: to have a section with no title at all or to keep the title but hide it somehow?
    – Dimitris Leon
    Commented Jan 24, 2019 at 14:25
  • The other question asks specifically about hiding heading using CSS. The answer says not to do that. It also addresses the question of whether or not the headers are needed (they are not).
    – Stephen Ostermiller ♦
    Commented Jan 24, 2019 at 15:06
  • i am aware of the fact that hiding a heading is bad technique. The other question is talking about headings in general and from an importance point of view. It has nothing to do with the spec's description about the <section> tag, which is what i am asking. Spec sais: Each <section> should be identified, typically by including a heading (<h1>-<h6> element) as a child of the <section> element. What i am simply asking is that in front of the dilemma: section tag with no heading child and css-hidden heading which would be less seo harmful? Anyway thanks for the point out though
    – Dimitris Leon
    Commented Jan 24, 2019 at 15:36
  • The W3C guide is not for SEO.
    – Stephen Ostermiller ♦
    Commented Jan 24, 2019 at 15:47
  • The W3C guide is a guide for you to write valid html. Valid Html has impact on how your website will be crawled and indexed. So Stephen, W3C guide is not for SEO but it is directly related to it. Finally, i hope you comprehend how my question is completely different to the one you pointed me to, thus should not have been marked as duplicate. Cheers
    – Dimitris Leon
    Commented Jan 25, 2019 at 10:17

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Hiding content is quite dodgy. I would avoid this where possible. Save the hiding and showing for interactive elements.

I would title the page appropriately with a H1, then each section I would assign a H2.

If you're exceeding ten sections you will still experience a slight hit on your SEO as I believe the limit is ten H2's before it is considered a downfall. But the limit is one H1 per page.

Image has been added

H1 Proof

As for having too many H2's - I am not going to break my site to proove my point. The knowledge is there - take it or leave it!

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  • I agree about not hiding content, but I've never heard of limits on H1 and H2 tags for SEO. Do you have a reference to back those statements up?
    – Stephen Ostermiller ♦
    Commented Jan 24, 2019 at 10:31
  • @StephenOstermiller - I can only show the proof for the H1 tag. As for H2's I have fixed my sites to be free from these 'issues' and I am not willing to break my sites to replicate an issue.
    – Jason Is My Name
    Commented Jan 24, 2019 at 11:26

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