The site I manage has a newsletter signup form that places an H5 right below the H1 and the opening paragraph. I focus a lot on SEO in the content I write, but I’m wondering if having this out-of-sequence H5 could affect how Google reads my page.
Is this something that could hurt SEO, or am I overthinking it? Should we consider removing or changing the form?
It’s a good idea to keep heading tags in order—not just for SEO, but for accessibility and proper HTML structure. It all adds up.
If you just like the way the H5 looks, you could use CSS to style a regular paragraph instead.
@Tyler
This is one of those SEO myths that needs to go away. There is no rule saying headings must be in perfect order. Google cares more about content than how your headings are structured. If it made a difference, we’d see tons of poorly formatted sites disappearing from search results—and that’s not happening.
@Luchivya
Yeah, I’ve never seen heading structure actually affect rankings. Plenty of top-ranked pages have messed-up heading orders.
Besides, what would ‘correct sequencing’ even be? A strict H1 → H2 → H3 flow? That’s not how most sites are structured. Look at Wikipedia—every page starts with an H2 for ‘Contents,’ and they rank just fine.
Google stopped caring about perfect heading order years ago because too many websites do it differently.
An H5 after an H1 won’t hurt your rankings. Headings help with readability, but Google focuses more on content quality. If the form improves user experience, just leave it as it is. Worry more about good content and site usability than minor heading order issues.
@Reagan
Google doesn’t ‘score’ content the way people think. Rankings are based on a lot more than just structure.
Nicolas said:
@Reagan
Google doesn’t ‘score’ content the way people think. Rankings are based on a lot more than just structure.
Yep, exactly.
@Reagan
Totally agree.
As long as you have an H1 for the main topic, the H5 isn’t really affecting anything.
This is such a small issue that it’s probably the last thing holding back your rankings—if it even does at all.
Lenox said:
This is such a small issue that it’s probably the last thing holding back your rankings—if it even does at all.
Great point!
It’s more of an accessibility issue than an SEO issue. If your site serves users with screen readers, keeping a logical heading order might help them navigate the page better.
Kane said:
It’s more of an accessibility issue than an SEO issue. If your site serves users with screen readers, keeping a logical heading order might help them navigate the page better.
Google doesn’t care about heading order at all.
Kane said:
It’s more of an accessibility issue than an SEO issue. If your site serves users with screen readers, keeping a logical heading order might help them navigate the page better.
This is an SEO myth that needs to die. Google ranks sites based on content, not whether the H5 is below an H1.
No, it won’t make a difference.
Nope, can’t see this having any effect on SEO.
I use an H4 right after an H2 just because I like how it looks, and my page still ranks in the top 3 with thousands of impressions a day.
I can’t believe people are stressing over an H5. As long as your H1 and H2s are optimized for keywords and readability, nothing else matters.
If you just want the H5 styling, use a span with CSS instead. But honestly, Google doesn’t care about heading order.