A Primer on Simple and Effective SEO

An introductory guide to SEO fundamentals, focusing on how text structure and hierarchy affect search optimization.

Core Foundation

The central thesis: headers are more important than paragraphs, and text at the top of a page is more important than text at the bottom.

Text as Structured Data

Search engines treat website text as structured information. HTML doesn't control visual display, that's CSS, it functions as a blueprint communicating how information is organized through headers, paragraphs, and links.

Hierarchy Matters

Two kinds of hierarchy influence SEO value:

1. Structural importance through HTML hierarchy (H1 through H6)
2. Priority importance based on top-to-bottom placement

Recommended Page Priority

1. URL
2. Page title
3. H1 header
4. H2 header
5. H3 through H6 headers
6. Paragraph text

Use only one H1 per page, matching your page title exactly.

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