For some reason I had it in my head that Google doesn't like it when you show users a different headline than you show Google — so this was really helpful in dispelling that for me.
I remember formerly some guides said that the hub page/category page title (the anchor leading to the article itself) should be identical to the article's h1 in order for you to perform well in Google News. Always wondered why this would be the case, but now I see it was probably just a misinterpreted coincidence.
Yeah I think it's fine for those to be different (though Google documentation says they should be the same) as long as the section page headline also describes the article accurately and isn't meant to deceive users into clicking.
Thanks, Barry, makes sense! More and more it seems that the rules that Google gives are very flexible if your site actually produces newsworthy content and if it brings value to the readers (and, by proxy, Google).
Hi Barry, I have the feeling that Google recently clearly favors the h1 heading in Top Stories and largely ignores the title tag and the structured data headline.
Even in organic search entries, the h1 heading now seems to be preferred. (That's new, right?)
As a result, I have observed that many large news publishers no longer make a distinction between these 3 headlines and instead use the same headline everywhere.
Yes it's a trend I'm seeing as well, <h1> seems to be used more often in SERPs (both top stories and regular blue links). I'll try to verify this with some clients, but it's definitely a relatively new development.
For some reason I had it in my head that Google doesn't like it when you show users a different headline than you show Google — so this was really helpful in dispelling that for me.
It's common practice among some big publishers. For example, this recent NYT article has a different visible headline, <title>, and NewsArticle headline: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/29/business/media/denver-airport.html
Ooooo - great example! Thank you!
I remember formerly some guides said that the hub page/category page title (the anchor leading to the article itself) should be identical to the article's h1 in order for you to perform well in Google News. Always wondered why this would be the case, but now I see it was probably just a misinterpreted coincidence.
Yeah I think it's fine for those to be different (though Google documentation says they should be the same) as long as the section page headline also describes the article accurately and isn't meant to deceive users into clicking.
Thanks, Barry, makes sense! More and more it seems that the rules that Google gives are very flexible if your site actually produces newsworthy content and if it brings value to the readers (and, by proxy, Google).
Hi Barry, I have the feeling that Google recently clearly favors the h1 heading in Top Stories and largely ignores the title tag and the structured data headline.
Even in organic search entries, the h1 heading now seems to be preferred. (That's new, right?)
As a result, I have observed that many large news publishers no longer make a distinction between these 3 headlines and instead use the same headline everywhere.
Have you made similar observations?
Yes it's a trend I'm seeing as well, <h1> seems to be used more often in SERPs (both top stories and regular blue links). I'll try to verify this with some clients, but it's definitely a relatively new development.