How to write a heading (language)
Advisory
The information on this page is only applicable if you're editing the University webpages using T4. It presumes that you have already completed the beginners and advanced level of the T4 training (a link for staff only - opens in new window).
Page contents
Basic principles
Heading text should:
- make sense independently (i.e. not half a sentence completed by subsequent paragraph text)
- be accurately descriptive
- be concise (but not so concise as to be unclear)
- be logically structured
Search engine optimisation (SEO)
When writing your headings, never compromise logic or clarity by 'forcing' keywords into them with a view to improving search engine ranking – it's not appropriate or necessary.
Not only will this lead to a poor experience for your readers, and potentially less engagement, but modern search engine algorithms can detect unnatural keyword usage, which can actually result in negative consequences for page ranking.
Using colons in headings
Headings shouldn't end with a colon (the : symbol), even if they're introducing a list. This misunderstanding can occur because it's correct for a colon to follow paragraph text when that text is introducing a list, but this isn't the case with headings.
Unlike paragraph text, headings are inherently distinct from the text that follows them, making a trailing colon (i.e. a colon at the end of the heading) unnecessary – a heading's status serves as the colon.
As screen readers can display headings without their accompanying content, a trailing colon in that context can also give the impression that the second part of a heading may be missing.
On the other hand, it's absolutely fine to use a colon as part of a heading.
So, for example, as a heading:
- 'A history of hats:' would be incorrect
- 'A history of hats: 18th-century France' would be fine.
Headings with acronyms
If your heading contains an acronym that wouldn't commonly be understood or which could be ambiguously interpreted, you may need to define it.
This means, within your heading, writing the acronym out in full, followed by the acronym itself in brackets – or vice versa, as appropriate for your text. For example:
- Introduction to antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
- Introduction to AMR (antimicrobial resistance)
For headings, this applies in the following situations.
Acronyms in modals (pop-up windows)
An acronym should be written out in full the first time it's used anywhere in a modal. This may be in a heading or paragraph text, but it only needs to be defined once in a modal.
This applies even if you've defined the acronym on the main page that the modal links from, so that the reader doesn't have to close the modal in order to find out what the acronym means. It also means web editors don't have to keep track or search through the main page to check whether or not the acronym has already been defined there.
Acronyms in non-modal headings
You'll need to write the acronym out in full if it's the first time the acronym has been used in a heading on a full webpage (i.e. not a modal). This applies:
- wherever the heading happens to be on the page (including in an accordion or tab)
- no matter what level the heading happens to be.
It doesn't mean you need to define it at each heading level, just the first instance where it appears in a heading.
This is because people using screen readers will encounter all non-modal headings as a list before they encounter the paragraph text on the page. If someone using a screen reader encounters an acronym in their heading list, they will need the acronym's definition at that point.
