Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Course

How to SEO Your Text: A Complete Guide to Hierarchy, Keywords, and Brand Naming

Before you write a single word of web content, you need to understand one foundational concept — text hierarchy. Everything in SEO builds on it, and without it, even the best-written content will underperform in search rankings.

What is text hierarchy?

Text hierarchy is the structure that determines how much authority search engines assign to different parts of your content. Think of it as a chain of command. At the top sits your URL slug — the most authoritative signal on the entire page. Below that is your page title. Then your Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, and finally your paragraph text at the base.

Each level carries less ranking weight than the one above it, but none of them are throwaway. SEO works as a complete package. A strong URL slug and page title won’t save weak headings, and strong headings won’t compensate for body content that makes no sense. Every level needs to do its job for the whole thing to work.

The URL slug — the first thing search engines read

Most people build their website, publish their pages, and never think twice about the URL. That’s a significant missed opportunity, because search engines read your URL before they read anything else on the page.

The slug is everything that comes after your domain. For a plumbing company in Augusta, the difference between apexplumbing.com/page1 and apexplumbing.com/plumbing-services-augusta is enormous in terms of SEO value.

A few rules for writing effective slugs: always use lowercase letters, separate words with hyphens rather than underscores, lead with your target keyword, and cut filler words like “the,” “and,” and “a.” You’re not writing a sentence — you’re writing a keyword signal. Keep it clean, keep it direct, and put what matters most at the front.

The page title — your headline in search results

Separate from your H1, the page title lives in your site’s code as the