Hi, I like the fact that Discourse allows me to set strong or italic text styles in replies. What I don’t like is that it allows headers. It’s bad for readability, SEO and confuses spiders: H1 headerH2 header Or check out this real live example: Welcome - TechSmith Screencast So: is it possible …

I think that headers are very useful and that people should use them more. That said, I think I agree that h1 an h2 headers don’t make sense in posts, whether they confuse spiders is beyond my scope of expertise. It does make sense to me that the first level of header in a post should be an h3, so …

[image] pfaffman: whether they confuse spiders is beyond my scope of expertise. Hi @pfaffman , the problem lies in the fact that users can accidently or mis-use headers and this confuses spiders when they scan the global contents of a page by checking headers (h1 and h2). Especcialy when you u…

I found out Discourse also sets headers when: you use a - symbol below a paragraph like this. you add a # symbol before a paragraph like this These headers confuse spiders like Googlebot. I hope this can be disabled soon in Discourse!

I can’t speak to the Google confusion, though it sounds odd to me that Google would have an issue with headers on a webpage. Do you have an issue with users abusing headers? I can’t say I’ve seen an issue with this on any of the sites I frequent.

Check out: The Definitive Guide to HTML Headings for SEO (H1-H2-H3-H4-H5-H6) I think this is why other forums like Wordpress.org disable usage of headers. I run a technical forum with Discourse where symbols like # and - are used a lot and thus results in undesired header formats. QUOTE : ‘ We do…

Skimming that article makes me think it’s a great thing to be using H tags and you should do it more. [image] erikmolenaarnl: I run a technical forum with Discourse where symbols like # and - are used a lot and thus results in undesired header formats. This sounds like the actual problem her…

My understanding of it has always been that headings are contextual based on the sectioned content. So for example, a post contained within an article tag should restart heading prioritization from H1. From HTML Standard The first element of heading content in an element of sectioning content rep…

Hi @awesomerobot Correct. And Discourse users can mis-use headers when they (accidently) use # and - symbols in their replies and thus: Worsen readability Confuse spiders like Googlebot with a header like this In a SEO optimized environment, forum users should not influence headers usuage. It’s so…

For readability you could add some custom CSS to disable formatting. You could even disable it for everyone who’s not in a specific group, for example: .topic-post:not(.group-team) .cooked { H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; } } I don’t think it’s a b…

[image] erikmolenaarnl: users can accidently or mis-use headers and this confuses spiders when they scan the global contents of a page by checking headers (h1 and h2). Right. And, besides, h1 and h2 headers just look bad in a post. [image] joebuhlig: I can’t speak to the Google confusion…

Disable headers in replies like <h1> and <h2>

Support

joebuhlig (Joe Buhlig) February 28, 2018, 8:15pm 14

I do plugins quite a bit. Shoot me a quick email and we can work through the details. joe@joebuhlig.com

Topic		Replies	Views
Use of H1 vs. H2 headings in composer Support composer	20	673	February 26, 2026
[Paid] Discourse plugin to disable HTML headers Marketplace	5	959	March 13, 2018
Accessibility: Header tags on main page Feature accessibility	2	1147	January 18, 2018
How do I disable Markdown completely? Support	19	2904	August 17, 2016
Add H1 titles for Discourse pages (SEO) Feature	9	3151	April 30, 2015

Disable headers in replies like <h1> and <h2>

Related topics