Table of contents: good practices

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The table of contents for websites provides an overview of the content and direct access to the specific topics covered in a page, article or post and is a resource that enhances user experience and SEO optimization.

In this note we will see why they are increasingly important in the structuring of our content. Let's go!!!

Origins of the table of contents
Tables of contents or indexes are a legacy of our rich book-based cultural tradition. A standard feature in book publishing for centuries, they have helped readers locate specific chapters by providing an exact page number for each section.

“In the digital age, printed indexes have adapted to new formats and are now used on websites, mobile devices and IoT interfaces to deliver organized and intuitive information to users,” says Rodrigo Quiroz, a journalist specializing in technology at Fusiona.

What is a table of contents
Simply put, a table of contents is an ordered list of hong kong whatsapp lead clickable headings leading to sections of content on the page. It allows users to navigate directly to any of the sections within the same page.

Example Table of Contents 1 Table of Contents: Good Practices
Example table of contents.
Benefits of using tables of contents in our articles
From the point of view of the writing and structure of our articles, a table of contents offers us the following benefits:

Provides a scannable overview of content and direct access to specific sections.
Allows for greater discoverability of sub-content.
Increased visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs).
“Just as there are readers who buy a book based on its index, it is very likely that a table of contents allows users to know in advance what the page or post has to offer them. This mental scan allows them to decide if the content in front of them satisfies their information needs,” Rodrigo notes.

Best practices for creating tables of contents
Here are some best practices you should consider when designing a table of contents:

Create scannable titles and subtitles
Table of contents titles should be concise and easy to read, allowing users to quickly grasp the essence of the page. “The watchword is no to the sabanazo, that is, no to long blocks of text without space, which tend to scare readers away,” says Rodrigo.

Do not include external links
Users expect links in the table of contents to take them to parts of the same content. Mixing external and internal links within a table of contents is not a good idea because the user expects anchor texts within the post, and you will be taking them away from the article, thus diverting their attention.

Include all your heading and subheading structure
A table of contents acts as a complete overview of the page. Omitting sections or showing only some sections can lead to confusion. Use this tool according to the standard, i.e. including all of your heading and subheading structure.

Use a consistent style
The style and format of the table of contents should be consistent throughout the website. A website without internal consistency forces users to relearn the pattern on each new page, which can be distracting or hindering their navigation.

Table of Contents and SEO
Among the benefits of using tables of contents on our pages, we already mentioned that they provide greater visibility on the search engine results page (SERP).

Now we will look in more detail at the reasons that drive this optimization:

Table of contents allow users to better understand the content of your posts or pages and provide valuable information to search engines, which can help improve your site's performance in SERPs.

This is because search engines use robots to crawl sites to index their content. If your website has a table of contents, robots can easily find the structure and information on your website, indexing it more effectively.

Along these lines, it is advisable to use relevant keywords in the table of contents. This is a given, because at this point they should reflect your H2 and H3 structure, which should already be optimized.