diff --git a/public/app/features/explore/TraceView/components/model/trace-viewer.test.ts b/public/app/features/explore/TraceView/components/model/trace-viewer.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2895b6c0013
--- /dev/null
+++ b/public/app/features/explore/TraceView/components/model/trace-viewer.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+import { TraceSpan } from '../types';
+
+import { findHeaderTags } from './trace-viewer';
+
+describe('findHeaderTags()', () => {
+  it('return empty object when no spans are provided', () => {
+    const spans: TraceSpan[] = [];
+    expect(findHeaderTags(spans)).toEqual({});
+  });
+
+  it('return header tags when spans follow the OTEL semantic convention', () => {
+    const spans: TraceSpan[] = [
+      // @ts-ignore
+      {
+        tags: [
+          { key: 'http.request.method', value: 'GET' },
+          { key: 'http.response.status_code', value: '200' },
+          { key: 'http.route', value: '/api/users' },
+        ],
+      },
+    ];
+    expect(findHeaderTags(spans)).toEqual({
+      method: [{ key: 'http.request.method', value: 'GET' }],
+      status: [{ key: 'http.response.status_code', value: '200' }],
+      url: [{ key: 'http.route', value: '/api/users' }],
+    });
+  });
+
+  it('return header tags when spans follow the alternative convention', () => {
+    const spans: TraceSpan[] = [
+      // @ts-ignore
+      {
+        tags: [
+          { key: 'http.method', value: 'GET' },
+          { key: 'http.status_code', value: '200' },
+          { key: 'http.path', value: '/api/users' },
+        ],
+      },
+      // @ts-ignore
+      {
+        tags: [
+          { key: 'http.method', value: 'POST' },
+          { key: 'http.status_code', value: '404' },
+          { key: 'http.path', value: '/api/posts' },
+        ],
+      },
+    ];
+    expect(findHeaderTags(spans)).toEqual({
+      method: [{ key: 'http.method', value: 'GET' }],
+      status: [{ key: 'http.status_code', value: '200' }],
+      url: [{ key: 'http.path', value: '/api/users' }],
+    });
+  });
+
+  it('return header tags, prioritizing the spans that follow the OTEL semantinc convention', () => {
+    const spans: TraceSpan[] = [
+      // @ts-ignore
+      {
+        tags: [
+          { key: 'http.method', value: 'GET' },
+          { key: 'http.status', value: '200' },
+          { key: 'http.path', value: '/api/users' },
+        ],
+      },
+      // @ts-ignore
+      {
+        tags: [
+          { key: 'http.request.method', value: 'POST' },
+          { key: 'http.response.status_code', value: '404' },
+          { key: 'http.route', value: '/api/users' },
+        ],
+      },
+    ];
+    expect(findHeaderTags(spans)).toEqual({
+      method: [{ key: 'http.request.method', value: 'POST' }],
+      status: [{ key: 'http.response.status_code', value: '404' }],
+      url: [{ key: 'http.route', value: '/api/users' }],
+    });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/public/app/features/explore/TraceView/components/model/trace-viewer.ts b/public/app/features/explore/TraceView/components/model/trace-viewer.ts
index 9e68aa9ea45..14a359a33b9 100644
--- a/public/app/features/explore/TraceView/components/model/trace-viewer.ts
+++ b/public/app/features/explore/TraceView/components/model/trace-viewer.ts
@@ -56,7 +56,34 @@ export const getTraceName = memoize(_getTraceNameImpl, (spans: TraceSpan[]) => {
   return spans[0].traceID;
 });
 
+// Find header tags according to either old standard (e..g, `http.method`) or the
+// standard OTEL semantic convention, as per https://opentelemetry.io/docs/specs/semconv/http/http-spans
+// (e.g., `http.request.method`). Spans following the OTEL semantic convention are prioritized.
+//
+// Note that we are ignoring these cases:
+// - conventions are mixed, e.g., a span with method in `http.method` but status code in `http.response.status_code`
+// - tags are not in the same span, e.g., method in spans[0] but status in spans[1]
 export function findHeaderTags(spans: TraceSpan[]) {
+  // OTEL semantic convention
+  for (let i = 0; i < spans.length; i++) {
+    const method = spans[i].tags.filter((tag) => {
+      return tag.key === 'http.request.method';
+    });
+
+    const status = spans[i].tags.filter((tag) => {
+      return tag.key === 'http.response.status_code';
+    });
+
+    const url = spans[i].tags.filter((tag) => {
+      return tag.key === 'http.route';
+    });
+
+    if (method.length > 0 || status.length > 0 || url.length > 0) {
+      return { method, status, url };
+    }
+  }
+
+  // Non-standard convention
   for (let i = 0; i < spans.length; i++) {
     const method = spans[i].tags.filter((tag) => {
       return tag.key === 'http.method';
@@ -74,6 +101,7 @@ export function findHeaderTags(spans: TraceSpan[]) {
       return { method, status, url };
     }
   }
+
   return {};
 }