Heading checker

What headings do

Headings — <h1> to <h6> — are the outline of a page. The H1 is its main heading, the H2s are its sections and the H3s sit inside those. People scanning a page read the headings first, and screen reader users jump between them to find their way around.

For Google, the main heading is one of the places it may take a result's title from when it does not use the title tag. Its documentation suggests "putting the title text in the first visible <h1> element on the page", and warns that several headings of equal weight can make the main title unclear (Google: title links).

What this checker looks for

• No H1. The page has no main heading with words in it.
• Several H1s. Valid HTML and not a penalty, but usually a sign the page has no single subject.
• Skipped levels. An H2 followed directly by an H4. This is about readers, not ranking: the W3C advises nesting headings properly, and Google says heading order makes no difference to Search.
• Empty headings. Usually an icon inside a heading tag. A screen reader announces it as a heading with nothing in it.

On a page built by JavaScript the headings may only exist after a script runs. We read the HTML the server sends and say so when we spot a framework; a full audit renders the page the way Google does.

Next: check the title and meta tags, or preview the Google snippet.