Heading Structure Checker

Paste a URL to see its full H1–H6 outline, whether it has exactly one H1, and where the hierarchy skips a level — free, instant, no signup.

What this checks & how to fix it

It fetches the page and builds the same heading outline a screen reader or Google's content parser would see, then checks two specific things: whether there is exactly one H1 on the page, and whether every heading level increases by one step at a time rather than jumping (an H2 followed directly by an H4, for example).

How to fix what it finds

If you have zero or multiple H1s, pick the single heading that best represents the page's main topic and make that the only H1 — demote the rest to H2 or lower. For skipped levels, insert the missing intermediate heading, or if a section genuinely doesn't need its own heading, remove the deeper one rather than leaving a gap in the sequence.

Frequently asked questions

Why does having exactly one H1 matter?

The H1 is the strongest signal on the page for what it's actually about — both to search engines and to a screen reader user navigating by headings. Multiple H1s dilute that signal; zero H1s leave the page's main topic ambiguous. One clear H1 per page is the standard both Google and accessibility guidelines converge on.

What does 'skipping a heading level' mean, and why is it flagged?

Going from an H2 straight to an H4 without an H3 in between breaks the logical outline of the page. Sighted users skim past this without noticing, but a screen reader user navigating by heading level experiences it as a confusing jump — and it also makes it harder for search engines to parse which content is a subsection of which.

Does heading structure actually affect rankings?

Not as a direct ranking factor on its own, but it affects two things that do matter: how easily Google can parse the topical structure of your content (which feeds into how well it matches complex queries), and how usable the page is for anyone using assistive technology — which is both a ranking-adjacent signal and simply the right thing to get right.

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