Why heading structure matters
Headings are the outline of a page. Search engines use them to understand what each section is about, and screen reader users jump between them to navigate. A clean outline helps both. A messy one, with headings chosen for their font size rather than their meaning, makes a page harder to scan for people and crawlers alike.
What a good outline looks like
- One H1 that names the page's topic. It usually matches the title tag's intent without repeating it word for word.
- H2s for the main sections. Think of them as the table of contents.
- H3s inside H2s for subsections, and so on down. Go one level at a time.
- Text in every heading. An icon or image with no alt text produces an empty heading.
What the analyzer flags
- No H1. Common on homepages where the logo is the only big text. Add an H1, even a visually hidden one is better than none, though a visible one is best.
- Multiple H1s. HTML5 allows it, and Google says it copes, but one H1 is clearer for everyone. Turn the extra ones into H2s.
- Skipped levels. An H2 followed by an H4 usually means a heading was picked for its style. Change the tag and keep the look with CSS.
- Empty headings. Remove them or give them text.
- No H2s on a long page. Break the content into sections.
Headings and keywords
Put the words people search for in your H1 and H2s where they read naturally. Do not stuff them. A heading like "Pricing" beats "Best cheap affordable pricing plans". For the words in the body, the keyword density checker shows what the page actually emphasises, and the SEO checker covers the rest of the on-page basics.