Heading Structure Checker
Audit your H1–H6 hierarchy.
Checked from our server. One location, so results show reachability from there only.
What the heading structure checker does
Headings are the skeleton of a page. Readers skim them to find their place, screen-reader users jump between them, and search engines use them to understand how the content is organised. This checker fetches a page from our server, pulls out every H1 to H6 in the order they appear, and draws them as an indented outline so you can see the structure at a glance.
It’s useful when a theme or page builder picks heading levels for visual reasons, when several writers have edited a long article, or as part of an accessibility review. Problems that are hard to spot by eye, such as a sidebar widget using an H1, show up straight away in the outline.
How to use the heading structure checker
- Paste the page URL.
- Press Check headings.
- Review the outline. Skipped levels and empty headings are highlighted, with counts for each level.
Understanding the results
A summary line tells you whether the outline has problems, followed by the specific findings. A page with no H1 is marked as a failure. More than one H1, headings that skip a level, and empty headings are warnings. If the first heading on the page comes before the H1, you’ll see a note, which often points to a logo or banner marked up as a heading. Below that, a row of counters shows how many headings exist at each level.
In the outline, each heading is indented by its level and flagged if it skips a level or has no text. Only steps downwards count as skips: going from H4 back up to H2 to start a new section is fine. If a heading contains just an image, we use its alt text, so a logo with good alt text won’t be reported as empty. A sound outline usually reads like a table of contents. If yours doesn’t, change the heading levels in your HTML and leave the sizes to CSS.
Questions
Can a page have more than one H1?
HTML allows it, but one H1 that names the page is clearest for readers, screen readers and search engines.
Why do skipped levels matter?
Screen-reader users jump between headings by level. Going from H2 straight to H4 makes the structure harder to follow.
Are headings added by JavaScript included?
No. We read the HTML the server sends, without running scripts.
Can headings be styled to look smaller or larger?
Yes. Choose the level for structure and use CSS for size. A heading should never be picked just for how it looks.
Is there a limit on how many headings are shown?
The outline shows the first 300 headings, while the counters include all of them. We read the first 1 MB of the page’s HTML.