Heading structure checker
Paste HTML and get a list of every heading, in order, so you can check the structure at a glance.
How to get the HTML
In most browsers, right-click the page and choose View page source, then copy everything. Or paste just the main content area from your CMS’s HTML view.
What a good structure looks like
One H1 that says what the page is about. H2s for the main sections. H3s for points inside a section. Don’t skip from H2 to H4, and don’t use headings just to make text bigger.
Common problems it catches
Two H1s, often because the logo or a banner is marked up as a heading. No H1 at all. Headings that are just a keyword with no meaning, such as “Plumber London” repeated three times.
How to use it
- Open the page you want to check and view its source, or copy the HTML from your editor.
- Paste it into the box.
- Press the check button.
- Read the outline from top to bottom. It should read like a contents list for the page.
What it checks
It lists every heading from H1 to H6 in the order it appears in the HTML. Under the list it tells you how many H1s it found, and warns if there’s none, more than one, or if a heading skips a level, such as an H2 followed straight by an H4.
It reads the HTML you paste. If your site adds headings with JavaScript after the page loads, they may not be in the source, so check the page in your browser’s developer tools too.
Headings and accessibility
People who use screen readers often move around a page by jumping from heading to heading. A clear outline lets them find the section they need quickly. That’s one reason a sensible heading structure is worth fixing even if it makes no visible difference to your rankings.
Next step
This tool checks one page. If your theme adds a second H1 to every page, the same fix in the theme settings will put the whole site right.
On the £99 plan we check and fix the headings on your key pages as part of each month’s page improvements.
A worked example
Paste the HTML of a typical homepage and you might see an H1 for the logo, another H1 for the banner text and a row of H4s for service boxes. The checker will show two H1s and a skipped level from H1 to H4.
The fix is usually in the theme settings: make the logo an image without a heading, keep the banner text as the single H1, and make the service box titles H2s or H3s. Most site builders let you change a heading level in the text editor without touching code.
Related reading
Our heading structure guide explains why this matters for readers and accessibility as well as search.
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