Heading structure checker
On-PagePaste page HTML to see its H1 to H6 outline and catch missing or multiple H1s, skipped levels and empty headings. Free, no signup, and it runs entirely in your browser.
Outline
How to use it
- View your page source, copy the HTML and paste it in.
- Click Check headings.
- Review the counts, the list of issues and the indented outline.
Why heading structure matters
Headings give a page its shape. The H1 names the page's main topic, H2s mark the major sections, and H3s through H6 break those sections into smaller parts. Readers skim headings to decide whether a page has what they need. Screen reader users often jump from heading to heading to navigate. Search engines use headings as one of several clues to understand how a page's content is organized.
A clean outline does not guarantee rankings, but a messy one makes a page harder to use for everyone.
What this checker finds
- H1 count. One clear H1 is the simplest, most readable setup. The tool flags pages with none or with several.
- Skipped levels. Jumping from an H2 straight to an H4 breaks the outline. The checker lists each skip and the heading where it happens.
- Empty headings. Heading tags with no text, often left behind by page builders or icon fonts, confuse assistive technology.
- Long headings. Headings over 90 characters are flagged, since headings work best when they are short and scannable.
- First heading. If the page starts with something other than the H1, the tool notes it.
The outline view indents each heading by level, so you can read the page's structure the way a screen reader or crawler sees it.
How to fix common problems
Many issues come from themes and page builders that use heading tags for styling. A sidebar widget title or a footer label set as an H2 or H4 adds noise to the outline. The fix is to change those elements to styled paragraph or span tags, and use real headings only for content sections.
If you find multiple H1s, keep the one that names the page's main topic and change the rest to H2s. For skipped levels, either promote the lower heading or add the missing parent section. Write headings that describe what follows, ideally in words a searcher would recognize. Question-style H2s also work well as the source for an FAQ section, which you can mark up with our FAQ schema generator.
Getting the right HTML
Use your browser's view source option on the live page, select everything and paste it in. This checks what the server delivers. If your site builds headings with JavaScript after the page loads, copy the rendered HTML from your browser's developer tools instead. For a site-wide look at structure and other on-page issues, see our SEO audit.
Questions, answered
Is it wrong to have more than one H1?
It will not break anything, and Google has said it can handle multiple H1s. Still, one H1 that clearly names the page topic is easier for readers and screen reader users to follow. Extra H1s usually come from themes or logos marked up as headings, and changing them to H2s is a simple cleanup.
Do skipped heading levels hurt SEO?
There is no known direct penalty. The bigger issue is accessibility and clarity. Screen reader users rely on heading levels to understand how sections relate, and a jump from H2 to H4 suggests a missing section. Keeping levels in order makes the page easier to navigate and its structure easier to interpret.
Why does the checker show headings I cannot see on the page?
Hidden menus, sidebar widgets, footers, cookie banners and pop-ups often use heading tags. They are in the HTML even when they are not visible in the main content. Review each one and decide whether it is a real content heading. If not, ask your developer to change it to a styled non-heading element.
Can I check a page that loads content with JavaScript?
Yes, but paste the rendered HTML rather than the raw source. Open your browser's developer tools, copy the outer HTML of the page's html or body element, and paste that in. The plain view source option may not include headings that scripts add after the page loads.
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