Your page doesn't have one clear main heading

Applies to

every page

Typical severity

low

Effect on conversions

medium

Effort to fix

Quick to fix

What to look for

Zero or more than one H1.

Why it matters

The main heading, the H1, tells people what the page is about the moment it loads. A clear H1 helps visitors confirm they're in the right place.

Screen reader users often jump straight to the H1 to find where the content starts. Search engines also use headings to understand the topic of the page. Several H1s, or none, make that harder for everyone.

What good looks like

The page has exactly one H1 element. We count the H1 tags on the page. Zero fails, and more than one fails. The H1 should say plainly what the page offers.

How to check it yourself

1. Open the page, right-click the main heading and choose Inspect. The developer tools show whether it is an h1, h2 or something else.
2. To count H1s, open the Console tab in developer tools and paste: document.querySelectorAll("h1").length
3. Free extensions such as HeadingsMap show the full heading outline of the page.
4. Check that the H1 is the visible main heading, not a logo, a hidden element or a small label.

How to fix it

• Choose the one heading that best describes the page and make it the H1.
• Change any other H1s to H2 or H3, depending on where they sit in the structure.
• Style headings with CSS. Pick the heading level for its meaning, not for how big it looks.
• If your theme wraps the logo in an H1 on every page, change it to a plain element or link.
• In page builders, the heading block usually has a level setting such as H1, H2 or H3.

<header>
  <a href="/" class="logo">Smith Heating</a>  <!-- not an h1 -->
</header>
<main>
  <h1>Boiler servicing in Leeds</h1>
  <h2>What's included</h2>
  <h2>Prices</h2>
</main>

Common mistakes

• Making the logo the H1 on every page.
• Using H1 for every large piece of text in the hero section.
• Hiding the H1 from view, or making it say Welcome.
• Using a styled div or paragraph instead of a real heading element.

AgoraScan measures this automatically on every page it audits, on desktop and mobile.

Based on

• WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.6 Headings and Labels
• Google Search Central