Headings organise a page for readers and describe its structure to search engines. Both audiences benefit from the same thing: headings that accurately label what follows. Most heading advice complicates that unnecessarily.
The rules that matter
- One H1 per page, describing what the page is about. Multiple H1s are technically permitted and still a bad idea, because the page then has no single clear subject.
- H2s for main sections, H3s for subsections within them. Do not skip levels for styling reasons.
- Headings describe content, not keywords. A heading that does not label what follows is failing at its job.
- Order matters more than count. A logical sequence is worth more than any particular number of headings.
That is genuinely most of it. The remaining considerations are about what people get wrong rather than additional rules.
What goes wrong
Keyword repetition
The commonest fault. Every H2 containing a variation of the target term reads as optimisation rather than as structure, and it makes the page harder to scan. Headings should read as a table of contents someone could navigate by.
Headings used for styling
An H3 chosen because it looks the right size, breaking the hierarchy. Style with CSS; use heading levels for structure.
The H1 that is not the subject
On many sites the H1 is the site name or a tagline while the page subject sits in an H2. The H1 should say what this page is about, not what the business is called.
Skipped levels
Jumping from H2 to H4 breaks the outline and creates accessibility problems for screen reader users navigating by heading.
Headings with nothing under them
A heading followed immediately by another heading suggests a missing section, and at scale it is a signal of templated content that was never filled in.
Writing headings that work
- Make each one comprehensible out of context. Someone scanning should understand the page from the headings alone.
- Use the words readers use rather than internal terminology.
- Phrase as the question the section answers where that fits naturally.
- Keep them short enough to scan.
- Front-load the distinguishing word rather than opening every heading identically.
Headings and featured snippets
A heading phrased as a question with a direct answer immediately beneath it is the structure most often used for featured snippets. That is a reason to write clearly, not a reason to phrase everything as a question. Pages where every heading is an artificial question read poorly.
Accessibility
Screen readers let users navigate by heading, so a broken hierarchy is a genuine usability problem rather than only a technical one. This is the strongest argument for getting it right, and it happens to align with what search engines want.
Frequently asked questions
Can I have more than one H1?
HTML permits it. It remains inadvisable, because the page then has no single clear subject. One H1 stating the topic is the simpler and better answer.
Do headings affect rankings?
Modestly and indirectly. They help establish what a page covers and improve readability, which affects engagement. They are not a lever to pull for its own sake.
Should every heading contain the keyword?
No, and doing so makes the page worse. Headings should describe their sections. Natural terminology appears without forcing it.
How many headings should a page have?
As many as it has genuine sections. Adding headings to break up text that is not actually structured produces an outline that does not reflect the content.
Consulting CTA
If your pages are well written but structured for search engines rather than readers, book an SEO consultation for an on-page review.