Missing or multiple H1 headings and skipped heading levels

Give each page one H1 that names what the page is about, at the top of its main content. Use H2 for the page's sections and H3 for parts of a section, never jumping from H2 straight to H4. Most site builders turn the page or post title into the H1, so the headings you add inside the content start at H2.

Last updated 28 October 2026, when every step was checked against the vendor's documentation.

Why it matters

The H1 is the main heading of the page. Google lists heading elements such as <h1> among the sources it draws on when it writes the clickable headline of a search result, and people using screen readers move from heading to heading to find their way around a page. A page with no H1 gives neither of them its main title. SERPCompass treats an H1 that holds nothing, or only an image without alt text, as missing.

More than one H1 is allowed: the HTML standard shows conforming pages with several, and Google's SEO starter guide says there is no ideal number of headings. SERPCompass still notes it, because Google also says that when a page has more than one large, prominent heading and it is unclear which is the main title, it may use the first heading for the result's headline. Google's advice is to make the main title clearly the most prominent text, for example by putting it in the first visible <h1>.

A skipped level, such as an H2 followed by an H4, is an accessibility problem rather than a ranking one. Google says it does not matter to Search if headings are used out of order. The HTML standard asks that each heading be at most one level deeper than the one before it, and the W3C's accessibility tutorial says skipping levels can be confusing and should be avoided where possible.

An H1 identical to the title is not an error either. SERPCompass notes it because the title and the H1 can name the same topic in different words and so cover more of the ways people search for it; that is our advice, not a Google rule. In our audit a missing H1 is a warning; the other three are notices, our lowest severity.

The audit findings this guide fixes: Missing H1; Multiple H1 headings; H1 identical to the title; Heading levels skipped.

Find every page with this problem

Run the free scan on your domain. It reads every heading on each page it crawls, counts the H1s that have text or an image with alt text, compares the H1 with the title, and notes each place a heading is more than one level deeper than the one before it; pages set to noindex are left out. It shows your most urgent findings with the number of pages each affects; the Gap Report and a SERPCompass workspace list the affected pages themselves. To check one page by hand, view its source and search for <h1: there should be one match, with text in it.

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How to fix it on your platform

The <title> element is a separate field with its own guide; this one covers the headings inside the page.

WordPress

In most themes the post or page title is the page's H1, so start the headings you add in the content at H2. This can vary with the theme or page template.
To see the page's headings, click Document Overview in the editor's top toolbar and open the Outline tab, which shows the headings and how they are structured.
To change a heading's level, select the Heading block and choose the new level from the Transform button on the block toolbar, or with the H1 to H6 buttons in the block settings sidebar.
Update the post, then view the published page's source: if it still has no H1, or two of them, the theme or page template is marking up the title its own way.

Sources: Heading block (WordPress documentation); WordPress block editor (WordPress documentation).

WordPress with Yoast SEO

Yoast's single H1 assessment, in its SEO analysis, shows a red bullet when the body of your post contains an H1 anywhere other than the very beginning, because the title is already the H1.
In the block editor, click the eye icon next to that assessment to highlight the H1s in your content.
Click each highlighted heading and change it to H2, or a lower level that fits, from the menu above the block. Then update the post.

Source: Why you only need one H1 heading per post or page (Yoast).

Shopify

Shopify makes the title you enter for a product, collection, page or blog post into that page's H1, so put the words the page is about in its Title field.
In the description or content, use Heading 2 and below: highlight the text, click the Formatting button and choose the heading level.
Keep the levels in sequence: Shopify's accessibility guide warns that a heading level 2 followed by a level 4 can confuse visitors.
To check the content's markup, click Show HTML in the rich text editor; it should contain no <h1>.

Sources: Adding keywords for SEO to your Shopify store (Shopify Help Center); Using the rich text editor for content (Shopify Help Center); Accessibility for themes (Shopify Help Center).

Wix

Select the text element in the editor, click Edit Text, click SEO & accessibility and choose the heading level from the Choose HTML tag drop-down.
Give the page's main heading H1, its sections H2 and their parts H3.
Make sure no empty line break is set to the H1 text theme: Wix says these create blank H1 tags, which SERPCompass counts as an empty H1.

Source: Managing Your Page's Heading Tags (Wix Help Center).

Squarespace

Squarespace marks up page titles (on templates that show them), product titles on product pages, event titles and, in most templates, blog post titles as H1. Use Heading 2 and below for the sections of those pages.
To set a level, highlight the text and choose Heading 1 to Heading 4 with the text toolbar; Squarespace writes the matching <h1> to <h4> tag.
If a page shows no title of its own, format its main heading as Heading 1.
Add headings in descending order, from Heading 1 to Heading 3.

Source: Heading tags and Squarespace (Squarespace Help Center).

Plain HTML

Put one <h1> at the top of the page's main content that names the page's topic. The site name or logo in the header does not need to be the H1.
Mark up sections as <h2> and their parts as <h3>, and so on: each heading at most one level deeper than the heading before it. Going back up any number of levels, from an <h4> to an <h2>, is fine.
If the H1 is an image, such as a logo, give the image alt text: an H1 whose only content is an image without alt text is empty.
Choose each level for its place in the outline, not for its size, and change how headings look with CSS.

Sources: Headings and outlines (HTML Standard, WHATWG); Headings (W3C Web Accessibility Initiative).

Examples

Bad
```
<h1><img src="logo.png"></h1>
```
An H1 with nothing to read: SERPCompass counts the page as missing an H1.
Bad
```
<h1>Sunrise Bakery</h1>
...
<h1>Custom birthday cakes</h1>
```
Two H1s, the site name and the topic. Keep the topic as the H1 and make the site name a logo or plain text.

Bad

<h1>Custom birthday cakes</h1>
<h2>Flavours</h2>
<h4>Chocolate</h4>

The H4 follows an H2, so a level is skipped. Make it an <h3>.

Good

<header>
  <a href="/"><img src="logo.png" alt="Sunrise Bakery home"></a>
</header>
<main>
  <h1>Custom birthday cakes</h1>
  <h2>Flavours</h2>
  <h3>Chocolate</h3>
  <h3>Vanilla</h3>
  <h2>How to order</h2>
</main>

One H1 for the topic, sections in order, and the logo as a link with alt text rather than a heading.

Good

<title>Custom birthday cakes in Coimbatore | Sunrise Bakery</title>
...
<h1>Birthday cakes made to order</h1>

The title and the H1 name the same topic in different words.

Common mistakes

Adding a Heading 1 at the top of a post whose theme already shows the title as the H1, which leaves two.
Choosing a heading level for its size: a banner line marked H1 to look big, or an H4 under an H2 to look small. Pick the level for its place in the outline and change the look with the theme's styles.
Putting the H1 in a header every page shares, so every page has the same H1, usually the site's name, and the page's own topic has none.
Making a logo image the H1 without alt text, which leaves the H1 empty.
Marking text that is not a heading, such as a phone number or an offer, as a heading to make it stand out.
Styling the visible title to look like a heading without marking it up as one, so the page looks as if it has an H1 and its HTML has none.

Questions and answers

Is it bad to have more than one H1 on a page?

Not for Google: its SEO starter guide says there is no ideal number of headings, and the HTML standard allows several H1s. One H1 is still clearer. Google says that when a page has more than one large, prominent heading and it is unclear which is the main title, it may use the first heading for the result's headline. SERPCompass flags multiple H1s as a notice for that reason.

Does heading order matter for SEO?

Google says it does not matter to Search if headings are used out of order, though semantic order helps screen readers. The HTML standard and the W3C's accessibility tutorial ask for headings in order, so a skipped level is worth fixing for visitors who move around a page by its headings. SERPCompass flags it as a notice, not as a ranking problem.

Should the H1 be the same as the title tag?

It can be, and nothing breaks if they match. The title names the page in search results and browser tabs; the H1 heads the page itself, and Google can draw on both when it writes a result's headline. SERPCompass notes identical ones because different words for the same topic cover more of the ways people search. Keep them consistent in meaning.

Why does SERPCompass say my page has no H1 when I can see a big heading?

The heading you see may not be an H1 in the HTML: site builders often style text to look large without marking it up as a heading. Or the H1 may be empty, such as a logo image without alt text or a blank line set to the H1 style. View the page source and search for h1 to see which.

Can the logo be the H1?

It can, but then every page has the same H1, the site's name, rather than the page's topic. In the W3C's accessibility tutorial the main heading is the content heading, not the site name. If you keep a logo in an H1, give the image alt text, or the H1 is empty.

Title tags that are missing, duplicated or too long
Images missing alt text
Meta descriptions that are missing, duplicated, too long or too short
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Sources

Every step above was checked against these documents on 28 October 2026. Vendors change their menus; if a step no longer matches, the vendor's page is the authority.

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