H1 Heading

The H1 headingThe H1 is a web page's main heading. It names the central topic, is visible to users and should generally appear only once per page.Open glossary entry → is the top element of the heading hierarchyThe heading hierarchy is the logical nesting of headings from H1 to H6 that structures a page's content, much like a table of contents.Open glossary entry → and describes a page's main topic. For users it confirms they are on the right page, for screen readers it is a key orientation point, and search engines use it for topical classification.

It is important that the H1 is a real <h1> element and not just visually large text in a <div> or <span>. Common problems:

• no H1 at all in the visible main content,
• the logo wrongly marked up as the H1,
• the H1 loaded only via JavaScript.

Best practice is one clear H1 per page. Multiple H1s are technically allowed and not an automatic penalty, but usually worse for clarity. H1 and title should align thematically without needing to be identical.

Rules that actually matter #

Use exactly one H1 per page and make it describe the page's core topic — it is the strongest on-page signal for what the document is about. The H1 may differ from the title tagThe title tag is an HTML element in the page that defines the page title. It appears in the browser tab and can be used as the clickable title in search results.Open glossary entry → (which optimizes for the search snippetA snippet is the compact display of a result in the search results, usually made up of a title, URL and description. It is what users see before clicking.Open glossary entry →), but both must target the same intent. Below the H1, keep the hierarchy clean: H2 for sections, H3 for subsections, no skipped levels.

Common mistakes #

Typical failures are pages whose "heading" is a styled <div> (no H1 at all), multiple H1s from careless components, and H1s that carry the brand name instead of the topic. Screen readers, crawlers and AI models all start reading at the H1 — it should tell them where they are.