Organize the page with a single H1 and headed sections
Description
This criterion checks that the visible headings on your page form a readable outline. iPand checks three points: the page has exactly one visible H1; levels follow each other without skipping when going down (an H2 directly followed by an H4 is a skip); a main text longer than 300 words has at least two H2s.
The last point is not evaluated when the main text is 300 words or fewer.
Why it matters for AI engines
Headings split the page into parts that a reader, a screen reader or a program can locate and reuse separately. A clear outline makes it possible to find the passage that answers a specific question, and the H1 says what the whole page is about.
- Google uses the H1, among other sources, to build the page’s title link in its results.
- Several H1s, or none, leave the page’s main subject unclear.
- A long text without H2s forms a single block, with no passage introduced by a heading.
How to fix it
- 1 Keep a single H1 that states the subject Give the page a single visible H1 heading that states its subject, close to its <title>. The logo, the site name or box titles repeated on every page should not be H1s: turn them into plain text or a lower level.
- 2 Restore the order of levels Below the H1, use H2s for the main sections, then H3s for their subsections, without skipping a level when going down. If a level was chosen for its display size, keep the right level and set the size in the stylesheet.
- 3 Split the text into headed sections If the main text exceeds 300 words, split it into at least two sections, each introduced by an H2 that says what it contains. An explicit heading such as “Delivery times in France” works better than a vague one such as “Learn more”.
- 4 Check the page outline Go through the <h1> to <h6> tags in your browser’s inspection tool: in order, they should read like the page’s table of contents. iPand only counts visible headings: a hidden heading is left out of the calculation.
Key takeaway
A single H1 and headed sections in the right order turn the page into an outline anyone can follow. iPand checks these three points every day on visible headings.
