The page has one main heading

What this is

Headings on a web page come in sizes. The biggest is called an h1. It is the main heading, the one that says what the whole page is about. Smaller headings (h2, h3) sit under it, like chapter titles under a book title.

A page should have exactly one h1. On your homepage, that is usually your business name or what you do, like “Counseling for Families in Castle Rock”.

This is different from the hidden page title. See Title and description are filled in for that.

Why it matters to you

This is a 3-point check, so it is a “nice to have”. A parser (the program that reads your page) uses the h1 as the single clearest statement of the page’s subject. With zero, it has to guess from everything else. With several, it has to pick one, and it may pick “Latest News” instead of your business name.

Fixing it is quick and it makes your page easier for people to read too.

What we look for

We count the <h1> tags on your homepage.

• Pass: exactly one h1. Full points.
• Warn: two or more h1s. You get 2 of 3 points.
• Fail: no h1 at all. Zero points.

Whether you can fix this yourself

Yes. On every major platform, heading size is a choice you make in the editor. No code needed.

How to fix it

The rule is simple: one h1 per page, and make it the plain subject of the page.

WordPress

Edit the homepage. Click your main heading block. In the block settings, set the heading level to H1. Then check the other headings on the page and set them to H2 or H3. Some themes put your site name in an h1 automatically. If so, make your page’s own big heading an H2 instead so there is only one.

Squarespace or Wix

Click a text block, and the text style menu offers “Heading 1”, “Heading 2” and so on. Use Heading 1 once, at the top. Use Heading 2 for everything else. Wix also lets you set the heading tag directly in the text settings if the style names do not match.

Shopify

Most themes put the homepage’s first section heading in an h1. If you have zero, add a heading section at the top. If you have several, search your theme’s help for “heading level” or ask your theme’s support.

Your own site or a developer

Use one <h1> in the page body. Change any other <h1> to <h2>. If the logo is wrapped in an h1 in the header, unwrap it and let the page content own the h1.

How to check it worked

Right-click your homepage, choose “View page source”, and search for <h1. You should find it once. Then run the free check again.

Do not worry about

The look of the heading. Heading level (h1, h2) and heading style (size, font, colour) are separate things. You can make your h1 small and your h2 big if that is what your design needs. This check only counts the tag.