Heading Outline Analyzer

Extract the h1 to h6 outline of a page and find skipped ranks, empty headings and repeats.

How to use

What it checks and how it works

The tool parses the pasted HTML and lists every h1 to h6 element, and every element with role heading, in source order. It then checks for: no h1 or several; a rank that drops by more than one level, such as h2 followed by h4; empty headings; repeated heading text; and headings over 70 characters. Skipped ranks follow the W3C WAI page-structure tutorial, which says skipping heading ranks can be confusing and should be avoided where possible. That is an accessibility finding. Google's SEO Starter Guide says the order and number of headings do not matter for Google Search, so none of these findings is presented as a ranking factor. The 70-character filter is a default in Screaming Frog, not a Google or W3C rule. Limits: the tool reads only the HTML you paste. Headings added later by JavaScript appear only if you paste the rendered HTML from the inspector. It checks structure, not whether a heading describes its section well.

Should a page have exactly one h1?

The W3C examples use one main heading at rank 1, and the tool reports several as information. Google's SEO Starter Guide says the number of headings does not matter for Google Search.

Do heading levels affect rankings?

Google says the order and number of headings are not a ranking matter. Clear headings still help people and screen readers move through the page.

Why does my outline start at h2 or h3?

Menus and headers often hold headings that come before the main h1 in the source. The W3C tutorial allows the main heading to follow navigation, so the tool reports this as information.

Sources

Related tools

Privacy

Runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded. The interactive tool needs JavaScript.