The title of your post or page usually gets the H1 heading tag. It’s only logical to give your post one title, right? Having more than one H1 is like saying: “Hey, this text is actually about two topics that are of equal importance.” That’s why we warn you with a red feedback bullet if you use more than one H1 heading. Here, we’ll explain why we believe your post or page doesn’t need multiple H1 headings.
Heading structure and SEO
In WordPress, headings are ordered in ranks (or levels). The highest rank is H1, and that is the title of your post or page. In the rest of the text, you use H2 – H6 headings. With them, you indicate the importance of each section and how it relates to the rest of the text. So, when a reader lands on your page, the headings help them make sense of the content. It helps readers to scan the text and learn how it fits together.
Search engines also “read” headings and try to understand the structure of your text. Instead of the regular text that you read, they go to the HTML version of your site and read the HTML heading tags. The headings help them comprehend the relative importance of a (sub)topic of your text.
One or multiple H1s?
As mentioned above, the H1 is the title of your post (not to be confused with the SEO title). We advise using the H1 heading only once. We believe that’s the best choice, because:
1. Headings help readers and Google understand your text. If there are multiple H1 headings, your readers and Google might get confused. When there’s no clear distinction between main and subtopics, people might get confused, distracted, or even frustrated. As a result, they may leave your site.
2. Proper use of headings makes your text more accessible. Think of visually impaired people who use screen readers. These devices can use headings to navigate through your text. More than one H1 in one article complicates this and without visual cues it might confuse people even more.
Of course, it is perfectly acceptable to use the other headings as much as you need. Still, you should keep in mind that headings are hierarchical. For example, you should use H2 before you use H3 within a particular topic.
Finding and changing your H1 headings
To make sure your post doesn’t contain double titles, you will need to find all H1s in your text and change them to a lower heading level.
Changing an H1 heading in the classic editor
If you click one of your headings in the classic editor, the clickable drop-down menu in the upper left corner will show the heading level you’ve selected. You can change it to another level by opening the drop-down menu and selecting another level.
Changing an H1 heading in the block editor
If you want to check or change the level of your headings, just click them. The menu bar above the block shows you the level of the heading. That is if this heading is an H2, H3, or H4. If it’s an H1, H5 or H6, you can only see this in the Headings Settings in the sidebar.