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Why Heading Structure Matters

Headings aren’t just visual styling — they’re the outline screen-reader users (and search engines) use to understand and navigate your page.

One H1, then nest in order

Use a single H1 for the page’s main topic, then H2 for sections and H3 for subsections. Don’t skip from H2 to H4 — it breaks the outline assistive tech builds.

Don’t fake headings with bold text

Large bold text that isn’t a real heading element gives screen readers nothing to navigate by. Use actual heading tags and style them with CSS.

A bonus for SEO

The same clean heading structure that helps assistive tech also helps search engines understand your content — accessibility and SEO reinforce each other.

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The WCAG 2.1 AA Checklist for Small BusinessesADA Website Lawsuits, ExplainedHow to Write Alt Text (With Examples)Color Contrast Requirements (WCAG 1.4.3)How to Build Accessible FormsKeyboard Navigation & Focus