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Marketing & Sales · Tip

Heading Tag Hierarchy for On-Page SEO

Rules for structuring HTML heading tags to improve accessibility and search indexing

From the Xiry library · Updated 3 October 2026

This tip outlines best practices for ordering HTML heading tags (H1 through H6) on a web page. Following a strict hierarchical structure helps search engine crawlers understand content architecture and prevents common on-page SEO issues.

How it works

  1. Always start the page content with a single <h1> tag rather than an <h2>.
  2. Keep heading levels in strict sequential order (H1 -> H2 -> H3 -> H4); never skip levels directly (e.g. jumping straight from H1 to H4).
  3. Ensure main <h2> headings explicitly include the primary keywords you want the page to rank for, rather than generic or purely stylistic phrases.

What it's for

  • Audit page structure during an on-page SEO review
  • Format blog posts and landing pages to target primary keywords
  • Improve accessibility and screen reader navigation across website content

Key points

  • Use a single <h1> tag to define the page's primary topic
  • Maintain strict sequential heading order without skipping levels (H1 to H2 to H3)
  • Integrate target search keywords naturally into <h2> headings rather than generic text

Pricing

Free

Details

Type
Tip
Category
Marketing & Sales
Topic
Search Engine Optimization
Open source
No
Platforms
Web
For
Web developers, SEO specialists, and content writers
Tags
seo, html, on page seo, content structure, web dev

Why it was saved

  • @heytony.agency, 15 August 2023: Prevents common structural SEO mistakes that confuse search crawlers and harm keyword rankings.

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Updated