SiteAud!tLint Support

Opportunity On-Page SEO

Multiple H1 headings

Severity
Opportunity
Impact
Low
Effort to fix
Low
Issue code
h1_multiple

Why it matters

Several H1s can dilute the main topic signal and weaken the heading hierarchy.

How to fix it

Use a single H1 and structure the remaining sections with H2 and H3.

What this means

The page has more than one <h1> heading. The evidence shows how many.

SiteAud!tLint counts every <h1> in the HTML, including ones hidden with CSS, such as a heading inside a closed mobile menu.

Why it matters

HTML allows several H1s, and Google has said they are not a problem for ranking. This is an opportunity, not an error. It is worth checking because:

  • Screen reader users jump to the H1 to find the page's main topic. Several H1s make the outline unclear.
  • It often reveals a template mistake, such as the logo, a sidebar widget or a hidden duplicate heading marked up as H1.
  • One clear main heading makes the page's topic unambiguous.

Common causes

  • The logo or site name wrapped in an H1 on every page, as well as the page title.
  • A desktop and a mobile version of the same heading, one hidden with CSS.
  • Page builder blocks that each use H1 for their own title.
  • Widget or section titles in the sidebar or footer marked up as H1.

How to fix it

  1. Decide which heading is the page's main topic and keep it as the only H1.
  2. Change the others to <h2> or lower according to the structure, or to a non-heading element if they are not headings at all, like a logo.
  3. Where a heading is duplicated for mobile, render one heading and style it responsively.

Verify the fix

Recrawl. The URL details list each H1 found, so you can see which one was removed. See also Missing H1.

How it affects your score

Finding this issue on any page costs the On-Page SEO score 0.5 points, plus up to 4 more depending on the share of crawled pages affected. A smaller improvement with a modest effect on its own.

Find the affected URLs

Open Crawl > Issues and pick Multiple H1 headings. Each affected URL is listed with its evidence, and Copy URLs or Export URLs hands the list to a developer. The issue also appears in the Action Plan, ranked by impact (low) and effort (low), and in the issues CSV under the code h1_multiple. After fixing, run a new audit and use Compare to confirm the URLs moved to fixed.