HTML Headings

Headings are used in a couple of ways, and there are some things to keep in mind when you’re choosing heading tags for your page.

  • You will only ever have one <h1></h1> per page. 
  • Your <h1></h1> will always be the first heading on the page.
  • Heading levels (<h1></h1>, <h2></h2>, <h3></h3>, <h4></h4>, <h5></h5>, <h6></h6>) will always be used in order. Never skip levels.
  • Heading tags aren’t used for styling, they add meaning.
  • Headings generally label or describe a group of content. The <h1></h1> describes the topic of the whole page, any <h2></h2>s will be used for sub-topics, <h3></h3>s will be used for subtopics for the topics in the <h2></h2>s, etc.
  • You will never have more than one heading inside of a single semantic container (a container nested inside of another container will have a heading though).
  • If you have ever done an outline for a paper, know that the headings on your page create a sort of outline by topic, which can help you to understand how the content on the page relates to the other content.