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ValidateHTML

Skipped Heading Levels

Heading levels (H1-H6) should follow a logical hierarchy without skipping levels. Going from H1 directly to H3 (skipping H2) breaks the document outline. Screen readers use heading levels to build a table of contents for the page, and skipped levels create gaps in that structure.

Why It Matters

Screen reader users navigate by heading level. Skipped levels suggest missing content or broken structure. It's a WCAG 2.1 Level A best practice violation. Search engines also use heading hierarchy to understand content structure, so skipped levels can hurt SEO.

Code Examples

Inaccessible
<h1>ValidateHTML</h1>
<h3>HTML Validator</h3>    <!-- skipped H2 -->
<h3>CSS Validator</h3>
<h5>Advanced Options</h5>  <!-- skipped H4 -->
Accessible
<h1>ValidateHTML</h1>
<h2>Our Tools</h2>
<h3>HTML Validator</h3>
<h3>CSS Validator</h3>
<h4>Advanced Options</h4>

How to Fix

  • 1Start with one H1 per page (your main title).
  • 2Use H2 for major sections, H3 for subsections within H2s, and so on.
  • 3Never skip a level. Don't go from H2 to H4 without an H3 in between.
  • 4Don't choose heading levels based on font size. Use CSS for styling, headings for structure.

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