Headings are used to structure the textual content of a web page and are an important on-page factor for both SEO and AI retrieval. The most important heading is the H1 heading followed by the H2 and H3. There are six levels of headings available from H1 to H6. The H1 heading should contain the main subject of a page. To make sure bots and crawlers are correctly interpreting your content it’s recommended to use just a single H1 tag per page.
Automation TIP : Analyse headings using our API end-point →
Use headings to create a logical hierarchy focussed on the content reader. Use a single H1 to define the primary topic and H2 headings for sub-topics or subsections. H3 – H6 headings can be used to provide additional structure for more complex topics and subsections. To optimize content visibility and accessibility, headings should be descriptive, keyword-rich, and, where appropriate, question-based. This will improve:
Headings are important for SEO because they structure content, making it easy for search engines to understand the page’s topic, hierarchy, and relevance. This helps search engines analyze the content’s relevance to specific queries.
Headings are weighted more heavily than body text in: Search engine indexing, Semantic embeddings and AI-based answer generation. To improve AI visibility (LLM citations, AI answers, semantic retrieval) for your content, a clear heading structure is key.
Ann Smarty featured this tool as part of her blog post: How (and Why) to Create an Effective Content Structure for Better Ranking
“To quickly see your (or your competitor’s) on-page subheads, use this handy tool which extracts HTML headings from any web page. …extract subheadings from any page and read through them to make sure they make sense even without the full context, flow well and provide a good outline of your on-page content.” Ann Smarty — Internet Marketing Ninjas
Recommended : use AI to create a list of 25 different headline options that are sure to captivate your audience. Headline generator →