One H1 per page: why it matters and how to fix it
Your H1 is the main headline of a page. Here's why one clear H1 helps SEO, and how to fix multiple or missing H1s — no code needed.
The H1 is the main headline of a page — the big one at the top that says what the page is about. Search engines use it as a strong signal of the page's topic, and screen readers use it to orient visitors. It's one of the fastest on-page fixes there is.
The rule is simple: one clear H1 per page, describing what's on that page.
The two common problems
Missing H1. Some templates style the headline as plain text or an H2, so the page has no H1 at all. Google has to guess what the page is about.
Multiple H1s. Page builders sometimes wrap several sections in H1 tags — a hero, a banner, a sidebar — so one page has three or four. That dilutes the signal and confuses the structure.
How to check in 20 seconds
Right-click the page → "View page source" → press Ctrl/Cmd-F → search for <h1. Count the results. You want exactly one, and it should read like the page's real title.
Or run an audit and it lists every page with a missing or duplicated H1, ranked by how much it matters.
How to fix it
The fix depends on your platform, but it's almost always a settings or block change, not code:
- WordPress: open the page in the editor, click the headline block, set it to "Heading 1." Make sure your theme's hero isn't also an H1 (check the theme's heading settings).
- Shopify / Webflow / Squarespace: select the headline element and change its tag/format to H1; downgrade any extra H1s to H2.
Good structure:
H1 — Emergency Plumbing in Austin, TX (one, top of page)
H2 — Services we offer
H2 — Service areas
H2 — Book a call-out
Why it's worth doing first
Heading fixes take minutes and apply to your most important pages all at once. They won't transform your traffic on their own — but they're free, fast, and they make every other improvement read more clearly to Google.
If you'd rather not hunt through every page, Dascenda flags the exact pages with H1 problems and tells you which to fix first by impact. Start with the page you most want to rank — usually a money page like services or pricing — and work down the list.