# H1 heading

> The H1 is the main heading of a page, the `<h1>` element. It tells readers and search engines what the page is about, so each page should have exactly one.

- **Check ID:** S3
- **Area:** [SEO](https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo)
- **Tool:** [SEO + Security + Performance](https://be1st.ai/tools/ssp-audit)
- **Page:** https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo/h1-heading

## Why it matters

The H1 heading is the second most important on-page SEO element after the title tag. It helps search engines and users quickly understand the main topic of the page. Exactly one H1 per page is the established standard.

## In practice

Google.com always uses exactly one H1 for every article on its blog. Pages with multiple H1 headings confuse search engines about the content hierarchy and can lower rankings.

## How be1st checks it

Checks whether the page contains exactly one H1 heading. The H1 is the main heading of the page, which tells search engines what the page is about. Multiple H1s or no H1 at all are problematic.

[SEO + Security + Performance](https://be1st.ai/tools/ssp-audit), SEO tab.

Every check ends as: Pass, Warning, Fail.

## Sources

- [SEO Starter Guide](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/seo-starter-guide) (Google Search Central)
- [Lighthouse SEO Audits](https://web.dev/articles/pass-lighthouse-seo-audit) (web.dev)

## Related terms

- [Title tag](https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo/title-tag): The title tag is the HTML `<title>` element that names a page. Browsers show it in the tab and search engines usually use it as the clickable headline of a result.
- [Heading hierarchy](https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo/heading-hierarchy): Heading hierarchy is the order of headings from H1 to H6. A correct outline nests them by level without skipping any, like the chapters and sections of a book.
- [Canonical URL](https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo/canonical-url): A canonical URL is the preferred address of a page, set with `<link rel='canonical'>`. It tells search engines which version to index when the same content has several URLs.
- [Viewport meta tag](https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo/viewport-meta-tag): The viewport meta tag tells mobile browsers how wide to lay out a page and how to scale it. Without it, a phone shows a shrunken desktop page.
- [Robots meta tag](https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo/robots-meta-tag): The robots meta tag gives search engines instructions for one page, such as noindex (keep it out of results) or nofollow (do not follow its links).
- [Open Graph tags](https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo/open-graph-tags): Open Graph tags are meta tags with the og: prefix that set the title, description and image a page shows when it is shared on Facebook, LinkedIn, Slack and other apps.