Headings and Landmarks Checker
Checks H1 signal, heading hierarchy, and main area across multiple sitemap URLs. Helps with screen reader navigation, content structure and technical onpage quality.
Side structure
H1, heading jumps and main landmark.
Analyze accessibility and other test areas together: up to 20 URLs for free. Full website audit for one-off 99 € net or SEO Suite from 19 € net monthly.
Why Headings and Landmarks Are Important
Headings and landmarks are the navigation map of a page. Screen reader users often jump from headline to headline or to main areas such as Maintenance, navigation and footer.
A clear structure is also helpful for SEO: Search engines and users understand faster what a page is about and how content belongs to each other.
Typical structural problems
- No H1 or multiple competing H1 headings.
- Jumps in the heading hierarchy, such as from H2 directly to H4.
- No clearly recognisable main area with Maintenance.
- Template areas that repeat the same structural errors on many sitemap URLs.
Headings & Landmarks FAQ
Can one side have several H1s?
HTML allows for different structures, but for comprehensibility, SEO and screen reader navigation, a clear headline per page is usually the most robust solution.
What is a Landmark?
Landmarks are semantic areas such as header, navigation, main and footer. They help assistive technologies to control page areas quickly.
Structure makes pages scannable
Headings and landmarks give users a map of the page. This helps screen reader users, but also search engines and editors, because main content, navigation, secondary areas and footers are clearly separated from each other.
Prioritisation in practice
- Ensure a clear H1 per document or main view
- Correct heading jumps in reused components
- Use main, nav, header, footer and aside consciously
Next meaningful check
Especially landing pages, tool pages and long guides benefit from a structural review before the final publication.
When structural problems are critical
Structural errors are particularly relevant on long guides, tool pages, product pages and dashboards. There, users often jump between areas, results, filters and recommendations. A clear document structure reduces search effort and makes the content more robust.
For content hubs, it is also worth taking a look at recurring teasers and sidebar modules. Incorrect heading levels in components can distort the entire page logic.
Make multiple navigation areas distinguishable
Practical example · for illustration
Starting position
A page contains main menu, breadcrumb navigation, and footer links.
Classify the findings
Multiple nav areas may make sense, but should remain distinguishable with unique accessible names.
Specific amendment
For example, use aria-label="main navigation" and aria-label="bread crumb navigation"; divide the main content into main.
Control and border
Go through landmarks and headings with screen reader or accessibility tree. The hierarchy must correspond to the content, not the desired font size.