Have you ever looked at a site and thought, “Wow, this is a great looking website” — then peek under the hood and see eight H1 tags on the homepage? Yikes.
(I’m looking at you, Charity Water)
It happens all the time. Designers and DIYers pick heading tags based on how they want them to look instead of what they mean. But headings aren’t just about making text bigger or bolder. They’re one of the most important parts of your site’s structure — and they directly impact design, accessibility, and SEO.
I get it. It’s easy to reach for an H1 because it looks good for a section title, or toss in an H5 because it fits the style (guilty). But when you do that, you’re building your site’s hierarchy based on visuals, not meaning. And that can hurt your site more than you realize.
Headings communicate structure
H1 through H6 tags create a logical outline for your content. Search engines, assistive tech (like screen readers), and browsers all use that outline to understand what’s most important on a page.
There should only be one H1 per page, and each heading level should follow a clear, structured hierarchy — much like a nested table of contents.
Let’s take a look at Charity Water’s homepage structure:
See how they jump from an H1 to an H3, or from an H2 to an H5? That kind of skipped hierarchy may look fine on the front end, but it’s poor semantic structure. It confuses Google, assistive devices, and anyone trying to make sense of your code later.
But this is where things get messy, when design becomes priority over proper code.
The good news? You can have the best of both. With proper styling, any element can look the way you want — without breaking your heading hierarchy.
The hardest part is breaking the habit of choosing a heading tag based on style alone.
Design to Dollars takeaway
Strong visual design starts with solid structure. When your heading tags reflect meaning — not just looks — your site becomes more understandable, more accessible, and more discoverable. And that leads to a better user experience and stronger visibility.
See you next time,
