A page has more than one H1 heading

Why it matters

Google has said that several H1s are fine for ranking. Headings still help people and programs understand a page, and Google may use the page's main heading when it builds a title link, so one clear H1 avoids ambiguity.

What to do

Look at the finding: it gives the number of H1s and, for up to 25 of them, the position and text, up to 500 characters each; a hidden H1 may show no text.
Keep the one that names the page's main subject, and change the others, such as a logo or a sidebar title, to another element.
Check again with this one address once the change is live.

When to leave it as it is: if the extra H1s are deliberate and the page's main subject is still clear, you can leave it; the check only counts H1 elements.

What we read

We read the HTML each page returned, without running JavaScript, and count every <h1> element, whatever it contains. Empty ones, ones marked hidden or aria-hidden, ones hidden with CSS and ones inside <noscript> or <template> all count.

Every page that answered 200 with HTML is checked, including pages marked noindex, pages that name another page as canonical and pages that are only a frame for scripts. A page with more than 128 headings, or whose HTML was not captured in full, is not judged.

Example & evidence

Illustrative example — one page, not a live audit.

Address: https://bakery.example/rye-bread. The body we read:

<header><h1><a href="/">Example Bakery</a></h1></header>
<main><h1>Rye bread</h1><p>Baked every morning.</p></main>

There are two H1 elements, so the page is reported with both texts and their positions.

A possible correction: make the logo <p class="logo"><a href="/">Example Bakery</a></p>. Hiding the extra <h1> would not change the count.

Confirm & check again

Check for yourself: view the page source and search for <h1; count how many there are.

Check again: Full audit — re-read this address; the page must answer 200 with complete HTML. The finding closes when it has at most one H1. If the page cannot be fetched or has more than 128 headings, the check cannot conclude.

Limits & sources

It is not a ranking factor. The check counts elements and does not know which H1 is visible or which one is meant as the main headline, and it does not see headings added by JavaScript.

Confidence: High because the H1 elements are counted directly.

Sources

Search Engine Journal, Google Says H1 Headings Are Useful but Not Critical — reports Google saying a site can rank fine with several H1s, while headings help structure a page. Checked 25 September 2026.
Google, Influencing your title links in search results — lists heading elements such as <h1> among the sources Google uses for title links. Checked 25 September 2026.

Editorial review: 29 September 2026

A page has no main heading — the page has no H1 with text.
Headings skip a level — the headings jump levels, a different structure question.

A page has more than one main heading