The mobile version drops or changes headings
In the reportPages drop or change headings in the mobile-served version
mobile_headings_mismatch · Review item
This appears when phones get a page whose H1 to H3 headings lack some of the desktop ones, for example because the mobile template turns headings into plain text. Google uses the mobile version to understand the page, so headings missing there are lost. Use the same headings on every device.
Severity: Medium. Review it in your next round of site changes; headings help Google read the structure of the page it indexes.
Why it matters
Google indexes and ranks the mobile version of a page, and asks you to use the same clear and meaningful headings on the mobile site as on the desktop one.
What to do
- Look at the finding: it shows how many H1 to H3 headings each of the six responses had, with a sample of them.
- Find where the mobile template changes or drops those headings, and restore the same heading elements; the styling can differ.
- Check again with this one address once the change is live.
When to leave it as it is: if the missing heading was a desktop-only extra, such as a promotional title, and phones still get every heading that describes the page's content, you can leave it; the check cannot tell which headings matter.
What we read
We take up to the first 20 crawled pages that answered 200 with complete HTML at your site's exact address, and request each one six more times: twice as desktop Chrome, twice as Googlebot Smartphone and twice as Chrome on an Android phone, each agent's repeat at least five seconds after its first request, and all six within three minutes. We compare the HTML as served, without running JavaScript or applying CSS. A page is not compared when robots.txt blocks any of these requests, any answer is not 200 HTML or shows a bot-challenge page, or a redirect leaves the page's scheme, host or port, for example to an m. site.
We list each version's H1, H2 and H3 headings in order, ignoring letter case and spacing; a heading marked hidden or aria-hidden counts as empty. A page is reported when, in both rounds, both phone versions lack at least one desktop heading text and their lists differ from desktop's by more than 0.1 beyond the page's own variation between identical requests. Reordered or added headings alone do not count, unless the desktop page has an empty heading: it counts as missing, so a different enough order can then be reported. A page with no desktop heading, more than 128 headings, or a version that is only a frame for scripts is not judged.
Example & evidence
Illustrative example — one page's headings on desktop and on phones, not a live audit.
Address: https://bakery.example/about. Desktop Chrome gets:
<h1>About Example Bakery</h1> <h2>Our story</h2> <h2>Our ovens</h2> <h2>Visit us</h2>Googlebot Smartphone and Android Chrome both get:
<h1>About Example Bakery</h1> <p class="section-title">Our story</p> <p class="section-title">Our ovens</p> <h2>Visit us</h2>Our story and Our ovens are no longer headings on phones, so the lists differ by half and the page is reported. The text itself is unchanged.
A possible correction: mark them up as <h2>Our story</h2> and <h2>Our ovens</h2> again, styled as the mobile design needs.
Confirm & check again
Check for yourself: view the page source as a phone, for example with your browser's device mode, and compare its <h1> to <h3> elements with the desktop source.
Check again: Full audit — re-read this address with a fresh set of six requests under the same conditions. The finding closes when the comparison comes out clear. It cannot conclude when any request is blocked, fails or shows a challenge, when a version is only a frame for scripts, or when a response's first 64 KB is not plain UTF-8 text; a new full audit closes it when a fresh comparison of the page, again among the 20, comes out clear, or the address now answers directly with 200 and a file that is not HTML, or starts with a permanent redirect within your site; the second way needs no new comparison of this page. Both need the check to give a usable result in that audit and complete evidence for the old finding, and a finding reported again stays open.
Limits & sources
The check reads the HTML as served and is not confirmed by rendering, so headings changed by scripts are not seen, and headings hidden with CSS still count. A difference shown only to Googlebot, not to the Android browser, is not reported, and headings of level 4 to 6 are not compared.
Confidence: Medium because a changed heading list is a sign of lost structure, not proof that it matters to the page.
Sources
- Google, Mobile site and mobile-first indexing best practices — asks for the same clear and meaningful headings on the mobile site as on the desktop site. Checked 25 September 2026.
Editorial review: 29 September 2026