Start with the page’s main promise
Before choosing heading levels, decide what the page is for. A service page might explain one service and help a visitor decide whether to get in touch. A guide might answer one practical question. Write that purpose in a sentence, then choose a page title that tells visitors what they will find. On most pages, that title is the natural choice for the main heading, or h1.
Think of headings as an outline rather than a set of text styles. The main heading names the overall subject. Major sections divide it into useful parts. Smaller headings divide a section only when readers need that extra structure. A visitor should be able to skim the headings and understand both the page’s subject and the order of its ideas.
Give each section a clear job
Draft the main sections before writing every paragraph. For a page about booking a workshop, the sections might cover who it is for, what is included, how booking works, and common questions. Those sections sit at the same level because each answers a different question about the main topic. In HTML, they would usually be h2 headings beneath the page’s h1.
Use h3 headings when one of those sections needs its own subdivisions. For example, under “What is included,” you might add “Materials” and “Follow-up support.” Both belong to that section, so they should be h3 headings, not new h2 headings. If a section has only a short paragraph, it probably does not need a smaller heading. An extra heading should make the page easier to navigate, not simply break up the text.
Make labels specific enough to work on their own. “What to bring to the workshop” gives a reader more information than “Details.” Similar headings can be useful across a site, but avoid giving several sections on the same page identical labels unless their context makes the difference unmistakable.
Choose levels for meaning, not appearance
Heading levels describe the relationship between sections. A new major section follows the page’s main heading as an h2. A subsection of that h2 is an h3. When that subsection ends, the next major section can return to h2. This pattern gives people using assistive technology a way to move through the page and understand its structure.
Do not pick an h3 because its default size looks better than an h2, or use a heading solely to make a sentence bold. Visual styling can be adjusted separately; the heading level should reflect the outline. Likewise, a large piece of text is not automatically a heading. If it does not introduce content that follows, another text style may be more appropriate.
Keep the sequence straightforward. If the outline seems to require many nested levels, consider whether the page is trying to do too much. You might simplify the sections, turn a long subsection into its own page, or use a short list instead of more headings. A small website rarely needs a complicated hierarchy to explain a single topic well.
Check headings in the page template
A content outline can change when it enters a website template. The site name, navigation labels, sidebar titles, or repeated promotional blocks may already have heading styles assigned to them. Check the rendered page rather than assuming the editor’s preview shows the whole structure. The page’s main content should remain easy to identify, even when other parts of the layout contain headings.
If your content management system offers a heading selector, confirm that it changes the actual heading element, not just the font size. When adding a new section, choose its level based on the section above it. For a small team, a short editing note can help: use the page title for the main heading, h2 for major sections, and h3 only for sections within them. Adjust that rule where the template already handles the page title.
Run a quick heading-only review
Before publishing, read just the headings in order. Can you tell what the page covers without reading the paragraphs? Do headings at the same level have comparable roles? Does each smaller heading clearly belong under the heading above it? If the answer to any of these is no, revise the outline before polishing the wording.
Then check the headings on a narrow screen and, if available, with a tool that lists the page’s heading levels. Look for headings that wrap awkwardly, vague labels, and unexpected levels added by reusable blocks. This brief review catches problems that are easy to miss while writing and leaves the page with a structure that readers can follow in more than one way.
