Using headings so visitors can scan your page

Headings are the signposts of a web page. Most visitors, especially on a phone, do not read from top to bottom; they scroll, glance at the headings and stop at the one that matches their question. Good headings are short, plain and often written as the question the customer has in mind: "How long does a repair take?", "Do you work on weekends?". Set up properly, they also tell screen readers and Google how the page is organized. Here is how to write them and how to check yours.

How people actually read a page on a phone

Watch someone look up a business on a phone and you will see the pattern. They read the headline, scroll fast, slow down at anything that looks like their question, read a line or two, and either keep going or tap the phone number. They rarely read every paragraph.

That means your headings carry most of the page. If they are vague ("Our Services", "More Info", "Why Us"), people scroll past the answer without noticing it. If they are specific, people find what they need in seconds.

Write headings as the customer's questions

The easiest way to write useful headings is to turn the questions customers ask you into headings, word for word where possible.

For a tree service page:

"Can you remove a tree close to the house?"
"Do you grind the stump?"
"Do I need a permit?"
"What happens to the wood?"
"How much does tree removal cost?"

For a piano teacher:

"What ages do you teach?"
"Do I need a piano at home?"
"How long is each lesson?"
"Can adults start from scratch?"

Each heading matches a thought already in the reader's head, so they recognize it immediately. Under each, answer the question in the first sentence, then add detail.

Not every heading has to be a question. Plain labels work well for sections people expect: "Prices", "Hours", "Where we work", "What's included". The test is the same: a visitor should know what the section holds before reading it.

Headings to avoid

Clever or vague: "The Smith Difference", "Excellence in Action", "Our Story Begins". They tell the scanning reader nothing.
Keyword lists: "Plumber Springfield Plumbing Services Springfield Emergency Plumber". This reads as spam to people and is treated as such by Google.
Shouting: headings in all capital letters are harder to read, especially for older customers.
Headings that are full sentences: if it wraps to three lines on a phone, it is a paragraph, not a heading. Aim for under ten words.
Too many: a heading over every single sentence breaks the page into crumbs. A heading every few short paragraphs is about right.

The order of headings: a page outline

Behind the scenes, web pages have heading levels. Builders and editors usually call them Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, or H1, H2, H3.

Heading 1 is the page's main title. One per page. On a service page: "Water heater repair and replacement".
Heading 2 marks the main sections of the page, the questions and topics above.
Heading 3 marks smaller points inside a section, for example "Gas water heaters" and "Electric water heaters" under "Which types do you repair?".

Think of it as an outline. You would not skip from chapter title to sub-sub-point, and a page should not jump from Heading 1 to Heading 4.

People who use screen readers often jump from heading to heading to move around a page, the way sighted people scan. If the levels are in order, the page makes sense to them. If headings are just large bold text with no real heading level, a screen reader cannot find them at all. Making your website easy to read for everyone covers more of this.

Google also reads headings to understand what a page is about and how it is organized. Clear headings help with that, though no heading wording can promise a particular position in the results.

Picking headings in your editor

In most builders you do not type a heading level by hand; you select the text and choose a style:

Wix: select the text, then pick "Heading 2" or similar from the text theme drop-down.
Squarespace: select the text and choose Heading 1, 2, 3 or 4 from the text format menu.
WordPress: add a "Heading" block and pick H2, H3 and so on from the toolbar.
GoDaddy and others: look for a "Heading" or "Title" option in the text settings.

Do not make text look like a heading just by making it bold and bigger. Use the real heading style, so it works for screen readers and search engines as well as for the eye.

A worked example

Here is how one service page might be outlined, for a mobile dog groomer:

Heading 1: "Mobile dog grooming in Chandler and Gilbert"
Heading 2: "What's included in a full groom?"
Heading 2: "How does grooming in the van work?"
Heading 2: "Which dogs do you groom?"
Heading 3: "Large breeds"
Heading 3: "Nervous or older dogs"
Heading 2: "How long does it take?"
Heading 2: "Prices"
Heading 2: "Booking and cancellations"

A customer with an anxious senior dog scrolls straight to "Nervous or older dogs". A customer who only wants the price finds "Prices". Nobody has to read everything to find their part.

Headings and length go together

Good headings let you write a longer page without it feeling long, because readers can skip to the parts they need. If you are wondering how much to write, how long should website text be? works through it page by page.

What to do this week

Write down the five questions customers ask most about your main service.
Turn them into headings on that service page, with the answer in the first sentence under each.
Check in your editor that each heading uses a real heading style, in order.
Make sure each page has one main Heading 1 that says what the page is about.
Read the headings alone, out loud, and rewrite any that are vague.

If your current pages are long blocks without headings, you can see your site rebuilt first with your content organized under clear headings, then adjust the wording yourself.