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Accessibility

Why heading levels should not skip

Screen reader users navigate by jumping between headings, and the levels are what tells them how sections nest. A skipped level implies a section that is not there. Style with CSS and keep the order intact.

What 13x checks

This is rule accessibility.heading-order in the public registry: Heading levels do not skip. It runs on every audit, against the pages we actually fetched, and its result is derived from the response rather than estimated.

Surface
Accessibility
Score weight
4 of the readiness score
Scope
Reported as skipped when the page renders only with JavaScript
Applies
To every site

Registry version 2026-07-30. Every rule is published, and the audit is deterministic — the same page produces the same finding every time.

The fix

The same text the audit hands you when this check fails on your own site.

Heading levels skip, e.g. h straight to h.

html code
<!-- Skips h3 -->
<h2>Pricing</h2>
<h4>What is included</h4>

<!-- Sequential -->
<h2>Pricing</h2>
<h3>What is included</h3>

Screen reader users navigate by jumping between headings, and the levels tell them how sections nest. A skipped level implies a section that is not there.

If you skipped a level because h3 looked too big, style it with a class and keep the element:

html code
<h3 class="text-sm font-medium">What is included</h3>

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