--- title: "Heading levels skip (h2 → h4) or headings are empty (seo/heading-skip)" description: "seo/heading-skip: The heading outline is how crawlers, screen readers and AI section parsers split the page; skips and empty headings break the structure." canonical: https://void-design.vercel.app/rules/seo/heading-skip lastModified: 2026-09-16 --- # Heading levels skip (h2 → h4) or headings are empty `seo/heading-skip` · severity **warn** · category SEO · detected by `void seo` and `void audit` ## Why it matters The heading outline is how crawlers, screen readers and AI section parsers split the page; skips and empty headings break the structure. ## How to fix it Nest headings sequentially and give each one descriptive text. ## References - https://www.w3.org/WAI/tutorials/page-structure/headings/ ## More seo rules `void seo` reports 60 rules in this category. What search engines need from the raw response: status codes, titles and descriptions in , self-referencing canonicals, one h1, crawlable links, Open Graph, icons, robots.txt and a sitemap with real dates. - `canonical-not-self` Canonical points to a different URL — [seo/canonical-not-self](https://void-design.vercel.app/rules/seo/canonical-not-self) - `head-js-mutation` JavaScript changes canonical, robots, title or description after load — [seo/head-js-mutation](https://void-design.vercel.app/rules/seo/head-js-mutation) - `h1-count` Page doesn't have exactly one visible

in the server HTML — [seo/h1-count](https://void-design.vercel.app/rules/seo/h1-count) - `h1-title-mismatch`

and share little wording — [seo/h1-title-mismatch](https://void-design.vercel.app/rules/seo/h1-title-mismatch) - `img-alt-missing` <img> without an alt attribute — [seo/img-alt-missing](https://void-design.vercel.app/rules/seo/img-alt-missing) - `img-alt-quality` Alt text is a filename, a generic word, or overly long — [seo/img-alt-quality](https://void-design.vercel.app/rules/seo/img-alt-quality) - `links-not-crawlable` Navigation uses elements crawlers can't follow — [seo/links-not-crawlable](https://void-design.vercel.app/rules/seo/links-not-crawlable) - `link-text` Links with generic or empty text — [seo/link-text](https://void-design.vercel.app/rules/seo/link-text) Detected by `void seo` and `void audit`. Explain it in a terminal: `void rules seo/heading-skip`