A WordPress Heading Structure Plugin for Editors Who Pick Headings by Size, Not Level
An editor chooses "Heading 4" because it looks the right size, skipping straight past H2 and H3. A screen reader user navigating by heading hits a structure that makes no sense. Heading & Landmark Checker catches the skip before publish and explains why it matters in plain language.
Screen Reader Users Navigate by Heading. A Broken Outline Breaks Navigation.
Screen reader users frequently pull up a page’s heading list to jump straight to the section they need, the same way a sighted user scans a table of contents. When headings are chosen for visual size instead of document structure, that navigation shortcut turns into a maze with no logical order.
This plugin pairs well with WPPersona's built-in accessibility compliance if your agency runs on the WPPersona CMS, and installs standalone on any WordPress 6.0+ site.
2.4.6
WCAG success criterion requiring headings and labels that describe topic or purpose
What Heading & Landmark Checker Actually Checks
Every feature below maps to a specific WCAG 2.1 success criterion, not a vague accessibility claim. Here's exactly what changes on your site.
Real-time hierarchy validation
As content is built in the block editor, a live outline panel shows the current heading structure and flags any skipped level, like jumping from H2 directly to H4.
Single H1 enforcement
Each page is checked for exactly one H1 representing the page’s main topic, catching the common case where a theme header and a content block both render an H1.
Landmark region audit
Confirms the page has properly marked banner, navigation, main, and contentinfo landmark regions, which screen reader users rely on to jump between major page sections.
Descriptive heading text checks
Flags vague or duplicate heading text, like five sections all titled "Learn More," which fail to describe their actual topic to someone navigating by heading list alone.
Site-wide structure report
A dashboard view shows every published page’s heading structure score, so you can prioritize fixing your highest-traffic pages before working through the rest.
From Install to Fixed, in Four Steps
Run the site-wide structure audit
Get a heading and landmark score for every published page, sorted by severity, in one report.
Fix high-traffic pages first
Work through pages ranked by page views, correcting skipped heading levels and missing landmark regions.
Turn on live editor validation
Editors see the outline panel and get warned in real time as new content is built, before a broken structure ever publishes.
Re-check after theme changes
Landmark regions often live in the theme template. Re-run the audit after any theme update to confirm structural markup didn’t change underneath your content.
“We had four different H1s on our homepage between the theme header, the hero block, and two widgets. Nobody had ever looked at the outline before.”
Digital Communications Manager, State University
Common Questions About Heading & Landmark Checker
Why can’t I just pick a heading level for how it looks?
Heading levels convey document structure to screen readers and other assistive technology, independent of font size. WCAG 1.3.1 requires that structure to be programmatically correct. Font size should be a CSS decision made separately from which heading level you choose.
Is it fine to skip from H1 to H3 if I never use H2 on that page?
No. WCAG 1.3.1 expects heading levels to nest without skipping, since screen reader users infer the outline from the numbers themselves. If a page has no natural H2 content, restructure the H3 content under the existing hierarchy rather than skipping a level.
What are ARIA landmarks and why do they matter here?
Landmarks like <nav>, <main>, and <footer> (or their ARIA role equivalents) let screen reader users jump directly to a page region instead of reading through everything sequentially. WordPress themes sometimes omit them or apply them inconsistently across templates, which this plugin checks for directly.
Get Heading & Landmark Checker on Your Site
There's no self-serve checkout yet. Submit the form and our team confirms your license tier, sends pricing, and gets you installation instructions within 1 business day.
- WordPress 6.0+, PHP 7.4+, works with the Block Editor outline view
- License covers updates and support for 12 months
Need more than one? See the full Accessibility Suite bundle.
Request to Purchase
Tell us which plugins you need. We'll send licensing and setup details.
Pairs Well With
Looking for the deeper compliance picture? Read how these plugins fit into WCAG 2.1 AA compliance for government websites, or browse our accessibility resources hub for guides on ADA Title II deadlines.
See Your Agency's PDF Risk in 2 Minutes
Enter your government website URL. We crawl every page, scan every PDF, and deliver a full ADA compliance risk report. No account. No credit card.
Run Free AuditTalk to Someone Who Speaks Government
Our team understands government procurement, ADA compliance timelines, and what it takes to migrate a government website. Free 20-minute demo. No hard sell.
- Full platform walkthrough for your agency type
- Answers to procurement and security questions
- Honest timeline and migration assessment