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HTML <h1>-<h6> Tags

The <h1> to <h6> tags are used to define HTML headings. <h1> defines the most important heading. <h6> defines the least important heading. Try examples!

The <h1> to <h6> elements are used to define six levels of HTML Headings, with <h1> being the highest (or most important) level and <h6> the least important one.

Tip

Each web page must have only one <h1> heading. As search engines use it to index the structure and content of web documents, be sure to include keywords in it.

User agents may use heading information for automatically creating a content table for a document.

If you want to resize text, it’s better not to use heading tags. You can use the CSS font-size property instead. It’s recommended not to skip heading levels (<h1>, <h2>, <h3>, <h4>, <h5>, <h6>) and to use <h1> only once on a page.

Headline tags have SEO value as well. A search engine tries to find out two things about your page: what the page is about, and how good it is. One of the main things that search engines look at for determining page content is the words inside heading tags.

When a page has a single piece of content, its main title must be in an <h1> tag, the larger sections must be included in <h2> and so on. In this way, you can make your content more organized. You should remember that no one reads every word of content.

There are two types of pages with content: single content pages and index pages. On single content pages, the title of that piece of content must be in <h1> near the top of <body>. On an index page, the site title or the index name is usually put in <h1>. Then the titles of all the listed individual parts must use <h2> tags.

As the <h1> to <h6> tags are block-level elements, they always start on a new line and take up the full width available.

By default, <h1>-<h6> tags have the following properties: margin-left, margin-right, font-weight, display.

HTML <h1>-<h6> Tags

margin-left: 0;
margin-right: 0;
font-weight: bold;
display: block;

Syntax

The <h1>-<h6> tags come in pairs, so the closing tag is required.

Example of the HTML <h1>-<h6> tags:

HTML <h1>-<h6> Tags

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>First-level heading</h1>
    <h2>Second-level heading</h2>
    <h3>Third-level heading</h3>
    <h4>Fourth-level heading</h4>
    <h5>Fifth-level heading</h5>
    <h6>Sixth-level heading</h6>
  </body>
</html>
Try it Yourself »

Result

Example with six levels of HTML headings

Danger

The <h1>-<h6> elements must not be used to markup subheadings, subtitles, alternative titles, and taglines unless intended to be the heading for a new section or subsection.

Tip

As the align attribute is not supported in HTML5, use the CSS text-align property instead.

Example of the HTML <h1> tag:

Example of the HTML <h1> tag:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
    <style>
      h1 {
        color: #224cc5;
        text-align: center;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>First-level heading</h1>
    <p>Lorem ipsum, or lipsum as it is sometimes known, is dummy text used in laying out print, graphic or web designs. The passage is attributed to an unknown typesetter in the 15th century who is thought to have scrambled parts of Cicero's De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum for use in a type specimen book.</p>
  </body>
</html>
Try it Yourself »

Example of the HTML <h2> tag:

Example of the HTML <h2> tag:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
    <style>
      h2 {
        color: #22c599;
        text-align: right;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h2>Second-level heading</h2>
    <p>
      Lorem ipsum, or lipsum as it is sometimes known, is dummy text used in laying out print, graphic or web designs. The passage is attributed to an unknown typesetter in the 15th century who is thought to have scrambled parts of Cicero's De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum for use in a type specimen book.
    </p>
  </body>
</html>
Try it Yourself »

Example of the HTML <h3> tag:

Example of the HTML <h3> tag:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
    <style>
      h3 {
        color: #bc22c5;
        font-size: 20px;
        padding: 10px 0;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h3>Third-level heading</h3>
    <p>
      Lorem ipsum, or lipsum as it is sometimes known, is dummy text used in laying out print, graphic or web designs. The passage is attributed to an unknown typesetter in the 15th century who is thought to have scrambled parts of Cicero's De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum for use in a type specimen book.
    </p>
  </body>
</html>
Try it Yourself »

Example of the HTML <h4> tag:

Example of the HTML <h4> tag:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
    <style>
      h4 {
        color: #1c87c9;
        margin: 10px 0;
        letter-spacing: 4px;
        text-indent: 50px;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h4>Fourth-level heading</h4>
    <p>
      Lorem ipsum, or lipsum as it is sometimes known, is dummy text used in laying out print, graphic or web designs. The passage is attributed to an unknown typesetter in the 15th century who is thought to have scrambled parts of Cicero's De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum for use in a type specimen book.
    </p>
  </body>
</html>
Try it Yourself »

Example of the HTML <h5> tag:

Example of the HTML <h5> tag:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
    <style>
      h5 {
        background-color: #1c87c9;
        color: #ffffff;
        text-transform: uppercase;
        padding: 15px 20px;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h5>Fifth-level heading</h5>
    <p>
      Lorem ipsum, or lipsum as it is sometimes known, is dummy text used in laying out print, graphic or web designs. The passage is attributed to an unknown typesetter in the 15th century who is thought to have scrambled parts of Cicero's De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum for use in a type specimen book.
    </p>
  </body>
</html>
Try it Yourself »

Example of the HTML <h6> tag:

Example of the HTML <h6> tag:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
    <style>
      h6 {
        font-style: italic;
        font-family: sans-serif;
        color: #401cc9;
        font-size: 16px;
        line-height: 1.625;
        margin: 0;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h6>Sixth-level heading</h6>
    <p>
      Lorem ipsum, or lipsum as it is sometimes known, is dummy text used in laying out print, graphic or web designs. The passage is attributed to an unknown typesetter in the 15th century who is thought to have scrambled parts of Cicero's De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum for use in a type specimen book.
    </p>
  </body>
</html>
Try it Yourself »

Attributes

AttributeValueDescription
alignleft right center justifyDefines the horizontal alignment of the tag content. Not supported in HTML 5.

The <h1> to <h6> tags support the Global Attributes and the Event Attributes.

How to style an HTML <h1>-<h6> Tags

{
    "tag_name": "h1-h6"
}

Practice

Practice

Which of the following is true about HTML heading tags?