How to fix heading order on Adobe Commerce (Magento)

Steps for Adobe Commerce (Magento)

1. Identify the affected template: use browser DevTools to find the heading element, then trace it to its .phtml template file in your theme under app/design/frontend/<Vendor>/<Theme>/.
2. Copy the core template into your custom theme (never edit core files) and change the heading tag to the correct sequential level.
3. For CMS pages and blocks (Content → Pages or Content → Blocks), open the page in the editor, click 'Show/Hide Editor' to switch to HTML view, and correct any heading tags.
4. If using Page Builder (Adobe Commerce 2.4+), open the page in Content → Pages, click Edit with Page Builder, select the heading element, and change its 'Heading Type' from the dropdown to the correct level.
5. Run bin/magento cache:flush after template changes, then re-test with the axe DevTools extension.

<!-- INCORRECT: skips from H1 directly to H3 -->
<h1>Product Name</h1>
<h3>Key Features</h3>   <!-- ❌ skips H2 -->
  <h4>Detail One</h4>

<!-- CORRECT: sequential, no levels skipped going downward -->
<h1>Product Name</h1>
<h2>Key Features</h2>   <!-- ✅ follows H1 -->
  <h3>Detail One</h3>   <!-- ✅ follows H2 -->

What is heading order?

Every webpage uses heading tags — H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, and H6 — to organize content into a hierarchy, like chapters and sub-chapters in a book. "Heading order invalid" means that hierarchy has a gap or jump: for example, jumping straight from an H1 to an H3, or using an H4 immediately after an H2. Screen readers and assistive technologies rely on this outline to help users navigate a page quickly. Headings should always nest in order — you can go up levels freely, but you should never skip a level going down.

For the roughly 1-in-4 shoppers who use assistive technology, broken heading order makes it very hard to navigate your pages — they may completely miss product sections, key offers, or checkout steps. This is a WCAG 2.1 Level AA requirement (Success Criterion 1.3.1 and 2.4.6), so non-compliance creates real legal risk under laws like the ADA (USA), the European Accessibility Act, and the UK Equality Act. Beyond accessibility, heading structure is one of the signals Google uses to understand your page's content hierarchy; a clean, logical outline helps search engines index and rank your pages more accurately. Fixing heading order is typically a quick win with immediate benefits for both users and SEO.

See the complete Heading order guide for every platform and the full background.