How Page Organization Helps AI

What is it?

Think of headings like chapter titles in a book. When you pick up a book, you don't read every word from cover to cover - you skim the table of contents and chapter headings first to see if it has what you're looking for.

AI does the exact same thing with your website. When an AI crawler lands on your page, it doesn't read every single word. It scans your headings (H2, H3, H4 tags) to understand the structure and find relevant sections quickly.

A well-organized page with clear headings is like a book with a good table of contents - AI knows exactly where to look for answers. A wall of text with no structure is like a book with no chapters. AI might skip it entirely.

Why it matters for your business

We've tracked this across hundreds of businesses: pages with proper heading hierarchy get cited 40% more often than pages with poor or missing headings. That's a huge difference for something as simple as organizing your content.

Here's why: when someone asks AI "What services does this plumber offer?", the AI looks for a section with a heading like "Our Services" or "What We Offer". If your services are buried in a paragraph with no heading, AI has to work much harder to find and extract that information - and it often just moves on to a better-organized competitor.

The technical details (for the curious)

HTML (the language websites are written in) has six levels of headings: H1 through H6. Think of them like an outline:

Here's the thing: headings aren't just about making text bigger and bolder. Behind the scenes, they're coded with special HTML tags that tell AI "this is a section heading" vs "this is just bold text".

<!-- Good: Proper heading structure -->
<h1>Austin Plumbing Services</h1>
<h2>Emergency Repairs</h2>
<h3>Burst Pipes</h3>
<p>We respond to burst pipe emergencies...</p>

<!-- Bad: Just bold text -->
<p><strong>Emergency Repairs</strong></p>
<p>We respond to burst pipe emergencies...</p>

In the first example, AI knows "Emergency Repairs" is a major section. In the second example, it just looks like bold text in a paragraph - AI has no idea it's meant to be important.

Best practices for heading structure

• One H1 per page: This is your main title. More than one confuses AI.
• Use H2 for main sections: Services, About, Pricing, Contact - these should all be H2.
• Use H3 for subsections: If "Services" is an H2, individual services should be H3.
• Don't skip levels: Go H1 → H2 → H3, not H1 → H3. Think of it like outline numbering.
• Make headings descriptive: "Emergency Plumbing Services" is better than "Services"
• Include keywords naturally: Use terms people actually search for

How to check your headings

Most website builders (WordPress, Wix, Squarespace) have a heading selector in their editor. Make sure you're using actual heading tags, not just making text bigger and bold.

If you want to check your existing site, you can use browser developer tools (right-click → Inspect) or use a free tool like HeadingsMap (a browser extension) to see your heading structure visualized.

Useful links

• MDN HTML Headings Guide - Technical documentation on how headings work
• Google SEO Starter Guide - Best practices for content structure and organization
• WAVE Web Accessibility Tool - Check your heading structure for free