Using WAVE, identify the heading structure using the "Structure" tab. For each heading
Identify the top-level heading on the page. It should usually be Heading 1.
Ensure that the top-level heading content represents the page content (e.g. it should be the title of the page)
Ensure that subheadings are appropriately assigned levels.
All subheadings MUST make logical sense as a subheading of the previous higher-level heading. (If a H4 is positioned after a H2, the H4 MUST make sense as a subheading of the H2).
Headings that are siblings MUST have the same level assignment.
Headings MUST NOT be used for presentation purposes (you can't use a H5 simply to have smaller text for example).
Headings that are subheadings should be 1 level lower than the parent.
It is not a strict failure if this specifically is not adhered to (do not mark a failure solely because headings are not in sequential order), but it goes against best practices.
Ensure that all headings make sense as headings
Headings must represent all the paragraph content which follows. Sometimes authors will use subheadings to add additional detail to the heading, but this is not an appropriate practice.
Example: An Article title is given H3. The date following is given H4. This is a failure of this criterion because the date is not the item representing the proceeding content, it is the article title. The date should not be a heading.
