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Semantics

Styled paragraphs are not headings

• Rule: p-as-heading
• Severity: Serious
• WCAG level A

Why it matters

A bold paragraph looks like a heading but is not one. Screen reader users navigate a page by jumping between headings, and a fake heading is not in that list — the section is invisible in the outline.

How to fix it

1. Use <h2> to <h6> for section titles and style them however the design needs.
2. Keep the levels in order, without skipping, so the outline matches the visual hierarchy.
3. Reserve bold text for emphasis inside a paragraph.

In markup

<p><strong>Pricing</strong></p>
<p>Three plans...</p>

<h2>Pricing</h2>
<p>Three plans...</p>

The requirement behind it

This rule is one way of failing the following WCAG 2.2 success criteria. The W3C, which writes the standard, explains each of them:

• 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (opens in new tab) — WCAG level A

Further reading

Deque University on p-as-heading (opens in new tab)

Deque maintains axe-core, the open-source engine our scanner runs. Their page documents the rule as the engine implements it.

Automated checks find failures a browser can prove. They cannot judge whether a caption is accurate, whether an alt text is useful, or whether a page can be operated end to end with a keyboard — those need a person.