SEO Headings Structure Analyzer

A specialized Apify actor for analyzing heading structure, hierarchy, and SEO optimization on websites. This actor can analyze either a single page (startUrl only) or crawl multiple pages based on your configuration.

Features

• Comprehensive Heading Analysis: Analyzes H1-H6 heading structure and hierarchy
• Heading Score Calculation: Advanced scoring system based on SEO best practices
• Issue Detection: Identifies common heading problems and provides recommendations
• Configurable Analysis: Choose what aspects to analyze (text, structure, scores)
• Domain-Level Statistics: Aggregated analysis across specified pages
• SEO Optimization: Focuses on heading structure for better search engine visibility
• Flexible Crawling: Choose between single-page analysis or multi-page crawling
• Configurable Scope: Control whether to crawl internal links or analyze only the start URL
• Event-Based Pricing: Pay per page analyzed - transparent and predictable costs

Configuration Options

Crawling Behavior

The actor supports two analysis modes:

1. Single Page Analysis (Default): crawlUrls: false

   • Analyzes only the startUrl
   • Ignores the maxPages parameter
   • Fast and focused analysis

2. Multi-Page Crawling: crawlUrls: true

   • Crawls internal links starting from startUrl
   • Respects the maxPages parameter to limit crawling
   • Comprehensive domain analysis

Key Parameters

• startUrl: The URL to start analysis from
• crawlUrls: Boolean flag to enable/disable multi-page crawling (default: false)
• maxPages: Maximum number of pages to analyze (only applies when crawlUrls: true)

Output Format

The actor returns a comprehensive analysis in two ways:

1. Key-Value Store (OUTPUT key): Direct object format (recommended for API consumption)
2. Dataset: Array-wrapped format (standard Apify dataset format)

Key-Value Store Output (Recommended)

Access via Actor.getValue('OUTPUT') or through the Apify platform's key-value store. This returns the data directly as an object:

{
  "domain": {
    "domain_name": "https://mysmartdigital.fr/",
    "total_pages_analyzed": 2,
    "total_headings": 15,
    "total_h1": 2,
    "total_h2": 8,
    "total_h3": 5,
    "average_heading_score": 85,
    "pages_with_h1": 2,
    "pages_with_h1_percentage": 100,
    "pages_with_good_structure": 1,
    "pages_with_good_structure_percentage": 50,
    "total_heading_issues": 3,
    "critical_issues": 1,
    "warning_issues": 2,
    "analysis_summary": {
      "has_heading_issues": true,
      "needs_h1_improvement": false,
      "has_good_structure": true,
      "average_score_grade": "B"
    }
  },
  "pages": [
    {
      "url": "https://mysmartdigital.fr/",
      "pageStatusCode": 200,
      "analysis_date": "2024-01-01T00:00:00.000Z",
      "data_source": "msd_headings",
      "h1": ["Main Page Title"],
      "h2": ["Section 1", "Section 2"],
      "h3": ["Subsection 1.1"],
      "h1Count": 1,
      "h2Count": 2,
      "h3Count": 1,
      "totalHeadings": 4,
      "headingStructure": [
        {
          "tag": "h1",
          "level": 1,
          "text": "Main Page Title",
          "position": 1,
          "length": 16,
          "wordCount": 3
        }
      ],
      "headingScore": 85,
      "headingIssues": ["heading text too short"],
      "headingRecommendations": ["Some headings are too short - aim for 10-100 characters"]
    }
  ],
  "analysis": {
    "total_pages_processed": 2,
    "analysis_completed_at": "2024-01-01T00:00:00.000Z",
    "headings_engine_version": "1.0.0",
    "data_format_version": "1.0"
  }
}

Dataset Output

The dataset contains the same data but wrapped in an array (standard Apify format):

[
  {
    "domain": { ... },
    "pages": [ ... ],
    "analysis": { ... }
  }
]

Heading Analysis Details

Heading Structure Analysis

• H1-H6 Counts: Counts of each heading level
• Heading Text: Actual text content of headings (optional)
• Hierarchy Analysis: Checks for proper heading hierarchy
• Position Tracking: Order of headings on the page

Issue Detection

The analyzer identifies common heading problems:

• Critical Issues: Missing H1, multiple H1s, skipped hierarchy levels, H1 identical to page title
• Warning Issues: Too many consecutive same-level headings, text length issues
• Info Issues: General recommendations for improvement

Recommendations

Automated recommendations based on analysis:

• H1 structure improvements
• Hierarchy optimization suggestions
• Text length recommendations
• Score-based improvement tips

Performance Considerations

• Efficient Parsing: Uses Cheerio for fast HTML parsing
• Configurable Analysis: Choose only needed analysis features
• Memory Management: Optimized for processing multiple pages
• Error Handling: Graceful handling of parsing and network errors

SEO Best Practices Analyzed

1. Single H1 per Page: Ensures proper page structure
2. Logical Hierarchy: H1 → H2 → H3 progression
3. Appropriate Text Length: 10-100 character headings
4. Keyword Relevance: Headings related to page title
5. H1 vs Title Differentiation: H1 should complement, not duplicate, the page title
6. Content Organization: Multiple H2s and H3s for structure

Support

For issues and questions, please contact Smart Digital support.