diff --git a/quartz/plugins/transformers/description.ts b/quartz/plugins/transformers/description.ts
index c6c1576..763a8f8 100644
--- a/quartz/plugins/transformers/description.ts
+++ b/quartz/plugins/transformers/description.ts
@@ -28,23 +28,12 @@ function isElementNode(node: RootContent): node is Element {
   return node.type === "element"
 }
 
-function isMeaningfulNode(node: RootContent): boolean {
-  return normalizeWhitespace(toString(node)).length > 0
+function isHeadingElement(node: RootContent): node is Element {
+  return isElementNode(node) && /^h[1-6]$/.test(node.tagName)
 }
 
-function isDuplicateTitleHeading(node: RootContent, pageTitle?: string): boolean {
-  if (!isElementNode(node) || node.tagName !== "h1") {
-    return false
-  }
-
-  const headingText = normalizeWhitespace(toString(node))
-  const normalizedTitle = normalizeWhitespace(pageTitle ?? "")
-
-  if (headingText.length === 0) {
-    return false
-  }
-
-  return normalizedTitle.length > 0 ? headingText === normalizedTitle : true
+function isMeaningfulNode(node: RootContent): boolean {
+  return normalizeWhitespace(toString(node)).length > 0
 }
 
 function isStandalonePreviewTagline(node: RootContent): boolean {
@@ -67,14 +56,12 @@ function isStandalonePreviewTagline(node: RootContent): boolean {
 export function extractDescriptionText(tree: HTMLRoot, pageTitle?: string): string {
   const children = [...tree.children]
   let startIdx = 0
-  let strippedTitle = false
 
   while (startIdx < children.length && !isMeaningfulNode(children[startIdx])) {
     startIdx++
   }
 
-  if (startIdx < children.length && isDuplicateTitleHeading(children[startIdx], pageTitle)) {
-    strippedTitle = true
+  while (startIdx < children.length && isHeadingElement(children[startIdx])) {
     startIdx++
   }
 
@@ -82,11 +69,7 @@ export function extractDescriptionText(tree: HTMLRoot, pageTitle?: string): stri
     startIdx++
   }
 
-  if (
-    startIdx < children.length &&
-    (strippedTitle || pageTitle) &&
-    isStandalonePreviewTagline(children[startIdx])
-  ) {
+  if (startIdx < children.length && pageTitle && isStandalonePreviewTagline(children[startIdx])) {
     startIdx++
   }
 
diff --git a/quartz/plugins/transformers/frontmatter.ts b/quartz/plugins/transformers/frontmatter.ts
index db1cf42..7deb619 100644
--- a/quartz/plugins/transformers/frontmatter.ts
+++ b/quartz/plugins/transformers/frontmatter.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ import remarkFrontmatter from "remark-frontmatter"
 import { QuartzTransformerPlugin } from "../types"
 import yaml from "js-yaml"
 import toml from "toml"
+import { Root as MdRoot } from "mdast"
+import { toString } from "mdast-util-to-string"
 import { FilePath, FullSlug, getFileExtension, slugifyFilePath, slugTag } from "../../util/path"
 import { QuartzPluginData } from "../vfile"
 import { i18n } from "../../i18n"
@@ -52,6 +54,23 @@ function getAliasSlugs(aliases: string[]): FullSlug[] {
   return res
 }
 
+function getFirstMarkdownHeading(root: MdRoot): string | undefined {
+  const firstMeaningfulNode = root.children.find((node) => {
+    if (node.type === "yaml") {
+      return false
+    }
+
+    return toString(node).trim().length > 0
+  })
+
+  if (!firstMeaningfulNode || firstMeaningfulNode.type !== "heading") {
+    return undefined
+  }
+
+  const text = toString(firstMeaningfulNode).trim()
+  return text.length > 0 ? text : undefined
+}
+
 export const FrontMatter: QuartzTransformerPlugin<Partial<Options>> = (userOpts) => {
   const opts = { ...defaultOptions, ...userOpts }
   return {
@@ -61,7 +80,7 @@ export const FrontMatter: QuartzTransformerPlugin<Partial<Options>> = (userOpts)
       return [
         [remarkFrontmatter, ["yaml", "toml"]],
         () => {
-          return (_, file) => {
+          return (tree: MdRoot, file) => {
             const fileData = Buffer.from(file.value as Uint8Array)
             const { data } = matter(fileData, {
               ...opts,
@@ -74,7 +93,10 @@ export const FrontMatter: QuartzTransformerPlugin<Partial<Options>> = (userOpts)
             if (data.title != null && data.title.toString() !== "") {
               data.title = data.title.toString()
             } else {
-              data.title = file.stem ?? i18n(cfg.configuration.locale).propertyDefaults.title
+              data.title =
+                getFirstMarkdownHeading(tree) ??
+                file.stem ??
+                i18n(cfg.configuration.locale).propertyDefaults.title
             }
 
             const tags = coerceToArray(coalesceAliases(data, ["tags", "tag"]))