This factor reports whether a page’s rendered HTML carries a Microdata itemprop of suggestedAnswer or acceptedAnswer, returning 1 when at least one is present and 0 when none is found. Despite the “Suggested Answer” name, the live detector recognizes both values, and it pattern-matches the HTML text rather than validating a real Microdata item graph.
| Factor ID | RG-SCM-042 |
|---|---|
| Family | Structured Data — Microdata |
| Measurement | Binary presence (0 / 1) |
| Measured zone | Rendered body HTML with scripts removed |
What it measures
RankGear reports whether it finds a Microdata itemprop whose value is either suggestedAnswer or acceptedAnswer in the rendered body after <script> elements are removed. These itemprop values are the Microdata expression of a question-and-answer relationship — the proposed answers to a question and the one answer accepted for it. The result is a single presence signal: at least one qualifying attribute exists on the page, or it does not.
How RankGear measures it
RankGear performs a case-insensitive search for a double-quoted itemprop value containing suggestedAnswer or acceptedAnswer. The pattern permits whitespace immediately inside the quotes, and the factor returns 1 when at least one match exists. It works on the rendered body HTML after script elements are stripped, and it inspects attribute text directly rather than parsing or validating the underlying Microdata structure.
What RankGear looks for
itemprop="suggestedAnswer"
itemprop="acceptedAnswer"
itemprop=" acceptedAnswer " <!-- surrounding whitespace still matches -->A representative match in context:
<div itemprop="acceptedAnswer" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/Answer">
<div itemprop="text">Yes — every plan includes the desktop app.</div>
</div>| Value | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 1 | At least one double-quoted itemprop of suggestedAnswer or acceptedAnswer is present in the rendered body. |
| 0 | No such attribute was found (or the markup uses single quotes, which the detector does not match). |
How to optimize it
Use suggestedAnswer for genuine proposed answers and acceptedAnswer for the answer actually accepted for a visible question. Mark up the full answer entity and its relationship to the correct question, and use double-quoted attributes so the detector can see them. Treat this factor as an observation of whether that markup is present, not as a target to hit for its own sake — adding the attribute without a real, valid question-and-answer structure behind it gains you nothing.
Important considerations
- The display name says Suggested Answer, but the live detector also recognizes
acceptedAnswer. - The detector pattern-matches HTML text instead of parsing or validating a Microdata item graph, so a 1 confirms the attribute string is present, not that the structured data is well-formed.
- Single-quoted attributes do not match; capitalization does not affect detection.
- Validate the question-and-answer structure, nesting, content, and eligibility independently — this signal does not do that for you.
- Presence of this attribute is a prioritization signal that relates to position within a measured result set. It does not by itself cause or guarantee a ranking.
Related factors
Part of the Factors reference · how RankGear measures · glossary.