This factor counts strong elements whose complete cleaned text equals one of your keyword variations — the whole emphasized phrase is a variation, with nothing added. It returns a whole number, and it is an observed relationship with position within a measured result set, not a lever that makes a page rank.
| Factor ID | RG-KWD-097 |
|---|---|
| Family | Keyword Usage & Density |
| Measurement | Whole-element variation match count |
| Measured zone | Cleaned strong contents |
What it measures
This factor counts strong elements whose complete cleaned text equals a keyword variation. A strong tag qualifies only when a variation is the entire emphasized phrase — not merely contained inside a longer run of emphasized text. The output is the number of such whole-element variation matches found across the page’s strong tags.
How RankGear measures it
RankGear extracts and cleans the bounded contents of each strong element, then applies a single case-insensitive, fully anchored expression built from the sorted variation set. The expression joins the run’s variation alternatives — sorted into a fixed order — and anchors the match at both the start and the end of the cleaned contents. Because the expression is anchored end to end, a strong element counts only when its whole cleaned text is a variation; any extra text causes it to fail the match.
What RankGear looks for
Variations: heat pump | air source heat pump
<strong>heat pump</strong> → counts (whole element equals a variation)
<strong>Air Source Heat Pump</strong> → counts (case-insensitive)
<strong>installing a heat pump</strong> → does not count (extra text, not fully anchored)
<span style="font-weight:bold">heat pump</span> → CSS bolding, not a strong element, not measuredHow to optimize it
Treat this as an observation, not a target. Mark a standalone variation as strong only when that exact phrase represents genuinely important information for readers — a definition, a key term, a statement that earns emphasis on its own. Do not wrap variations in strong mechanically to raise the count; a phrase emphasized without reason works against the purpose of emphasis, and the number describes the page rather than serving as a goal to chase.
Important considerations
- Extra text prevents a whole-element match — a variation buried inside a longer emphasized phrase does not count.
- CSS-only bolding (for example
font-weight:boldon aspan) is not measured; only realstrongelements count. - The variation alternatives retain their unescaped compatibility regex behavior inside the match expression.
- Avoid mechanically emphasizing keywords; when everything is marked important, nothing reads as important.
- Correlation is not causation: this count relates to position within a measured result set and is a prioritization signal, not a guarantee that a page will rank.
Related factors
Part of the Factors reference · how RankGear measures · glossary.