This factor counts how many of a page’s H4 headings are phrased as questions. It returns a raw whole number, and it says nothing about whether those questions are actually answered on the page — it only registers the question-form headings themselves.
| Factor ID | RG-RDB-010 |
|---|---|
| Family | Readability & Questions |
| Measurement | Question count (raw integer) |
| Measured zone | H4 text |
What it measures
The factor counts questions parsed from a page’s H4 headings. It looks only at the fourth-level headings in the document outline, evaluates the text of each one, and reports how many of them read as questions. A page with no question-form H4s scores zero; a page with several returns the total of those that qualify.
How RankGear measures it
RankGear parses each H4 with its question detector and returns the summed raw count. Every H4 on the page is examined independently, the detector decides whether that heading’s text qualifies as a question, and the qualifying headings are added together into a single integer. There is no ratio, threshold, or normalization applied — the output is the plain sum.
What RankGear looks for
<h4>How often should I replace my filter?</h4> → qualifies (counts as 1)
<h4>Filter replacement schedule</h4> → not a question (ignored)| If the count is… | What it usually reflects |
|---|---|
| 0 | No question-form H4s — either no H4s at all, or H4s written as plain labels. |
| 1–several | Some fourth-level headings are posed as questions, typically to introduce a direct answer beneath them. |
How to optimize it
Use question-form H4s only for legitimate lower-level topics that genuinely require a direct answer. Treat this number as an observation about how your deeper outline is written, not as a target to inflate. Rephrasing headings into questions purely to raise the count adds no value, because the factor does not check whether the questions are answered.
Important considerations
- Pages without H4s appropriately score zero — a zero is not a penalty, it simply means the outline does not use question-form fourth-level headings.
- The factor does not evaluate answers; it registers the question-form heading only, not the quality or presence of a response.
- Parser rules control what qualifies — the question detector, not your intent, decides whether a given H4 is counted.
- Do not deepen the outline for this metric; adding H4 levels just to accumulate questions distorts your structure without improving the page.
- This is a correlation-based signal within a measured result set, not a lever that makes a page rank. A higher count does not guarantee a better position.
Related factors
Part of the Factors reference · how RankGear measures · glossary.