Entities in H4 Tags

Entities in H4 Tags counts how many times the run’s supplied entities appear in a page’s H4 headings. It is an occurrence count, not a target — many well-structured pages use no H4s at all, so a score of zero is frequently the correct result.

Factor IDRG-ENT-006
FamilyEntities
MeasurementOccurrence count
Measured zoneH4 text in the rendered page body

What it measures

This factor counts run-supplied entity occurrences inside H4 headings. It looks only at the fourth-level headings in the rendered page body and tallies how often the entities defined for that run appear in them.

How RankGear measures it

RankGear extracts the H4 text from the page and sums case-insensitive, word-aware matches across all entity entries and all headings. Each qualifying match adds to the count, so an entity that appears in more than one H4 — or more than once within a single H4 — contributes to the total each time.

What RankGear looks for

<h4>… entity name …</h4>
If the page is…Do this
Using no H4sLeave it — H4s are optional and a zero here is normal.
Using H4s, but no entities appear in themAdd an entity only where an H4 genuinely needs to name that subject.
Repeating one entity across many H4sConfirm the repetition reflects real structure, not padding to raise the count.

How to optimize it

Include an entity only when an H4 genuinely needs to identify that subject within the heading hierarchy. Treat this as an observation of how your existing structure uses entities, not a number to inflate — write H4s for readers first, and let the count follow from headings that actually earn a fourth level.

Important considerations

  • Many pages correctly use no H4s at all, so a zero score is often appropriate rather than a deficiency.
  • Repetition can inflate the score, because repeated entity mentions each add to the count.
  • The entity list is run-specific, so the same page can score differently from one run to the next.
  • Structure and clarity take priority over count — a clear heading hierarchy matters more than the raw number.
  • This is a prioritization signal measured within a result set; it correlates with position and does not, on its own, cause or guarantee a ranking.

Related factors

Part of the Factors reference · how RankGear measures · glossary.