Variations in H3 Tags counts how many times variations of your target keyword appear inside a page’s H3 headings. It is a plain occurrence count across parsed H3 text — a read on how precisely you name supporting subsections, not a target to inflate.
| Factor ID | RG-HDG-038 |
|---|---|
| Family | Headings |
| Measurement | Variation occurrence count |
| Measured zone | H3 text |
What it measures
This factor counts keyword-variation occurrences within H3 headings. Every time a term from the run’s variation set appears in an H3, it adds to the page’s total for this factor, so the score reflects how many variation hits your third-level subheadings contain.
How RankGear measures it
RankGear parses every H3 on the page and counts case-insensitive whole-word matches drawn from the run’s variation set. It processes longer terms first and removes the matched text before evaluating shorter terms, so overlapping variations are counted once rather than twice.
What RankGear looks for
<h3>Choosing trail running shoes for beginners</h3>
<!-- "trail running shoes" and "running shoes" both in the variation set -->
<!-- the longer term is matched and removed first, then shorter terms -->| H3 text | Variations counted |
|---|---|
| “Best running shoes for beginners” | 1 |
| “Trail running shoes vs road running shoes” | 2 |
| “How we tested each pair” | 0 |
How to optimize it
Use relevant variations in H3 headings to name supporting subsections precisely, not simply to repeat the main query. Read this as an observation of outline quality rather than a target: a heading earns a variation when the subsection genuinely covers that facet, and padding H3s with repeated terms does not improve the underlying structure.
Important considerations
- More than one variation can count in a single H3.
- Overlapping matches are not double-counted — longer terms are matched and removed before shorter ones are evaluated.
- Only parsed H3 text is measured; H1, H2, and body copy do not contribute to this factor.
- A strong outline may use accurate synonyms that are not in the generated variation set, so a low count does not always mean weak headings.
- This is a correlation-based prioritization signal within a measured result set, not proof that adding H3 variations will move a page’s ranking.
Related factors
Part of the Factors reference · how RankGear measures · glossary.