RG-HDG-042 counts how many times a keyword’s variations appear inside the H6 headings on a page. It returns a whole-number occurrence count, not a score — and a zero is normal, since most pages never reach a sixth heading level.
| Factor ID | RG-HDG-042 |
|---|---|
| Family | Headings |
| Measurement | Variation occurrence count |
| Measured zone | H6 text |
What it measures
This factor counts keyword-variation occurrences inside a page’s H6 headings. Every H6 on the page contributes, and a single heading can add more than one to the total when it contains several nonoverlapping matches. The output is a raw count of matches across the deepest, sixth-level headings — not a density figure or a pass/fail flag.
How RankGear measures it
RankGear parses every H6 on the page and runs case-insensitive whole-word matching against the run’s variation set, testing the longest phrases first. Each match is consumed before the remaining terms are tested, so the same span of text is never counted twice, and a longer phrase always wins over a shorter term nested inside it.
What RankGear looks for
<h6>Advanced running shoe care and cleaning</h6>Given the variation set running shoe and shoe, the longer phrase running shoe is matched and consumed first, so the nested shoe is not counted a second time within that span.
| Variation matched | Counts toward total? |
|---|---|
| running shoe (longest overlapping phrase) | Yes — matched first, then consumed |
| shoe (nested inside the above) | No — its span was already consumed |
| a second, separate mention elsewhere in the H6 | Yes — nonoverlapping occurrences each count |
How to optimize it
Treat this as an observation, not a target. Include a variation in an H6 only when the wording genuinely helps describe a legitimate sixth-level subsection of your content. If a page has no real six-level hierarchy, the correct value is zero — there is nothing to fix. Adding H6 headings, or padding existing ones with keyword variations, only to move this number is the wrong optimization and degrades the reading experience.
Important considerations
- Multiple nonoverlapping occurrences can count within a single H6.
- Longer phrases take priority over shorter overlapping terms, and matched text is consumed so it is not recounted.
- Zero is normal for pages without a genuine six-level heading hierarchy.
- Do not add H6 headings solely to raise this metric.
- This is a correlation-based prioritization signal measured within a result set — it relates to position, it does not make a page rank or guarantee any placement.
Related factors
Part of the Factors reference · how RankGear measures · glossary.