This factor counts the H2 headings on a page whose entire text is one of the run’s keyword variations — the whole heading equals a variation, case aside, with nothing before or after it. It returns a whole-heading variation match count for the H2 zone. Even one extra word breaks the match, and a high count relates to position within a measured result set — it is a prioritization signal, not a lever that makes a page rank.
| Factor ID | RG-HDG-046 |
|---|---|
| Family | Headings |
| Measurement | Whole-heading variation match count |
| Measured zone | H2 text |
What it measures
RankGear counts the H2 headings whose complete text equals one of the run’s keyword variations. A heading qualifies only when its full text is a variation and nothing else — a section titled with the bare variation, rather than a longer phrase that merely contains it. The result is a count across all H2s on the page, so a page can score zero, one, or several whole-variation matches. Unlike an exact-query match, any of the run’s variation strings can satisfy the heading.
How RankGear measures it
RankGear parses each H2’s text and evaluates it with a case-insensitive variation expression that is anchored at the beginning and the end. The variation expression is an alternation of the run’s variation strings; anchoring at both ends enforces the “whole heading” rule, so the heading must start with a variation and finish with it, leaving nothing surrounding the phrase. The comparison ignores letter case but otherwise requires the heading text to be one of the variations in full.
What RankGear looks for
Variations: "content marketing", "content marketing services"
Case-insensitive, anchored at BOTH ends,
alternation over every run variation:
^(?:content marketing|content marketing services)$
<h2>Content Marketing</h2> → whole match
<h2>content marketing services</h2> → whole match
<h2>Our Content Marketing Services</h2> → no match (extra word)| H2 heading text | Counts as a whole match? |
|---|---|
| Content Marketing | Yes — whole text equals a variation, case aside |
| content marketing services | Yes — matches a longer variation exactly |
| Our Content Marketing Services | No — one extra word breaks the anchor |
| Marketing | No — not a whole variation |
How to optimize it
Make a variation the entire H2 only when it is a precise and natural label for a major section. Treat this as an observation about how your sections are named, not a target to chase: forcing bare-variation headings onto sections that do not warrant them makes the page read worse without adding real relevance. Often descriptive specificity — a heading that says exactly what the section covers — serves readers better than a bare phrase, even though the longer heading will not count here. Optimize the section itself, and let a whole-variation heading appear only where that exact label is honest.
Important considerations
- Even one extra word prevents a match — the anchors require the H2 to be a variation and nothing more, so “Content Marketing Services for SaaS” does not count.
- Variation strings are not regex-escaped in the compatibility matcher, so characters inside a variation are used as-is when the expression is built — a detail of how the pattern is assembled rather than something to engineer around.
- The factor measures wording, not heading order or quality — where an H2 sits on the page and how good the section is do not affect this count.
- Descriptive specificity may be more useful than a bare phrase; a heading that fully describes its section can help readers more than a variation-only label, even at the cost of a match here.
- This is a correlation-based prioritization signal. A whole-variation heading relates to position within a measured result set — it does not guarantee a ranking or, on its own, make a page rank.
Related factors
Part of the Factors reference · how RankGear measures · glossary.