This factor counts how many of your tracked keyword variations appear inside HTML <dfn> definition-term elements on the page. It is an occurrence count over the raw captured <dfn> text, not a measure of whether a real definition was written — and it relates to position within a result set, it does not by itself move a page up.
| Factor ID | RG-KWD-047 |
|---|---|
| Family | Keyword Usage & Density |
| Measurement | Variation occurrence count |
| Measured zone | Raw captured <dfn> contents |
What it measures
RankGear counts keyword variations that occur inside HTML definition-term <dfn> elements. The <dfn> element marks the defining instance of a term — the place in the copy where a concept is formally introduced — so this factor reads how often your tracked variation set lands in that semantically loaded zone rather than in ordinary body text.
How RankGear measures it
RankGear extracts the recognized <dfn> contents from the captured page without a cleaning pass, then counts case-insensitive whole-word matches against the run’s variation set. Matching is whole-word, so a variation is credited only when it appears as a complete token inside the <dfn> text; because the contents are taken raw, any nested markup inside the element is part of what gets scanned.
What RankGear looks for
<dfn>canonical URL</dfn> — the preferred address for a page.
<p>A <dfn>canonical URL</dfn> tells search engines which version to index.</p>How to optimize it
Use <dfn> when you introduce a term that the surrounding text actually defines, especially for important concepts a reader needs to understand to follow the page. Treat the count as an observation of your markup habits, not a target to inflate — wrapping words in <dfn> that the copy never defines is semantically wrong and adds no genuine signal. Many pages legitimately have no <dfn> elements at all, and that is fine.
Important considerations
- The factor does not verify that a definition is actually supplied — it only reads the
<dfn>text, so a term marked as defined but left unexplained still counts. - Nested markup inside the element can affect matching, since the contents are captured raw and whole-word matching runs over them as-is.
- Many pages do not require
<dfn>at all; a zero here is common and not a defect. - Semantic correctness matters more than keyword presence — use the element where a definition genuinely lives.
- This is a correlation-based prioritization signal measured within a result set. It relates to position; it does not guarantee a ranking or make a page rank on its own.
Related factors
Part of the Factors reference · how RankGear measures · glossary.