This factor reports whether a page carries the Microformats2 p-category property, which labels the category or tag of an item. It is a binary check: 1 when RankGear finds the exact class value, 0 when it does not. Presence is a signal that a page uses this vocabulary — it does not judge whether the category is correct or useful.
| Factor ID | RG-SCF-013 |
|---|---|
| Family | Structured Data — MicroFormat |
| Measurement | Binary presence (0 / 1) |
| Measured zone | Body HTML without scripts |
What it measures
This factor detects the p-category Microformats2 property. In Microformats2, a p-category marks the category or tag of the item it sits within — for example the topic of a post or the label applied to an entry. RankGear records only whether that property is present in the page body, not how many categories appear or what they say.
How RankGear measures it
RankGear case-insensitively searches the body HTML (with scripts removed) for the exact double-quoted class value class="p-category". If that string is found, the factor returns 1; otherwise it returns 0. The match is literal: the class value must be exactly p-category inside its own double-quoted attribute.
What RankGear looks for
<a class="p-category" href="/topics/seo">SEO</a>| Value | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 1 | The exact class value class="p-category" is present in the body HTML. |
| 0 | No element carries that exact class value. |
How to optimize it
Use p-category to mark accurate categories or tags within a properly structured Microformats2 item. Because RankGear matches the class value literally, the property has to stand as its own double-quoted class="p-category" — a multi-class attribute such as class="tag p-category" is not recognized by this check. Treat the factor as an observation of whether the markup exists, not a target to chase for its own sake: adding the property does not improve a page unless the categories genuinely describe its content.
Important considerations
- Multi-class attributes are not recognized — the value must be exactly
class="p-category". - Presence does not evaluate how useful or relevant the category is; it only confirms the markup exists.
- Category markup should match the visible content of the page.
- Avoid adding irrelevant categories to inflate the signal.
- This factor correlates with position within a measured result set; it is a prioritization signal, not a cause of ranking, and does not guarantee a ranking.
Related factors
Part of the Factors reference · how RankGear measures · glossary.