Robert_Charlton - 7:05 am on Oct 14, 2012 (gmt 0)

Could the bold paragraphs be seen as over optimization?

gouri - Time for a very brief note only... but all the things you describe, bold text, the <strong>, etc, are all intended for emphasis. The headings... h1, h2, etc, are structural elements, essentially to emphasize the divisions in a hierarchical structure.

When you emphasize everything, though, there is no longer any differentiation. Ultimately nothing is emphasized because it's all the same. This is probably very bad for your users, too. It's like having them confront a page that's written all in capital letters.

Maybe I'm misinterpreting what you're doing, but it sounds offhand like you've gone wa-a-ay over the top. I can't say whether any of these things are actually hurting you, as Google may be ignoring these signals entirely since so many people misuse them. That said, your approach needs to be adjusted. What you're describing sounds like a late-1990s spammer's mindset.