Bolding keywords - is this still current practice?

[mmxbreaks]

Does bolding keywords in your body copy actually have impact to Google's search? Seeing as Google doesn't use 'keyword keywords' as such, I was wondering whether bolding words actually has impact to search results, or is this just a dated and useless fad?

Thanks,

[AnkitMaheshwari]

It might not make much of a difference, still IMO shoould be used though in a wise way.

[mmxbreaks]

Would a wise way to be to limit the number of words or phrases that are bolded? Once? More than once? At every occurance?

I also wonder whether the type of tag used is important? Would Google see a difference between <b> and <strong> for example?

[AnkitMaheshwari]

I think using <strong> at times shows errors in HTML validation, so <b> is better.

Try not to overdo things as in case of any other SEO parameter.

[mmxbreaks]

I have a sneaking suspicion that our 'clever' CMS system over-rides <b> to become <strong>, whether corrected in the code or not. Grumble.

[mattur]

The main reason for bolding keywords is to enhance scannability [useit.com].

IMHO it's unlikely to have any noticeable effect on SERPS.

<b> and <strong> are generally used interchangeably, so IMHO Google probably regards them as equivalent - if it pays any attention to them at all.

[mmxbreaks]

Scannability indeed... I see what you mean and, that being the case, it would make best sense to bold the keyword for users' benefit only once on initial occurance I presume.

I wonder whether there's much advantage to bolding internal links for scannability too...

[tangor]

In the print world you bold or italic the first instance of a term to show its importance. You do not apply the emphasis after that. I prefer doing it that way as it makes the term stand out, whereas it is appears that way throughout the content it just looks...dumb.

[mmxbreaks]

Yes, but internet writing shouldn't be about not looking dumb. It's possibly more important for it to be found - half of the stuff I convert from magazine to web stops reading half as well. Much less introduction, a lot more repetition and keywording. It's more dumb, but it seems to perform better...

[tangor]

Converting instead of writing original? As for bolding all keywords it makes the document look like a SEARCH result page rather than a document. Some like it, some don't. If a page annoys me due to formatting, odd use of emphasis, color, or text size I use the FF NOSTYLE function and get on with what I came to do... read info. Works a treat!

[mmxbreaks]

A pet hate of mine are those rollover links that pop things up (inc adverts)... it's most annoying. On our site I'm trying to acheive the best balance of content as the king, but reformatted in a way so it's easily searchable via search engines without sounding too silly. I've been instructed to bold out search terms and keywords, but thought that was something that happened 5 years ago. So I'm trying to, er, not do that without annoying the marketing manager. I'm happy to singularly bold key terms for readability though (as it makes sense) :-)

[mattur]

I wonder whether there's much advantage to bolding internal links for scannability too...

Links should certainly stand out from normal text: the standard way to ensure this is to use a different color* and underline them. In most cases this is sufficient for scannability, but the most important links can also be bolded to emphasise them. I would generally avoid bolding all links, as I think it's overkill.

*something WebmasterWorld fails to do... ;)

[Reno]

The main reason for bolding keywords is to enhance scannability.

Exactly. How many times have you opened a page of text and had your eyes blur over? But take that same page of paragraph-after-paragraph and add some white space, some bold words, a well placed graphic, perhaps a horizontal rule, and all of a sudden it's more attractive and thus more readable -- which is the point of creating the page in the first place -- having people read it.

So I'm on the side that says use them wisely, not only to accent important words to show emphasis, but to give the page more contrast and thus look better -- nothing wrong with that.

.........................

[signor_john]

I'm on the side that says use them wisely, not only to accent important words to show emphasis, but to give the page more contrast and thus look better -- nothing wrong with that.

Google likes to say "Design Web sites for users, not for search engines." Using that mantra as a guideline, it makes sense to highlight words or phrases for scannability, as in "When you're walking the dog on a rainy day, our PoochProtekt Canine Rain Jacket will keep Fido dry and fluffy." What doesn't make sense is packing the paragraph with a bunch of bolded keywords and keyphrases that have "SEO" written all over them.