Simple SEO question RE:

sitehero · 10-10-2011, 12:25 PM

Just wondering if there are any SEO benefits for adding either of these tags around each keyword?

Code:

<strong>KEYWORD</strong>
<em>KEYWORD</em>
<i>KEYWORD</i>

Or even using CSS and putting all your keywords as BOLD or UNDERLINED. If this also returns any SEO benefits???

I'm sure I remember reading somewhere a few years ago that this is good for SEO however I'm not sure and I'm wondering if its worth doing or not?

To be honest, I guess I can understand if these tags are good for SEO:

Code:

<strong>KEYWORD</strong>
<em>KEYWORD</em>
<i>KEYWORD</i>

but even if they are, I can't work out how using the BOLD or UNDERLINED option in the stylesheet would do any good because I didn't think search spiders read our CSS files. I always thought they just scrape the 'content'

Any advice would be great !!!

webapex · 10-10-2011, 12:39 PM

I have heard more than one SEO expert suggest that such manipulation has little effect now and that you should not compromise the human readability factor.

Istvan Horvath · 10-10-2011, 12:43 PM

Actually, you are mixing similar but very different tags there...

Initially, and were used to style certain words in the text: normally, in a browser the text between them always became BOLD and ITALIC, respectively.

However, it was considered not semantic (e.g. for blind people and/or in text browsers they were irrelevant). Accordingly, for SEO it shouldn't mean anything either because it's just style - without giving any semantic meaning.

Then the and tags have been introduced - by default in a browser the text surrounded by those tags becomes "bold" (stonger than the rest of the text!), and "italic" (emphasis), respectively. Those are semantic tags and can put a... err, strong emphasis on your keywords

Furthermore, you can define their style in CSS.

As far as I remember, has been deprecated.

P.S. Seemingly, in HTML5 the and will be re-introduced but with slightly different role and meaning. (Nobody likes to read technical stuff, so I will not include a boring link)

InternetMarketingIQ · 10-10-2011, 01:52 PM

There are those that believe it ads seo value. I'm not among them.

I've tested this on my own sites by highlighting different keyword phrases with different styles. And have not seen a rise or drop based on this alone.

However if you search in Google for a keyword phrase you'll find that phrase in bold on the search results page. Thus the value is in matching the phrase for your visitors so they can see that what they just searched for matches content on your site. If you can pick the right phrases and make sure they in fact to match people are more likely to get the message that this is what they want and stick around longer.

So clearly there are benefits. And there seems to be no SEO downside as long as it is done in this manner.

10-10-2011, 12:25 PM	#1
sitehero HyperActive Warrior Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 157 Thanks: 12 Thanked 18 Times in 5 Posts	Simple SEO question RE: <strong> <em> <i> Just wondering if there are any SEO benefits for adding either of these tags around each keyword? Code: <strong>KEYWORD</strong> <em>KEYWORD</em> <i>KEYWORD</i> Or even using CSS and putting all your keywords as BOLD or UNDERLINED. If this also returns any SEO benefits??? I'm sure I remember reading somewhere a few years ago that this is good for SEO however I'm not sure and I'm wondering if its worth doing or not? To be honest, I guess I can understand if these tags are good for SEO: Code: <strong>KEYWORD</strong> <em>KEYWORD</em> <i>KEYWORD</i> but even if they are, I can't work out how using the BOLD or UNDERLINED option in the stylesheet would do any good because I didn't think search spiders read our CSS files. I always thought they just scrape the 'content' Any advice would be great !!!

10-10-2011, 12:39 PM	#2
webapex Senior Warrior Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 1,554 Thanks: 83 Thanked 245 Times in 226 Posts	Re: Simple SEO question RE: <strong> <em> <i> I have heard more than one SEO expert suggest that such manipulation has little effect now and that you should not compromise the human readability factor.
	“An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field” Niels Bohr

10-10-2011, 12:43 PM	#3
Istvan Horvath Watching you... War Room Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Waterdown, Ontario, Canada Posts: 6,502 Blog Entries: 2 Thanks: 1,758 Thanked 3,047 Times in 1,816 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Simple SEO question RE: <strong> <em> <i> Actually, you are mixing similar but very different tags there... Initially, <b> and <i> were used to style certain words in the text: normally, in a browser the text between them always became BOLD and ITALIC, respectively. However, it was considered not semantic (e.g. for blind people and/or in text browsers they were irrelevant). Accordingly, for SEO it shouldn't mean anything either because it's just style - without giving any semantic meaning. Then the <strong> and <em> tags have been introduced - by default in a browser the text surrounded by those tags becomes "bold" (stonger than the rest of the text!), and "italic" (emphasis), respectively. Those are semantic tags and can put a... err, strong emphasis on your keywords Furthermore, you can define their style in CSS. As far as I remember, <u> has been deprecated. P.S. Seemingly, in HTML5 the <b> and <i> will be re-introduced but with slightly different role and meaning. (Nobody likes to read technical stuff, so I will not include a boring link)
	WordPress Users - you're gonna love this! (Oh yeah...) Blog: Internet Marketing Offline

10-10-2011, 01:52 PM	#4
InternetMarketingIQ Senior Warrior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: US of A Posts: 2,190 Thanks: 47 Thanked 258 Times in 212 Posts	Re: Simple SEO question RE: <strong> <em> <i> There are those that believe it ads seo value. I'm not among them. I've tested this on my own sites by highlighting different keyword phrases with different styles. And have not seen a rise or drop based on this alone. However if you search in Google for a keyword phrase you'll find that phrase in bold on the search results page. Thus the value is in matching the phrase for your visitors so they can see that what they just searched for matches content on your site. If you can pick the right phrases and make sure they in fact to match people are more likely to get the message that this is what they want and stick around longer. So clearly there are benefits. And there seems to be no SEO downside as long as it is done in this manner.
	Internet Marketing IQ™