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does making keywords bold have any effect?

by grumpyb
32 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Once upon a time we selected keywords in a post or blog and made them bold. It was thought that this helped the SERP of those keywords.
Is this still relevant or is it now an old wives tale?
#bold #effect #keywords #making
  • Profile picture of the author tryinhere
    grumpyb You can install the MozBar (from Moz) a chrome extension that allows you to view the on-page SEO which includes Bold/Strong as one of the metrics.

    As to adding Bold and if it right or wrong that's your call as I think going into a definite answer is never a correct answer.

    I choose to use it sometimes along with italics, H2 H3 and a range of other things, but never once do I think about it from a giggle/keyword phrase standpoint over and above is it right and natural for what I am doing within the article.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kopely
      I am new here, and new to Moz. Do you have to pay for Moz premium features to gain assess to their on-page SEO? I saw the cost of their premium and its a lot of money. Thanks.
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  • Profile picture of the author amjadshuvo
    No one can say that Bold text has an impact on rank. But it is sure that the bold text helps the readers to figure out everything easily. It also retains the concentration of readers or audiences. Indirectly, the bold text of content keeps the impact behind ranking.
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    • Profile picture of the author DWolfe
      Originally Posted by amjadshuvo View Post

      It also retains the concentration of readers or audiences. Indirectly, the bold text of content keeps the impact behind ranking.
      Really ? Bold text is annoying when people constantly used it in posts around here. It is just as easy to ignore the poster and skip to the next post.

      Also like multi color fronts, excessive use of capital letters and different text sizes. Posts risk being deleted and frowned upon here.
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      • Profile picture of the author amjadshuvo
        Excess of anything is very bad. Why you will bold too much to disgust your audience. Rather, you should bold your text in a balanced way so you get a good impression than bad.
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  • Profile picture of the author appsdevelopusa
    Bold keywords does not impact the page ranking but linked keyword towards the landing page will definitely help to increase the website traffic
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  • Profile picture of the author freakfeed
    No, if you want to increase the page ranking, try to use internal links and write more than 300 words, it's gonna attract google spiders immediately.

    For keywords, Try to write it in the first paragraph (or meta description if you want to create one).

    Try to make a short first paragraph & contain your keyword and make it H2 or H3.

    Don't write the main keyword too much on the text ( my advice 2 or 3 time enough ) because if you write it too much it's gonna be like spam ^^

    anyway, Good luck if u have another question about SEO i'm glad to help ^^
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  • Profile picture of the author Internet Trillionaire
    Test, test and test some more...

    How do you know if using bold keywords will help their SERP? You going to have to test the theory to see if what worked once upon a time, is still relevant now or just an old wives tale.

    Select some keywords in your post and bold them to see if it's still relevant for search engine optimization now?

    Let's experiment...

    Perhaps you should type "bold them" into the Warrior Forum search bar now, to see if this post is on the top of the 1st page, of the search results. If it still is there when you read this post, then making your keywords bold is still relevant for search engine optimization now.
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  • Profile picture of the author yenisehir
    As far as I experienced no for google but for customers it makes some sense on their mind
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  • Profile picture of the author Andrii Ozemko
    If you bold some key sentences which contain keywords, that would be helpful at least for user. It won't affect ranking a lot, but brings some small benefit. If you bold keywords only, that is bad idea, aspacealy for users.
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  • Profile picture of the author pramodrdd
    Bold keywords are not affecting the seo but give hyperlink to that keyword it will effect your seo
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  • Profile picture of the author blazess
    It doesn't have any effect on the ranking of the keyword but might look aesthetically appealing.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sophie Leonard
    I would not say it has a massive impact on SEO. But, it does have a "little" impact on SEO. Using bold keywords can make your content more accessible and readable from a user point of view.
    However, it has no impact on the Search Engine.
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    • Profile picture of the author DABK
      If it has a little impact it cannot not have no impact. And vice versa.

      You gotta choose, man!

      Originally Posted by Sophie Leonard View Post

      I would not say it has a massive impact on SEO. But, it does have a "little" impact on SEO. Using bold keywords can make your content more accessible and readable from a user point of view.
      However, it has no impact on the Search Engine.
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  • Profile picture of the author gsquarewebtech
    It does play a small role in highlighting important words and if they fit into the content of the page the Google Spider will consider those words more highly for your rankings. Just make sure they actually have a point to be highlighted. You don't want to make your site blatantly designed for search engines with no attention given to organic users.
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  • Profile picture of the author tryinhere
    A lot of suggestions here so a clue for some

    go to this search phrase as an example > how to discuss sexless marriage with spouse

    Now look at the snippet at the top > now go to the page and look at why that snippet is at the top front and centre? answer = Bold text.

    And while bold is not the only way to trigger these snippets it is one way. There is bold and there is bold used in a strategic way.
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  • Profile picture of the author innateseo
    That and italics still have an effect, but it can be difficult to intertwine without coming off as spammy.

    It is just to include an entire phrase to make it look more natural.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lucas21
    There isn't any proof that watchword weakening (and by augmentation keyword boldness) have any impact on rankings. You need to utilize a keyword in a page so Google comprehends what the page is about.
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  • Profile picture of the author mattlaclear
    Originally Posted by grumpyb View Post

    Once upon a time we selected keywords in a post or blog and made them bold. It was thought that this helped the SERP of those keywords.
    Is this still relevant or is it now an old wives tale?
    Forum spammer, I compel thee to stop!
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  • Profile picture of the author Md somrat
    actually bold keyword is not helping you to SERP. but I think bold keyword help reader to read your article or timeline or title.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ettienne
    Originally Posted by grumpyb View Post

    Once upon a time we selected keywords in a post or blog and made them bold. It was thought that this helped the SERP of those keywords.
    Is this still relevant or is it now an old wives tale?
    There's still some strategy to it, yes.
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  • Profile picture of the author praetserge
    Read it recently, that if you over-use bold text google might penalise you the same way as with keyword stuffing.
    I use bold text but only in a natural way to put emphases but didn't see any seo benefit of doing it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Blakers1
    Bold text tags in HTML are a known ranking factor. The amount of these tags and which keyword ratios you need in them are niche and keyword specific. The same goes for italic tags as well by the way.

    Anyone saying bold text does not matter, isn't basing their SEO on testing data and should not be trusted to give SEO advice IMHO.

    I've personally observed dozens of pages rank better in the past year when the only changes I made was to get these two HTML tags closer in line with competitor averages. It's not the most important ranking factor, but it is a ranking factor.
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  • Profile picture of the author Subho D
    Bold and italics do not effect in SEO or page rankings but it helps the readability and consumption of your content. If you write quality content then it's not needed to bold your keywords or some words. Keep your on-page and off-page SEO perfect to get proper rank.
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  • Profile picture of the author mattlaclear
    Bold and italics text is excellent for breaking up the monotony of blocks of text. But as an SEO practice, it is bush league.
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  • Profile picture of the author Angelamotley
    Bold Keywords are just only for user. It helps to make your post more attractive. nothing else.
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    • Profile picture of the author Blakers1
      Originally Posted by Angelamotley View Post

      Bold Keywords are just only for user. It helps to make your post more attractive. nothing else.
      Do you have data to back this up?
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  • Profile picture of the author ankitaroyy90
    Hello Grumpyb,

    Selecting keywords & making them bold definitely helps in SERP rankings.

    In addition, I would suggest using your keywords in heading tags like H2, H3, H4, H5 & H6 which makes an impact on Google Rankings.

    Also, maintain keyword density while adding your keywords in the content.
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  • Profile picture of the author AndyBlackSEO
    Only bold keywords if you want to emphasize a specific word. Don;t over do it for the sake of it.

    It's less about keywords these days, and more about semantics and related keywords. Google is much better now at identifying what a piece of content is about by viewing the content as a whole. What other words are being used and how they are being used.
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  • Profile picture of the author robertosburn
    Making keyword bold doesn't have any effect on keyword ranking. Its only give emphasis on that bold keyword. Sometime excessive bold keyword have bad impact on search ranking.
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  • Profile picture of the author ninaholm05
    I think it is not working right now because Google did not say you should bold the keyword its our thinking.
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  • Profile picture of the author Akshay KP
    There is no impact on ranking by making keyword bold. But by making bold it will help the readers to crack everything easily. If we give a hyperlink to that keyword then only website traffic will come. One thing is there, continuously using in a post is kind of annoying the readers. So should use in a balanced way it will make the text a good impression.
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