Does bolding key words help search engine rankings?

1. 75

   Dorsiposted 15 years ago

   I remember someone saying awhile back that bolding your key words in your hubs helps your traffic. I've done this with alot of my hubs but have no way of knowing if this really helps or not...
   Does anyone know if this is true?
   
   The only thing I don't like about bolding too much is it takes away from the hub (IMHO) Makes it kind of look too commercial sometimes....

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   1. 78

      Uninvited Writerposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      I read a hub a while back by Paul Edmonson that suggested you bold a couple of keywords. I write for Suite 101 and they insist that you bold three keywords in each article. I would think more than 3 would be overkill.

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2. 87

   rebekahELLEposted 15 years ago

   advice I've read is always write for your reader. you want to bold type key phrases and topic headings to help your reader grab the important topics, and if these are used in your heading and context, it should help with the search engines.
   
   too much bold type is hard to read.
   
   I'm sure one of our SEO gurus can share more.

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3. 68

   darksideposted 15 years ago

   Yes, there is such a thing as overkill.
   
   If a person were to bold their keywords throughout their hub it would be as silly as stuffing the same keyword phrase three times into the opening sentence.

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      World Marketingposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      i agree

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4. 74

   livewithrichardposted 15 years ago

   Using the bold and the H1 and H2 tags help in SEO by letting the spiders know that those terms are probably important to the content. If those terms happen to be the keywords you are trying to target then they're given more relevance unless you overdue it, then it looks like stuffing.
   
   Of course, this is only a fraction of what is necessary to optimize a page of content.

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   1. 75

      Dorsiposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      What are H1 and H2 tags?

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      1. 76

         skyfireposted 15 years agoin reply to this

         Here you go check this link:
         
         w3schools.com/TAGS/tag_hn.asp

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5. 78

   thisisoliposted 15 years ago

   Bold text can help if you use it in moderation.

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6. 62

   Mike Rogersposted 15 years ago

   Bold and italic are your friends, but like salt and pepper, use sparingly for maximum benefit
   
   Mike

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7. 76

   skyfireposted 15 years ago

   There is no strict rule on how many bold/italics you can use but self-moderation is better.

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8. 57

   CodyPhrenismposted 15 years ago

   It is a factor, it's not too huge however. I wouldn't stress it too much.

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9. 59

   JYOTI KOTHARIposted 15 years ago

   I had experimented on it. Many times it helps ranking higher in Google SERP.
   
   I have tried it even with stuffing and got good results in SERP. we can not know the complete algorithm of a search engine but most of the times making bold and italic help.
   
   Thanks,
   Jyoti Kothari

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10. 71

    CarpetDiemposted 15 years ago

    If it is a factor, I would guess it is very, very minor, and if you overdo it, it may even hurt you.
    I would use bolding for people. If it makes sense for your human readers, it's a good idea. If it doesn't, it's a bad idea.
    As to me, <b>sometimes I do</b>, sometimes I don't.

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    1. 71

       CarpetDiemposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Oops, make that last line...
       ...sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.

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11. 60

    20gsxr05posted 15 years ago

    on some of the keywords i find that underline bold and italic helps alot.Think of it as advertisement when people scim your page that jumps out at them it does the same for the robots.i wouldn't advise stuffing

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    1. 59

       JYOTI KOTHARIposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       I agree with you for many reasons. However, large number of people do not advise stuffing.
       
       Thanks,
       Jyoti Kothari

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12. 70

    wyanjenposted 15 years ago

    I sneak in a bold and/or italicized keyword by putting in a "copyright" tag on each article. I simply repeat the title, and say "copyright 2010"
    It doesn't come across looking spammy IMO. It's a subtle disguise.
    

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    1. 78

       thisisoliposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Heh, that's quite clever actually

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