Bolding your keywords

1. 65

   avan989posted 13 years ago

   I have notice that in some hubs, people bold their keywords in the beginning paragraph. And then they bold some more keywords throughout their hubs. Is this away to improve your hubs for google?

   replyreport
2. 59

   Eric Newlandposted 13 years ago

   I sure hope not.
   
   That having been said, I have seen a couple of SEO hubs that suggest bolding keywords.

   replyreport
3. 72

   SmartAndFunposted 13 years ago

   I have seen a couple of hubs recommending bold keywords, too, but I'm wondering if that advice is pre-panda, from a year or more ago. Is it just me, or does it seem like big G doesn't want us to try so desparately and obviously hard now?

   replyreport
4. 60

   humagaiaposted 13 years ago

   The general consensus from SEO 'gurus' is that, for your targeted keyword, you embolden once and you italicize once. Doubt it makes much difference myself, especially if you have made your article semantically correct.

   replyreport
   1. 87

      rebekahELLEposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I have read this also post panda. On page optimization is still important. I usually bold or italicize keywords once, place it in a heading, and sometimes with an image or video heading.
      
      But I mainly use bold or italicize to emphasize a point or bring attention to a specific section of text for a human visitor who may be quickly scanning an article for specific information.
      
      I have one hub that ranks well in search results and I thought I may have used the keywords too much with headings, etc., but I have kept it the same way because the sub headings categorize the content for the reader.
      
      I think now it is more important that there is an obvious keyword and that the article flows organically with variations of the keyword used within the text.

      replyreport
      1. 91

         Jlbowdenposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Bolded words may bring or get attention on the internet when someone is doing a particular search for a word or keyword in their article. And it could help a person looking for the keyword in your article for instance find your article easier with that highlighted, or bolded keyword. Personally I like to use bolded words in my subtitles within an article, or as rebekah mentioned-to attract attention to a specific word or words making it easier for a reader to scan and pick out would be a plus.
         
         Jl

         replyreport
         1. 76

            WryLiltposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            What do you mean by "Bolded words in my subtitles".
            
            The subtitles on text capsules are already all bolded...

            replyreport
            1. 91

               Jlbowdenposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Apparently you missed the point I was trying to make-which was I occasionally like to use bolded words myself at the beginning of a new paragraph at times within certain articles. Which are separate from those within the text capsules. It makes my particular article more attractive when I use it only and only for that reason. i was not referring to the bolded words in your subtitles and I am already aware that the words are bolded on the text capsules. Just wanted to clarify that a bit more Wrylit. Sorry for any confusion it may have caused you.
               
               Jl

               replyreport
               1. 76

                  WryLiltposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  All good. Often I don't comment on things because I'm so much confused but due to the fact that this thread is public and someone who views it in a year or two may want clarification.

                  replyreport
                  1. 91

                     Jlbowdenposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     You're absolutely right about that and this like you just posted in this forum thread, is a good rule of thumb to follow. I also try to minimize my comments also for the same reason as you wrylit. Thanks for your feedback.
                     
                     Jl

                     replyreport
                     1. 76

                        WryLiltposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                        

                        replyreport
5. 76

   WryLiltposted 13 years ago

   From what I've read/seen, this is something regularly used by spammers and spinners. It looks tacky and I don't believe it does much.
   
   On the plus side, if the article is obviously spun, you can steal their keywords and write a good quality article around them!

   replyreport
6. 72

   SmartAndFunposted 13 years ago

   Thank you Humagaia and WryLilt. I thought it looked a bit spammy and desperate myself, but have seen the practice recommended. Big G's preferences change so often. It's hard to keep up with the ever-changing rules of this game. Advice that is a year old may not apply anymore. Thanks again!

   replyreport
7. 77

   Wesman Todd Shawposted 13 years ago

   I do it from time to time - but I think that I'm generally trying to draw attention to something and set it apart from the rest of the text.
   
   I'll also use bold and italics together.
   
   You have to make your web pages as visually appealing as is possible whilst also providing value to the reader....so there is no "yes, this is good," or "no, this is bad."
   
   I'd certainly think that bolding all my keywords would look tacky, as it would wind up....well, looking like crap.
   
   So bolding is fine - but the larger issue is visual appeal and providing value to readers.

   replyreport
   1. 91

      Jlbowdenposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Yes Wesman:
      
      You said it in a nutshell and hit the nail on the head when you mentioned visual appeal and applying value to the reader. These should be the main two points of putting the hub article together that all writers should have on their mind first before anything else.
      
      Jl

      replyreport
8. 60

   beagrsvposted 13 years ago

   I only bold my main KW in title and headers. Then bold, underline and italics main and all other KW's and try to keep a 2%-5% density for the main. I do not believe it carries as much wait as back in the day and until big brother tells me otherwise I'll keep at it.

   replyreport
9. 80

   Greekgeekposted 13 years ago

   For what it's worth, I did an experiment a couple years ago which confirmed that bold and italics are measured by Google's algorithm in a small way (which jibes with things Google reps have said about weighing emphasized text a bit more strongly).
   
   The experiment:
   -- 3 pairs of pages, each pair identical, with a made-up word bolded on one copy and not the other
   -- once Google had indexed them, the page with the bolded nonsense word was always listed first, the un-bolded second
   -- and when I switched which page of the pair had the boldface, after a while, they'd reverse in search results too, once Google had re-crawled them
   -- same effect with italics
   
   But all this tells us is that Google treats bold as significant when all other factors are equal. In the real world, there's so many factors -- page freshness, minute differences between pages, backlinks -- that may be more significant than which words are emphasized (or colored, or marked as significant in some fashion).
   
   Also, Google is always changing its algorithm, and is now making a push to make sure artificial tricks for manipulating search engines -- various SEO tricks -- do NOT have an impact. I doubt they'd actually penalize one instance of bold, but I wouldn't be surprised if the algorithm is refined to look at a set of factors as a group, to see if they look natural or artificial.
   
   It's hard to make a firm distinction, but Google's goal is to reward content that's written to help the human reader, not only for search engines. TIME Magazine and other publications were bolding key concepts and names in articles even before that technique started being used for SEO, so bolding may be useful for human readers, too... but anyway, the point is, the question is "does it help the reader?"
   
   If the answer is yes, do it. If not...well, don't worry about it too much. Even if Google decides to weight boldface differently than it used to, I think this is one of those places where the practice won't incur a penalty unless you do it excessively.

   replyreport
   1. 88

      Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Google would have to be pretty dumb,not to have researchers looking at formulas  handed out by the likes of Market Samurai or Keyword Academy and include them in their algorithm.
      
      So, for instance, I've read that since Panda, the algorithm does penalize for repetitive use of bolded words, especially repeated within the same sentence (e.g. spammers often use titles like "How to make a spam sandwich - best spam sandwich recipes").  So I'd agree with everyone else - bold where it makes sense for the reader, not for the search engines, just in case you're shooting yourself in the foot.
      
      And apparently, Keyword Academy has totally rewritten their course and basically thrown out all their formulas...

      replyreport