Should Your Content Be So Bold?

[Connor]

SEO practitioners have argued about whether bold text is worth any search engine optimization juice for some time now. Most search engine optimization experts believe that bold text does help with search engine rankings, but it’s one of those things where bolding your content alone is not going to help you. In fact, in some cases it could hurt you.

Like in keyword usage, too much is self destructive. Too many article writers or DIY search engine optimization practitioners try to increase their search engine optimization mojo by “stuffing” keywords into their content. By the same token, some of them have taken to “stuffing” bold content into their articles and search engine optimization copy as well. They are only hurting themselves.

The reason this happens is because there is benefit to bold content. If there wasn’t, no one would try to game the system by bolding more than they have to. You’ve likely seen someone do something like this:

Spaghetti sauce can be a powerful aphrodisiac. It can get you happy and make your partner even happier. Which brand of spaghetti sauce you use for your pleasure depends to a great deal on how happy you can become. But I wouldn’t smear the spaghetti sauce all over yourselves. Simply eating a spoonful of spaghetti sauce before you prepare yourselves for action - one spaghetti sauce spoonful each please - can lead to happiness galore.

It’s bad enough when you stuff keywords, but you don’t have to bold every instance of your keyword either. That just looks plain tacky. But strategically placed bold content can lead to greater understanding of your content and better readability. When you do bold your content, make sure you are doing it for the right reasons. Don’t do it just for the search engine optimization benefits. Do it because it enhances the reader experience.

Search Engine Optimization Journal