Does it still help to bold text on webpages to draw the attention of the search engine bots?

[TheVolkinator]

I remember a few years ago, bolding text was important for the search bots, is this still the case?

[evolvingSEO]

It is still known to help, but to a generally small degree.  You can see all the ranking factors in the latest study here.

[TheVolkinator]

Thanks, I looked there before postign and didn't see anything specific to bolding text

[AlanMosley]

I did some test once, and i could not see anything worth noting

[augustos]

The pages I used bolding text, I can't see any rank boost but the bounce rate normally decrease in a good amount.

So here is the question, is bounce rate matter for ranking?

[EGOL]

I remember a few years ago, bolding text was important for the search bots, is this still the case?

Only when your competitors are naive and easy.

In any other situation you are in a battle of resources.

[ShaMenz]

Hi Volkinator,

I would actually offer a slightly different perspective on this.

I agree that there doesn't appear to be any real evidence that it helps rankings, but...

Think about what works for the visitor ... clever use of bold text can actually help conversions, but you have to think carefully about what you are doing because it can also hurt them terribly if misused.

First, highlighting just repetitive keyword terms or long sections of text is likely to hurt in 2 ways:

1. It is likely to annoy people and therefore increase the bounce rate for the page.
2. long passages of bold text reduce comprehension dramatically - if people don't understand the text on the page they are less likely to convert.

However, you can highlight just short phrases in the text to send a direct message to the reader. This will drive your message home more effectively and increase conversions.

This is an artificially constructed version to demonstrate what I am talking about, but in essence, the highlighted phrases when read alone create a shorter, more direct action statement from within the two longer sentences.

I have found this to be quite effective in improving conversions on client sites. One site in particular went from a conversion rate of 2.2% to a conversion rate of 26% after making only this change.

Hope that helps,

Sha

[ShaMenz]

Hi Augustos,

Yes, bounce rate is now acknowledged as a ranking factor by major search engines.

I would say you are probably doing exactly what I talked about in my response to Volkinator - are your conversion rates also improved?

Sha

[SEOisSEO]

Fantastic real life test and observation. Highly appreciated!