It’s commonly assumed that making a keyword bold is an easy way to make it stand out for the reader and the search engine, but this is not how keywords operate. That said, boldening your keywords may not be a complete waste of time; it can benefit your audience and the search engine results.

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What are Keywords?

Keywords can be defined as a word or phrase that is associated with the theme or controlling idea of a document. Keywords are used in every field, but they are extremely important online because major search engines use them to categorize and rank online content.

If you want your content or website to be found online and visible to customers, you need to have a web copy that has an assortment of keywords integrated into the copy. The keywords need to be relevant to the main idea of the document to be effective in the SERPs.

How Google Treats Keywords

Google, the largest search engine globally, uses keywords to rank online content for quality and relevance; this is an important function in matching content with users’ searches, making finding something online easier and more accessible.

Conversely, if a keyword is not relevant to the controlling idea of the webpage, Google will notice this and rank the website lower in the SERPs. This has led some content creators to fill their content full of keywords, but they aren’t ranked highly by Google since they aren’t relevant.

Are Bold Keywords Important for SEO?

More and more, Google and other major search engines care about user experience; the process of ranking web pages has moved beyond simply matching keywords to headings. Instead, search engines now care about how the page reads and how quickly it opens.

This is why bolded keywords can have an effect on SEO even if they don’t directly influence the SERPs. This is because search engines don’t pick up on bold keywords; however, bold keywords might have a “soft” effect on SEO by making web pages more readable.

Why Use Bold Keywords

Using keywords in your copy is becoming more of an art. There needs to be a careful balance of distinctive keywords in the copy that are relevant to the subject and content but not overwhelming. On the other hand, too many keywords can backfire and cause your content to rank lower.

When you make your keyword bold, you highlight them to yourself and your other users, helping you to get the balance right and integrate them into your copy, so they are readable and don’t stick out. This may have a soft impact on the SEO of your website.

Best Practices for Bold Keywords

When used strategically, bold keywords on a web page can be very effective, provided there are few too many. In addition, bold keywords can make a web page more scannable, reducing bounce rate and increasing engagement with the copy.

However, the keywords and phrases you choose to bolded must be carefully balanced for this to be effective. If you have too many inconsistencies in the bolded words, it will confuse readers and reduce their investment in the copy.