Stong Tags still useful in 2016
-
Hello,
Are strong tags still beneficial in 2016? A few co-workers feel they look spammy on our site and that they are no longer really used by the search engines. However, we can't find any real significant info for no longer implementing them or saying they're outdated.
Thanks!
-
It's an interesting one and Paul has pretty much covered what most SEO's think about the use of bold for anything more than usability these days.
I actually performed split testing for this for a client a number of months ago (they like everything to be tested) and while the positions stayed static in Google, there was actually an increase in the amount of time that people spent looking at content with those bold words in them. I used HotJar to watch recorded user sessions.
Because of this, they use bold to emphasize key points now - A lot more came out of the testing around it, enough to make me realise just how much people scan pages for snippets of what they want.
-Andy
-
Right - for usability, not rankings.
-
I am still betting money on them when used to highlight internal links - because they attract a lot of clicks.
-
The use of strong tags has never been anything other than a miniscule ranking factor, if at all. There's no point to them for SEO at all - use them as benefits the readability of your copy for your visitors instead, as they were intended.
And yes, if your overuse has made your content look spammy, you're hurting your usability and trustworthiness (and therefore value of your site) FAR more than you might ever gain.
Paul
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Hi - How do you get rid of duplicate content that was accidentally created on a tag url? For example, when I published a new article, the content was duplicated on: /posts/tag/lead-generation/
the original article was created with: /posts/shippers-looking-for-freight-brokers/ How can I fix this so a new URL is not created every time I add a tag to a new posting?
On-Page Optimization | | treetopgrowthstrategy0 -
When, if ever, would you need to use: example.com/en
Is there any reason to have /en on your website if your website is only in English? Or is it worth having in case you are preparing to translate into other languages? And is there any advantage to being: en.example.com over example.com/en Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | CosiCrawley0 -
Duplicate Meta Tag error
I am getting Duplicate Meta tag error(under HTML improvement) for these kinds of pages http://www.gobol.in/catalogsearch/result/index/?category=&p=3&q=sharp+split+AC+1.5+ton&x=0&y=0 http://www.gobol.in/catalogsearch/result/index/?category=&q=sharp+split+AC+1.5+ton&special_price=4%2C10000&x=0&y=0 http://www.gobol.in/catalogsearch/result/index/?category=&q=sharp+split+AC+1.5+ton&special_price=5%2C10000_8%2C10000&x=0&y=0 What is the best way to resolve such type of error?
On-Page Optimization | | Obbserv0 -
Using Robots Meta Tag on Review Form Pages
I have gone over this so many times and I just can't seem to get it straight and hope someone can help me out with a couple of questions: Right now, on my dynamically created pages created by filters (located on the category pages) I am using rel""canonical" to point them to their respective category page. Should I also use the robots meta tag as well? Similarly, each product I have on my site has a review form on it and thus is getting indexed by Google. I have placed the same canonical tag on them as well pointing them to the page with the review form on it. In the past I used robots.txt to block google from the review pages but this didn't really do much. Should I be using the robots meta tag on these pages as well? If I used the robots meta tag should I noindex,nofollow? Thanks in advance, Jake
On-Page Optimization | | jake3720 -
Head description tag, what now
Recently I heard Google virtually dropping the description tag for seo scoring? and it takes the data off the page, however one of my clients description is just pulling a url rather than any content from the page. is there some way thats ethical to suggest a description to google?
On-Page Optimization | | Shuffled0 -
Using rel="author" on product descriptions
Unique and effective product descriptions can be one of the most expensive investments that go into building a retail website. I would consider them part of the "intellectual property" of a company. These descriptions are also one of the most often pirated types of content. Some product descriptions have been grabbed and used by hundreds of pirates. When people grab your product descriptions it creates a duplicate content problem, it also starts cutting off your long-tail traffic. The discussion topic here is.... Have you heard of anyone using rel="author" on product pages with substantive content? Do you think there is any value in doing that? Is this an abuse of rel="author" Thank you!
On-Page Optimization | | EGOL1 -
Can I use the first sentence of my page content as a meta description tag as well?
I just want to copy my content on the page and use the first or as well the second sentence of the content self for my meta description tag. Is that OK? Or should the Meta description tag be different?
On-Page Optimization | | paulinap19830 -
Recreate missing pages or just use 301 redirect?
Hi, on the Competitive Comparison section of the "link analysis" page the top 5 sites are linking to pages on my site that no longer exist. I'm wondering if it is worthwhile to recreate these pages that no longer exist or if I should just use a 301 redirect to some page on my site that has related info. Thanks for your suggestions.
On-Page Optimization | | PillarMarketing0