Keywords in Bold?

[entourage212]

A friend mentioned to me that the bolding of keywords is not "frowned" upon by google, ad should be replaced by anchor text links about 2-3 per phrase / word depending on the overall content on the page. Is this true?

[bradkrussell]

We previously bolded keywords a few times per page but are now moving to bold phrases of 3-6 words each that we find are usual for the user. Eg the key benefits, what differentiates it etc. it looks better, delivers a more valuable user experience and the search engines like this more (with seen positive results)

[entourage212]

I agree with your method and I do like this answer as well!

[ORob]

I like this answer.

I do try to avoid putting a % on KW Density though and instead use more of a visual scan to catch over doing a specific phrase.

[JHSpecialty]

Bolding is fine and even helps some. Anchor text is good practice also. Just remember to keep your keyword density under 3% to avoid the over optimization penalty and vary your anchor text using different keywords. Plus, the anchor text should flow within your page copy. Don't force the keywords. Most important, think about what is best for the user anytime you create links in content.

SEO is important, but ask yourself these two questions when creating content for pages, because Google is -

What is the user searching for?

Is my page delivering it?