Today’s video from Google’s head of search spam Matt Cutts is a 2006 throwback where Matt reassures us that there is no difference between using <strong> or <b> tags when it comes to SEO best practices.
The full question asks:
Cutts recalled answering this question in 2006, saying there was no difference in how Google treats the <strong> tag and the <b> tag when it came to ranking, scoring or other search factors. He added the same is true for or the <em> and <i> tags when using italics.
“Things might have changed since 2006, but I really kind of doubt it,” says Cutts, offering a not completely definitive answer on the topic.
To clarify the difference between the two tags, Cutts explains the <strong> tag is technically talking about presentation. The <b> tag is a semantic label, but, he says, “In practice, every browser just goes ahead and makes it bold.”
[youtube width=”560″ height=”315″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awto_wCeOJ4[/youtube]
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