Will google see you bold/emphasis words if done in css?

[gsbureau]

We do not use header tags in our website.  I understand bolding or emphsising words can be equally as effective but if done so in css will the google crawlers and spiders etc be able to put a weighted value on this style of code???

[KeriMorgret]

To add to what Bonnie has said, proper structure helps the search engines as well as those with any type of screen reader -- it's good for accessibility, too. If you can't convince them from the SEO standpoint, try accessibility.

[CarsProduction]

Diane,

A couple fo things. Google has repeatedly said that they need to see your CSS, so make sure your stylesheets are not blocked in robots.txt. The main reason they want to crawl that is probably spam detection for those of our brethren who might dabble in the dark arts (using CSS to hide SEO text is a classic spam technique). But they'll be able to interpret your CSS just fine.

That said, please have TPTB reconsider using header tags and other proper structural elements. These tags are ultimately there to show how the document is structured -- something search engines are more interested in now than ever before. All you can do to clarify how your site is organized is an SEO plus.

But I agree with my colleagues that neither approach is going to REALLY bump up the keywords in today's SEO landscape.

Bonnie Gibbons, Cars.com

[jgower]

I believe that bold/strong has minimal effect at best.  USE HEADER TAGS!  I haven't heard anything specific to what you're asking, but I'd venture to guess that Google will see font-weight:bold the same way they see <bold>tags.  They are smart and I'm sure they've put in methods of accounting for the probably millions of sites that use things like (assuming that works, not sure).</bold>

Short story: I wouldn't worry about it, unless you can find direct evidence to the contrary. But, for goodness sake, use header tags!

[honestabejosh]

I can't give you an absolute technical answer to this, but generally speaking, Google will credit you for what would be seen (or not seen) by someone actually visiting the page.  So, Google looks at how the information is presented, which would be after the styling is applied.  I would suggest using a combination of Webmaster Tools -> Diagnostics -> Fetch as Googlebot and a text browser like Lynx to see how Google is potentially viewing your page.

Hope that helps!

"May the 4th be with you!"