Google Bolding On Synonyms For Web Searches

Aug 8, 2011 - 8:35 am 11 by
Filed Under Google

A WebmasterWorld thread reports Google bolding or highlighting words in the search results that are not actual words you searched for. Rather, Google will bold synonyms of the keywords you searched for.

Searching for [leather couches] will return Google bolding words like "sofa" as well. Here is a picture:

Google Bold Synonyms

Honestly, I really didn't think this was new Google behavior but the folks in the WebmasterWorld forum saying it is and sharing other search terms which trigger this.

In fact, searching for [couches] won't result in Google bolding "sofa" but searching for [leather couches] does. Why?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
- YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: November 3, 2025

Nov 3, 2025 - 10:00 am
Google

Google & Bing Are Indexing Grokipedia - AI Generated Wikipedia / Encyclopedia

Nov 3, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Ads

The New Google Search Ad Layout Is Causing Accidental Clicks

Nov 3, 2025 - 7:41 am
Misc Google

Reddit: Search Traffic Flat, AI Not Traffic Driver & 50% Of Traffic Is From Google

Nov 3, 2025 - 7:32 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google PSA: Verify Your Hosted Cloud Provider Host In Search Console

Nov 3, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google News

Publishers Say Google Used Their Data to Cheat Them, Raptive Lawsuit

Nov 3, 2025 - 7:21 am
 
Previous Story: Some ISPs Are Hijacking Searches For Profit