Bing seems to be testing a new way to make sure that you notice the search query keywords when they appear on the search results page.  Instead of the usual darker gray, Bing is testing bolded black for keywords instead.

Here is how it appears in the search results:

Here is how it normally displays, without the high contrast bolding:

And another query with the bolding:

Bing is only doing the black bolding for Bing Ads only, not for the organic search results.  They are also bolding the ads at the bottom of the page too.

When you look at this example with the sidebar ads, it becomes apparent that it might be even more important to ensure you have the keywords in your description text because of the way it stands out.  In the fourth ad in this example, it stands out quite a bit with the multiple times it uses the word “credit” in the description…. and imagine how much more prominent it would have been with it at the top of the search results instead.

Should advertisers think about tailoring their ads around the fact keywords are being bolded?  Especially if this Bing test becomes permanent or if Google decides to test something similar?

This does appear to be a limited test by Bing, as they switch between using it and not using it.