# Emphasis
You can add emphasis by making text bold or italic.
## Bold and Italic
To emphasize text with bold and italics at the same time, add three asterisks or underscores before and after a word or phrase. To bold and italicize the middle of a word for emphasis, add three asterisks without spaces around the letters.
| Markdown | HTML | Output |
|---------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|
| `This text is ***really important***.` | `This text is really important.` | This text is ***really important***. |
| `This text is ___really important___.` | `This text is really important.` | This text is ___really important___. |
| `This text is __*really important*__.` | `This text is really important.` | This text is __*really important*__. |
| `This text is **_really important_**.` | `This text is really important.` | This text is **_really important_**. |
| `This is really ***very*** important text.` | `This is really very important text.` | This is really ***very*** important text. |
> Note: The order of the `em` and `strong` tags might be reversed depending on the Markdown processor you're using.
## Bold and Italic Best Practices
Markdown applications don't agree on how to handle underscores in the middle of a word. For compatibility, use asterisks to bold and italicize the middle of a word for emphasis.
| ✅ Do this | ❌ Don't do this |
|---------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------|
| `This is really ***very*** important text.` | `This is really ___very___ important text.` |