Use Bias with apachesolr module
To verify the boost values are included in your queries, tail the Solr request.log file.  You'll see things like &amp;qf=label%5E5.0 (%5e is a caret ^, which marks the boost value).

Another useful trick for optimizing the scores is to include the score in your themed results output.  You may find the boosts are affecting the scores, but aren't high enough to substantially change the ranking.  This can be added with a small hook:

function hook_preprocess_search_result(&amp;$variables) {
  if (user_access('administer search')) {
    $variables['title_suffix'] = '&lt;code&gt;[score: ' . $variables['result']['score'] . ']&lt;/code&gt;';
  }
}