What is Readable Content? Why Bloggers Should Care

Some helpful suggestions for writing a great & readable blog article

By now, many of us have heard that Google is more and more into web content being readable. Their latest algorithm is based more on human behavior. When humans have a hard time reading your web page content, they tend to bounce off quickly!

So, the relevance of writing good readable content, not only appeals to Google, but all your visitors as well.

Let’s take a look at how good readability can be achieved and how this helps for stronger SEO.

Make sure your content is readable at least for an 8th grade student
(yes you heard it right)

There are several readability tests out there. One of the more popular ones would be the Flesch–Kincaid grade level test. The formula base for the grade level readability can be seen below:

Based on an expert SEO opinion by Yoast, your Flesch–Kincaid readability score should be at least 60. The equivalent of an 8th grader. An even higher score is totally recommended.

If you run your website on WordPress, you are a fortunate one here. Yoast has a fabulous SEO plugin that has a Readability page score nicely built in. You can get a real time score while writing your articles for the following:

• Flesch Reading Ease test score percentage
• Percentage of sentences containing more than 20 words (recommended maximum 25%)
• The amount of words under each sub heading does not exceed 300 words
• None of the paragraphs are too long
• Percentage of sentences containing transition words (recommended minimum 30%)
• Percentage of sentences that contain passive voice (recommended maximum 10%)

Passive Voice: What is it?

Passive voice produces a sentence in which the subject receives an action.

Transition Words: What are they?

First of all, transition words are used to connect one idea to another. They are used to create a relationship in a sentence.

Yoast offers a premium plugin which gives you even more options for your readability page testing. Head on over there and check it out!

Another awesome readability tool we use…Readable.io

readable.io really does a thorough job analyzing the readability for your web pages. You can also submit just your text if you are writing your article in a text document. Most of all, their powerful tools analyze three different areas:

Readability Grade Levels – Readability Scores – Text Quality

First of all, not everyone is a perfectionist, including myself, but from using these tools from readable.io, I have a completely different perception for writing a highly readable blog article.

Head over to the readable.io blog for some very useful information on all the factors that go into writing great readability articles.

They offer a current monthly subscription for only $5 to use all their fabulous tools…which is a steal, in my mind.

What have we learned so far…and few more tips

• Write short sentences – keeping most under 20 words
• Keep paragraphs short – 3 to 5 lines is ideal
• Mix your paragraphs and sentences up well making for cohesive white space
• Make sure the amount of words under each sub heading is less than 300 words
• Keep your Flesch Reading Ease score above 60 at a minimum
• Don’t start a sentence with the same word 3 times in a row
• Include transition words in your sentences for the recommended minimum of 30%
• Make sure your sentences use passive voice under the recommended maximum 0f 10%
• Be mindful of not using too many syllables in words and sentences
• Stray away from long technical words and technical jargon

Wrapping Things Up

I have delved into the aspects that make good blog articles readable from the stand point of what Google is currently wanting. This holds up for the current year of 2019. The Google web search is based more on semantic search, focusing on the searcher’s intent. Any experienced SEO Consultant will agree on the importance of great readability for your website content.

Related article: 15 TACTICS TO OPTIMIZE YOUR WEBSITE FOR HIGHER SEO RANKINGS FOR 2019

Using strong readability skills for article writing, will play really well with Google search and better indexing! It is not officially a ranking signal, but when you think about it, Google’s Rank Brain is emulating human behavior, and as humans, we tend to be engaged with reading articles that are easier on the eyes and mind.

For any questions on content marketing and readability, feel free to contact us at Designatude.

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