Content that is not read is useless.
So how do you create content that your audience will read (and not just skim)?
Make it more readable.
This sounds so simple it’s silly, but it’s true.
Readability is a giant factor that will determine everything from who engages with your content, how much value they get from it, and whether they’ll come back to read more.
So what is content readability, how is it measured, and how can you make your content easier to read?
It’s all inside this guide.
What is content readability?
Content readability measures how easy it is for your audience to read your content.
Readable content of course, easy to understand and easy to skim. On the other hand, content this hard to read it is hard to understand, hard to skim and unclear.
But perhaps the main difference between readable and unreadable content lies in the value the reader can get from each.
Readable content conveys information effectively so that the reader learns something new, makes a discovery, or solves a problem.
Unreadable content doesn’t achieve all of that – your reader can’t learn anything from it because the words and sentences don’t make sense.
How do you measure content readability?
Content readability is objective and subjective. It is based on an individual’s reading level and intelligence, but can also be measured based on objective things such as:
The word choices and vocabulary you use in your content. How often do you use common and uncommon words. The structure and length of your sentences and paragraphs.
There are many readability tests that measure your content against the above factors and give you a score that tells you how readable your content is.
Here are the most common (and current, as they have been created or updated within the last 50 years) readability tests:
Flesch-Kinkaid degree level formula
Flesch-Kinkaid is perhaps the most well-known readability formula. It analyzes the ratio of words to sentences and syllables to words to measure the readability of your text.
This formula ranks your content based on the lowest rating level in the United States that can easily read and understand it.
So, for example, a score of 6 means that people reading at a 6th grade level or higher should be able to read your text easily. (By the way, this is a good score to aim for with online writing.)
Tools that can check your content against this formula include Microsoft Word, Hemingway Editor, Readable, and ProWritingAid.
In Microsoft Word, readability statistics appear after running a spelling and grammar check:
Lexile Mark for Reading
Another well-known readability measurement system used primarily in schools is the Lexile Framework. It has two parts:
Text measurement based on word frequency and average sentence length. Measuring a person’s reading level.
For example, content that is more difficult to read (with many long sentences and words that appear infrequently) will get a higher Lexile score. Content that is easier to read (with short sentences and frequent words) will score lower.
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How to make your content easier to read: 9 tips for better readability
So now we know that readable content is high quality content.
But let’s say you’ve tested your content with a few readability checkers and found that it’s hard to read.
now what
It’s time to improve the content to make it more readable. Here are nine tips to help.
1. Shorten your sentences
Short sentences are simpler. That is why they are easy to read.
Meanwhile, longer sentences usually contain more than one thought or idea. Fill your sentences with information and your readers will have a hard time untangling it all.
For this reason, shorten these sentences. And if you tend to write long sentences naturally, go through your draft, find them, and break them into smaller chunks.
Hot Tip: A com tool Editor Hemingway automatically highlight long sentences so you don’t have to search for them.
2. Break and shorten your paragraphs
As you shorten the sentences, go ahead and shorten those paragraphs as well.
At most, your paragraphs for online written content should contain no more than 1-3 sentences.
A large, dense paragraph with long sentences is daunting. It’s great for a paperback novel, but terrible for your blog.
Nothing spells death for your reader’s attention worse than a dense wall of text.
A good rule of thumb for dividing paragraphs: A paragraph = a thought or idea. As soon as you move on to your next thought, move on to a new paragraph.
Remember: the “enter” (or “return”) key is your friend.
3. Use the active voice
Next readability tip: Write in active voice.
active voice it refers to how a sentence is written. When you write it actively, state the subject and verb clearly.
Example: “The dog ran after the ball.”
Dog = subject. Ran = verb.
passive voice it means you are writing a sentence passively. This means that the subject of the sentence is not clear.
Example: “The dog ran after the ball.”
Do you see how the subject, the dog, is buried at the end of the sentence?
That said, sometimes passive voice works if it is necessary to highlight the action of the sentence in front of the subject.
For example, let’s say I wanted to tell you about a car theft I experienced. I’d say, “My car was broken into last night.”
The subject of the sentence (the person who stole my car) is irrelevant: I don’t know who they are. What is important to convey is that the robbery, the action, happened.
Tread carefully, though. In most cases, the active voice is much clearer and easier to read than the passive voice. Emphasize this when editing your content.
4. Mix up your word choices
Repeating the same words over and over in content is boring to read. Not to mention, it looks like keyword stuffing.
Is “boring to read” the same as “difficult to read”? Not exactly. But it’s close.
Keep in mind that people who are bored with your content probably won’t stick around to read all of it. They will bounce.
This is why mixing up your vocabulary can improve your writing. Liven up your sentences and make them more attractive.
5. Use lists
Lists are a skim reader’s best friend.
And if your content is easy to read, it’s easy to read.
For this reason, whenever you’re tempted to write a long list of items separated by commas, turn it into a numbered or bulleted list.
You can apply the same technique to:
Steps in a sequence. A group of related elements, ideas or concepts. Points in a long paragraph. Any other information you want to highlight or differentiate from the main text.
See what I did there?
6. Give your readers cues
The easy-to-read content also makes judicious use of signposts that show the reader where the terrain is.
For example, descriptive headings help your reader understand how your content is organized and what information each section will cover.
Selective use of bold text helps highlight important words, ideas, or phrases that your reader should pay attention to.
Another great indicator for long content is the humble table of contents. This helps your reader jump to the information they most want to read in your article.
Here’s a good example of a blog with a table of contents from Ahrefs, a brand that uses them often:
7. Avoid jargon and industry
“Our goal was to drive more traffic to the landing page and ultimately get ROI through signups.”
Do you understand what the above sentence says?
If you do, you might be a marketer.
If you don’t, welcome to the world of industry (aka jargon or industry speak).
This is the privileged language that people working within the same niche or industry use when talking to each other.
To everyone else, it looks like gibberish.
Using it in content that is supposed to be aimed at your audience is a cardinal sin. Because unless you have a specific exception, your audience does no talk like you and your peers.
8. Format your pages with plenty of white space
This may be the responsibility of your website designer, but it is important. Make sure your pages have plenty of them white space around content and text.
This is simply the empty space between elements on a page.
This “breathing space” makes your pages easier to read because page elements won’t be crowded together.
9. Check your content by reading it out loud
One of the easiest ways to check the readability of content is to read it out loud.
It may sound silly, but you’ll quickly discover how different your content sounds out loud and in your head.
When you read it out loud, you’re more likely to stumble over complex sentences and paragraphs or notice when your words get jumbled up.
When you encounter such cases, try to rewrite them more simply. Soften them to make them easier to read.
Try it. It can change the way content is edited.
Improve the readability of your content for better results
Content readability is very important.
When your content is readable by your audience, it’s easier to get value out of it. They will learn from it, gain something new, or get the answer they were looking for.
On the other hand, hard-to-read content will prevent them from doing any of the above. It will bore them or frustrate them.
And a bored and frustrated audience won’t stick around. This is the antithesis of content marketing.
Work on your readability and you will see better results.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.
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