You obviously want your viewers to grasp your information and take something away from it. You want your material to be helpful and serve a purpose rather than just existing on your website. Having the correct writing style and a clear aim for your content guarantees that you, among other things, create relationships with prospective clients.
When writing informative pieces, your objective is to leave the reader with a degree of comprehension. You wish to respond to their inquiry. Similarly, you realize the objective of crucial landing pages is to identify oneself as the proper option in the eyes of prospective consumers. With that in mind, let’s take a look at how varying degrees of readability might impact Google’s choice on where to rank your website.
What Exactly Is a Readability Score?
The word readability relates to how easily a person can comprehend a written material. A readability score ranges from 1 to 100, indicating how easy or difficult it is to read or comprehend a written material.
How Do You Calculate Readability?
The readability score is calculated using the Flesch-Kincaid test of readability. There are two tests available to determine readability. Flesch Reading-Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level are two of them. Although they employ the same fundamental criteria, such as word length, sentence length, and total syllables, their weight factors vary.
The outcomes of the two tests are roughly inversely related. A text with a relatively high Reading Ease test score should have a lower Grade-Level test score.
Reading-Ease Flesch (Target Score: >60)
A higher score on the Flesch Reading-Ease test suggests that the text is simpler to read and grasp. A lower score implies that the text is harder to read. The following formula is used to compute the Flesch Reading-Ease:
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (Target Score: 8-10)
The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level test calculates readability using the same criteria as the Flesch Reading-Ease test, but with different weight factors. The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level is calculated using the following formula:
How to Use the Readability Score Checker Tool to Calculate Readability Score
Open the free Readability Score Checker Tool to compute the readability score or readability level.
- Go to the aforementioned website.
- Copy and paste your content into the provided text space.
- Calculate the outcome by clicking the “Calculate” button.
What Is the Importance of Readability Score in SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?
The readability score is significant since it indicates that the text is simpler and clearer to grasp for a bigger audience section.
According to this article, “readability is both a direct and an indirect element for SEO.” Good readability assists your target audience in digesting your material, affecting their behavior signals, which Google tracks. Google appreciates material with good readability that gives a satisfying end-user experience.”
Here are some advantages of having a high readability rating for your website content.
- Increases dwell time and decreases exit rate
- Reduces the bounce rate
- Increases social sharing
- Improves conversion rate
Other Calculated Metrics in the Free Readability Score Checker Tool
The total number of words in the given sentence or paragraph. The minimum number of words necessary for an article or post is 300.
Sentences
A phrase is a group of words that collectively imply something. A fundamental linguistic unit that conveys a full notion. Make shorter sentences for a higher readability score (less than 20 words).
SMOG (Simple Measure of Gobbledygook) Grade or SMOG Index
The SMOG grade is a readability metric that assesses the number of years of education required to comprehend a piece of writing. SMOG is an extremely valuable formula for medical (health) writing and is regarded as the “gold standard” formula in healthcare. It should be between 8 and 10
Complex words:
A complicated word is one that has two or more morphemes. For instance, blackbird (two root words). It may also be described as a term with more than three syllables. Replace complicated terms with simpler ones to enhance readability.
Index Coleman Liau
Meri Coleman and T L Liau developed the Coleman-Liau Index. The index does not count syllables, but rather word length in letters. This index is used in the medical, translation, and legal fields. It should be between 8 and 10
The average number of letters per 100 words is L, while the average number of sentences per 100 words is S.
A.R.I. (Automated Readability Index)
The automated readability index (ARI) is a readability test for English texts that is used to determine a text’s understandability. It uses a factor of characters per word rather than syllables per word. It should be between 8 and 10 points.
Syllables
A syllable is a word segment that includes just one vowel sound. It is spoken as one word. For example, blue, large, right, and so on.
Characters
The total number of characters, including spaces.
Index of Gunning Fog
Robert Gunning, an American businessman, invented the Gunning Fog Index. The index calculates the number of years of formal education required to grasp the material on the first reading. It must be less than 12
