Readability is an important factor in blog writing success. It denotes how easy to read a blog is. People tend to overlook the readability of their content. Bloggers or content marketers try to optimise various elements like keyword density and meta tags. They may focus on image alt tags and various on-page SEO techniques. However, they often overlook the readability factor.
Blog writers would do well to understand a key point. They are writing the content for their readers. What’s the point in having great content which they cannot grasp?
Many expert blog writers go by popular benchmarks. These include the Flesch-Kincaid Ease of Reading score. But more on that later. Today we take a look at the reading process, readability, and rankings.
The process of reading
The reading process of a blog reader involves three stages. These are pre-reading, reading, and post-reading. Let’s elaborate further.
1 – Pre-reading – It allows you to activate the background knowledge. It helps you scan the text in a quick time. This lets you gauge if the blog is actually helpful in getting the answers you are looking for.
2 – Reading – This is the actual process of reading from the top to bottom
3 – Post-reading – Typically, a blog ends with a call to action. This is the post-reading phase that leaves a mark on your mind. You would be happy to send business enquiries to the blog owner.
In simple words, you find a text readable when you understand the content. Hence, you grasp the meaning behind it. This way, the blog is able to provide value in terms of information to help you address your specific problem.
What is a readable blog?
Let’s begin with an example. You hope to find information about blogging in WordPress. But you are a novice in IT. What you need is basic knowledge for writing your first post on a brand-new WordPress blog. Now let’s assume you come across an article “Steps to write your first WordPress blog”. You would see that its content ticks all the right boxes
- It is factual
- The blog carries all the information to address the reader’s problem
- It gives a step by step guide with IT jargons
The content works well for the topic it intends to share. But the sentences are too long and complicated. As a result, you find it difficult to grasp the sentences in the content.
This is a classic case of bad readability.
Many content writers may find this a tricky problem to detect. The reason is not hard to comprehend. They may see that sentences may be grammatically correct. But the readers may still find it hard to absorb the content.
Blog writers can enable good readability. All they need to do is a bit of deep dive into their expertise. They need to use their power of words to simplify complex words/sentences. Writers can also shorten the sentence structure. These proofreading steps can improve blog quality substantially. They help in improving the readability of the blog.
It may be inevitable to use some complex words. But professional blog writers need to refrain from using too many of them. This way, they do not make reading a draining process. Rather, readers will enjoy what they are reading.
Readability makes sure that readers enjoy reading the blog, rather than feeling drained after reading it.
Why is readability essential for blog writing?
Readability scores measure whether readers can understand the content. The formula looks at factors like sentence length. It also accounts for syllable density and word familiarity.
It may happen that blog content is difficult or awkward to read. Hence, the reader may not understand the message behind the blog. When the blog writing is too simplistic, your audience might feel plain bored. In either case, the content’s readability is influential. It impacts the extent to which people engage and take on the message.
When people engage, it means that you are making your digital content clear and easy to understand. When the focus is on readability, you increase the chances of the target audience interacting with your brand. This provides more opportunities for conversion. It also adds to the client’s business. This USP is the reason readability should be a part of your content strategy.
Learn more – Why is readability important in SEO content writing?
How readability in the blog impacts SEO rankings?
To what degree and how much degree readability affects ranking is unclear. However, one thing is clear. It is important to do content marketing in a specific way. The content needs to be easy to digest for the target audience.
It is essential to keep things short, sweet, and relevant. Readability is a significant factor in online content’s ability to influence the SERP and rankings of a site. A readable blog aligns with the core tenet of SEO. It favors a great copy that adds value to a reader.
Google has become intelligent in detecting readable content. It can now also detect keyword-stuffed content. It takes readability as one of the many factors that improve the brand’s rankings. That is why it is making rapid strides to understand semantic searches. Its focus on readability helps it gauge the search intent too. This allows it to deliver the right search results.
This is why we can safely say that Google loves readable blog content. Hence blog writers need to make content that is easy to digest.
How to improve website’s readability?
Marketing to your target audience is essential. It allows the content on your website to be clear. This way, the targeted audience will learn about your product and service better. It will lead the search engine to favour the site. As a result, it ranks the site higher.
Blog writers need to put an effort to appeal to readers. In addition, it should also appeal to search engines. These tips will help boost content readability:
1 – It must contain short sentences.
2 – Avoid repetitive words.
3 – Make complex points simple.
4 – The text needs to have a structure.
5 – The text needs to have a logical sequence.
6 – Avoid forceful keyword placement that hampers organic reading style.
7 – Avoid use of passive voice.
Examples to improve readability
*******1 sentence split to 3 sentences
The reason behind this is that not every physician dedicates his or her time to monitor their online reputation unless they have a dedicated marketing staff to do so.
…written as
The reason behind this is simple. Not every physician dedicates his or her time to monitor their online reputation. This is because they do not have dedicated marketing staff to do so.
******List items of 1 sentence split across 3 sentences
This will ensure that you receive the right consultation and diagnoses for the musculoskeletal ailment and the nerve pain in neck, shoulder, arm.
…written as
This will ensure that you receive the right consultation from the physician. It will obtain accurate diagnoses for the musculoskeletal ailment. It will also help in addressing the nerve pain in the neck, shoulder, and arm.
How to measure readability when developing blogs?
Measuring a clear piece of text for reading and understanding is an essential part of any website content strategy. It is now one of the key elements Google uses to rank a website. There now exist a strong relationship between easy-to-digest content and SEO.
Scientists have used various methods for measuring readability. The most popular is the Flesch Reading Ease score. Other scores include Smog Index and the Gunning Fog Score. These formulas help determine the content readability of your blogs and articles.
These methods are widely in use by search engines to measure readability. Finding the exact readability scores of your articles and blogs is useful. It will help your blog writing services to better understand how easy the content is for users to read. In turn, it will impact SEO rankings.
Flesch Reading Ease Score
It is a score between 0-100. We need to interpret the score as below.
The higher the score, the more readable is the content.
Blog writing companies typically require a score of 60 to 70 on Flesch Reading Ease.
How to determine the Flesch Reading Ease score in blog writing?
Determining the score is easy. You need to configure MS WORD as below
- Open MS Word.
- Go to File -> Options -> Proofing.
- Check both options
- Check Grammar with Spellings
- Show readability statistics
Now when you reopen the WORD file, do f7. This is the shortcut for displaying spelling dialog box. It will show a lot of statistics.
See the green encircled box towards the end. This shows the Flesch Reading Ease score. If you see below, the screenshot document has a score of 64.9. This means 13 to 15 year olds can easily grasp the content.
To wrap it up
Your target audience is online for a reason. They are searching for quality information on a topic. Blog writers should refrain from creating content that is difficult to read. They need to make content easy to absorb. Readable content ensures that they grasp content in a matter of seconds.
Are you looking for a team of blog writing experts who can assist? Then connect with Textuar. Our blog writers will develop relevant and meaningful content. They score high on readability too. This will help improve SEO rankings. But most of all, it will establish an unbreakable connection with your brand.
