Writing for “Readability”

by | Nov 5, 2018 | Marketing

Here at BCS Management we have clients who specialize in products and services that can get pretty complex. So there’s a fair amount of technical information that can be shared with their audiences.

Technical information is great and may even be appropriate for your audience. However, people read online content differently than print. For example, maybe you’re even quickly scanning this article right now.

Articles written to accommodate a fast reading style can be more beneficial. Even if they don’t have the most detailed information! It seems counterintuitive, but readability can impact SEO — even though search engines do not take readability into account in their ranking algorithms.

Connection of Readability and SEO

SEO is impacted based on the human interaction with the page. For example: assuming two articles have the same number of views, the article people spend less time on would be ranked lower than the other. Improving the readability increases the chances that people will remain on the page longer.

How Do I Improve My Readability?

Some WordPress applications such as YOAST SEO have readability (Flesch-Kincaid) scores built-in to let you know how you score. The Hemingway App is a great resource to assess writing with a similar function to write with clarity.

These applications will place emphasis on choosing on short and simple words. It can be frustrating if you have complex subject matter. However, the potential for increased exposure makes it worthwhile. Plus, it can make the topic more accessible and maybe even interest new customers!

Shorter sentences and paragraphs also benefit the score. Imagine someone reading your article while walking down the sidewalk. They are going to have to look up occasionally. Smaller blocks of texts can make it easier for your reader to quickly find where they paused.

Final Notes

Don’t worry if you need to include technical details in your article or posting. Just implement some of these ways of improving readability and ranking will rise. Make sure to visit our web services for more information on how we can help.