Readability Scores

Choose Your Level

This week readability scores came up more than once. A few complex topics needed simplifying. My clients want to simply inform their current customers about complicated topics, without condescension. So, we discussed the concept of “Readability Scores” and what that really means.

Some of what goes into web content or blog readability is about image placement, subheadings, bullet points and other things on a page that make it easier to read. That’s not what I am talking about here.

The Flesch Readability Scores Test

People mostly scan content on the web. Posts that are easy to read and scan make sense. The Flesch Reading Ease test scores the complexity of copy and rates it on a scale of 0 to 100 (see below). Generally, a score between 60 and 70 (8^th to 9^th grade) is considered typical for most industries.

Then again, many industries easily support more difficult text. A government website I worked with this week scored at a 20 to 30 level. The client preferred that the information from that website be rewritten for his customers in that 60 to 70 range.

Score	School level	Notes
100.00-90.00	5th grade	Very easy to read. Easily understood by an average 11-year-old student.
90.0–80.0	6th grade	Easy to read. Conversational English for consumers.
80.0–70.0	7th grade	Fairly easy to read.
70.0–60.0	8th & 9th grade	Plain English. Easily understood by 13- to 15-year-old students.
60.0–50.0	10th to 12th grade	Fairly difficult to read.
50.0–30.0	College	Difficult to read.
30.0–0.0	College graduate	Very difficult to read. Best understood by university graduates.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Why Readability Scores Matter

Your readability scores influence how much time your visitors spend on your website. It may seem counterintuitive, but the easier readability scores tend to keep website visitors for longer. Readers bore easily. (Thanks for staying with me here!)

When your visitors stay on your website longer, your SEO ranking goes up. Google watches how long people stay on your site. If your nearest competitor engages readers for longer than you do, they are ranked above you.

Deliberate Choice is the Key

If you know me at all (and if you don’t, here’s a clue) you know how strongly I believe in deliberate choice. So, just like anything else, choose your readability score to fit with your audience, your subject and who you are. It is that combination that will make for successful web content.

Melody

P.S. The Flesch Readability Score of this post is 71.1

The picture is the view out my window. The mare’s name is Paloma (Dove), and the colt is Luz (or often Lucita, which means “Little Light”). The bushes are a salak (snake fruit) and mangosteen in my tropical fruit orchard here in Ecuador.

SEO Content Writing This Week

One of the best things about SEO content writing is the variety of topics I encounter every week. This week included everything from peridontal research studies to Christmas. There was more ongoing work in the financial industry, and even some on interior design and alternative medicine.

The SEO Content Writing Niche

One of the most common pieces of advice a freelance writer will receive is to “find your niche”. They choose narrow subject areas like “cryptocurrency” <blech>, or “fashion”, or “travel”. Seldom do these niche writers venture forth to write outside of their niche.

My niche is business. My talent/skill is seeing what your client needs to take action.

How I Developed That Talent/Skill

For more than 2 decades, I instructed an internationally acclaimed sales course. There were 55 professional B2B sales reps in each class. In each of the 12 sessions of the course, I had to fine-tune the sales concept to every product/service. That meant that, on the fly, I was developing examples for hundreds of products.

If you have ever worked with professional B2B sales reps, you probably know they can be rather tough minded. I had the ability to quickly adapt the material to their unique situations. This was the foundation for my award-winning sales and graduation levels.

What Does That Have to Do With SEO Content Writing?

SEO content writing is much easier. This same skill, adapting sales/marketing techniques to unique situations, is required. Now, I can sit behind my computer and do these adaptations at my leisure. I can revise and rework each line. When instructing the classes, I was public speaking, and had to do it all at light speed. No revisions.

So, that’s why SEO content writing for business is my niche. I have written for accountants, and funeral homes, on the same day. From my point of view, the same principles apply. Solid SEO content writing requires convincing, persuasive language, on informative topics. You give me your topics, and leave the copywriting to me.

Melody