Ways to Improve Content Readability

No matter how much time and effort you give while writing a piece of content- if it has low readability, all your time and effort will go in vain. Human readability is of great importance as it improves user experience as well as drives traffic. Similarly, it will help you get on top of SERPs.

Know that you are writing for readers, not for search engines. Writing only with the interests of search engines can get you a masterwork as per SEO standards but it will be a total waste as per regular writing standards.

Here are a few ways explained that will improve content readability making your writing more engaging and fruitful.

Don’t create clickbait titles

Be considerate about how you select the headline. You can’t just create a dramatic title with high expectations you aren’t going to meet. It would have worked a few years back but the thing is different now. A little showmanship is okay but be realistic. Know that your sentiments also matter. Be certain to use the facts with proper headlines without losing the theme or exaggerating it and you will be good as gold.

Know your readers

The ability to understand your readers is the biggest thing followed by your skills to craft remarkable and informative contents which will help you stand out from your rivals.

You must know what type of people read your content. Also, question yourself- Is your content pleasing to those groups of readers? Your writing should cover the readability of all your readers. The best way is to know about your target audience, their taste and preferences, their search intent because then you can offer more engaging content to them.

Stop over-paragraphing

Over-paragraphing is extremely distracting. Do not break the line unless the theme is changed or the lines have separate ideas. Your content should be engaging. Don’t throw your readers off. Micro-paragraphs and unnecessary listings reduce the readability. Only list those that are statements or takeaways with their supporting information.

Keep it simple

Keep your writing simple and stop bulking out your writing. If you want to attract more and more readers to your site, you must respect your reader’s time. Why do you need to write a long paragraph if you can simply answer your readers’ queries with fewer steps? You are no longer a high school kid who used to write long paragraphs by exaggerating everything. You are neither getting grades here so write according to the needs of your readers. Make it short and simple and yet so engaging that your readers can’t take their eyes off the content and they have to visit your website and have a look at your products.

Different elements like word choice and length of sentence will influence your overall readability score. To improve readability, the writing should be user-friendly and not boring. Long sentences with grammatical errors and weird layouts won’t do any favours.

Stop the keyword stuffing

Don’t let keyword stuffing kill your SEO. It was actually a relatively successful approach a few years back. That’s no longer the case. It is widely condemned by search engines and is detrimental to your search rankings.

Resist over-formatting

Avoid excessive formatting of the texts. Fewer italics or short bullet points, occasional bolding are okay but don’t make half of your text bright and colourful. You can have skimmable content to engage your readers but it should not be busy content. Make sure to use typography skills to establish a visual hierarchy that will attract the required readers.

Use links cleverly

Both external and internal linkings are crucial, but be mindful of the fact that you cannot overuse links in your writing. Over linking can distract your readers-so it is ideal to use a maximum of two links in a single paragraph.

If there are many links to be shared you can share them at the bottom of the article. Use only relevant links with proper strategies.

Know what you’re writing

You should know what type of content you are writing. There are various types of content such as blog posts, social posts, or occasional white papers. The way you write varies according to the type of content. And readability also varies accordingly.

You must know what type of information the readers are seeking. According to your readers and the type of content, you can know when to write more technically or when to simplify the context.

For instance, for readers with a higher level of understanding, the complexity of your writing can be that bit higher. However, for a social blog, audiences want content that is easy to read.

Get scientific

Various scientific tools have readability technology fixed in them. Use such tools that use formulas and perform a readability test. And if you get a perfect readability score- that’s great! If not, you need to work out your writing.

Readability is not conventional anymore

One of the important aspects of good content is the ideology of the individual. It is far more than the algorithm needs. So focus on what is required by readers rather than the formulaic plugin.

Conclusion:

All in all, readability is one of the essential tactics other than SEO audit services that need to be considered for content marketing which is important from both user and SEO perspectives.