“’tis these dastardly red lights that vex me so!”
You’re no different to most people. Fixated on ensuring that the green traffic light is showing for your page’s Yoast SEO score. “Green means were good to go!” is what you tell yourself. However if you’re truly honest, there’s the nagging uncertainty associated to that red/orange traffic light that sits next to it. That’s right, the mysterious Yoast readability score. The part of Yoast that very rarely joins the party with a green light. “Ah well, they’ve always got a problem so it’s best to ignore them”. Or is it…
WHY YOAST’S READABILITY SCORE IS MORE IMPORTANT NOW THAN EVER
With search engine algorithms becoming increasingly able to understand human behaviour and preference, content readability is doubtlessly an integral ranking factor. Of course, all of the usual and traditional SEO approaches still hold weight such as keyword placement, content originality, serving the user intent/query and securing quality backlinks. In fact, these will still be viewed as some of the most important ranking factors. At the same time, it is beyond question that Google always seeks to provide the user with the best experience and solution to their query. A key part of this user experience is ensuring that the content is as easily digestible as possible. That is where the Yoast readability score comes in.
THE 7 FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO YOAST’S READABILITY SCORE
Yoast uses seven different checks in order to arrive at a traffic light rating for your webpage’s readability. They are:
- Paragraph length.
- Passive voice.
- Sentence length.
- Consecutive sentences.
- Subheading distribution.
- Transition words.
- Flesch reading ease.
Paragraph length
Keeping paragraphs manageable and not overwhelmingly bulky is appealing to the human eye. Often when we see huge chunks of text without any white space we become discouraged to even attempt to read them. I always tend to eat more food in a tapas-style situation rather than an overloaded Christmas Day plate. Think patatas bravas paragraphs rather than ‘Man vs Food’.
Passive voice
While there are definitely times where passive voice should be employed over active voice, it is best to adopt the active approach on the majority of occasions. This creates a feeling of connection in the reader rather than distance.
Sentence length
We at Vim would rate this as the most important factor of all. When sentences become long and winding, the user can lose track of the message and ultimately disengage. Expert copywriters will try to keep sentences to a maximum of 15-20 words. Again, there will be occasions when this is unavoidable and not always the best approach. However, the majority of the time (at least 75% of the time according to Yoast) sentences should be no more than 20 words. Keep things digestible (tapas time again).
Consecutive sentences
This should be an obvious one to any person writing content. Beginning sentences with the same word comes off as amateurish and almost infantile. Sentences continually adopting the same structure can do the same too. All-in-all, this becomes a huge turn-off for any and every reader so keep things fresh and varied.
Subheading distribtuion
First of all we need to be clear on something. Subheadings are not always necessary – especially if your webpage isn’t huge or doesn’t contain many different topics/themes. When webpages contain a decent amount of content, including subheadings is crucial to the user being able to scan and find what they’re looking for. Without subheadings, content can look daunting to navigate and send the user running for the hills.
Transition words
Linking copy together with transition words such as ‘because’, ‘as well as’ and ‘consequently’ improves the flow of content. These types of words assist the reader in navigating sentences, making the copy highly accessible.
Flesch Reading Ease
In summary, this is a system that analyses and rates text on a scale of 1-100. 1 being the most difficult to read and 100 being the easiest to read. The way that the rating is arrived at is based on syllables in words. The less syllables and the shorter the words, the better the score (as it’s deemed simpler to read). The only drawback here is that we may often be dealing with complex subjects where polysyllabic words will often be required. The ‘Flesch Reading Ease’ score is graded by school level, which is not entirely appropriate for professional copywriting. Still, it’s always good to aim to keep copy as simple as possible. A score from 60 upwards is considered to be acceptable for web copy.
WHO COULD POSSIBLY PRODUCE CONTENT THAT FULFILLS SEO, READABILITY AND ENGAGEMENT REQUIREMENTS?
Two words for you – Vim Digital.
Our whole raison d’etre is to create enticing and engaging content that is wholly integrated with SEO, CRO and PPC strategies. Too often we’re asked to overlay SEO, CRO and PPC strategies onto exisiting content. Just imagine if the content was created with these strategies underpinning it? Also, just contemplate for a minute the notion of an agency creating content that sets off green lights all over Yoast. Literally ‘plug-in-and-play’ web copy that is already optimised for SEO and Yoast’s readability score.
Ohhhh the time, money and stress saved from having to deal with multiple agencies to try and achieve this (yet never truly accomplishing it).
Live the dream and contact Vim Digital today!
